I usually agree with Frank Rich, but I must humbly beg to differ with his latest column. He makes the rather obvious observation that McCain’s current campaign tactics are bottomed in racism, though the McCain campaign would never be so tacky as to be explicit about it. Code is sufficient. But this brought me up short:
McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead.
This is a common line of argument in this country. I very much doubt that Rich personally knows McCain well, if at all. He is undoubtedly relying on the tattered remnants of McCain’s reputation for integrity. Implicit in the statement is the following argument: a person can act like a racist, or exploit racism, without actually being a racist.
I’m not sure I understand the distinction. McCain has made the conscious (presumably, unless he is actually fully senile) choice to act like a racist. If it walks like a duck, etc., it’s a duck, whether or not, deep in its heart, it insists it’s a goose. Didn’t Jesus say “By their fruits ye shall know them”?
The National Republican Party has built its electoral strategy on racism since 1968. Yet there’s not a one of them that will honestly cop to being a racist, David Duke excepted. The media has generally been wiling to give them each a free pass on this, as Rich has done for McCain.
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