Yesterday morning, it was raining, and on the way to class I picked up a guy who was walking to work (I live in the country, so 'walking to work' can be a several hour event). He was a black dude, and the thing that stood out was how for the first five minutes he was in my car, he started with this unfortunate shuck-and-jive thing that so many older black males unfortunately seem to think white people expect. Truth be told, some of my less enlightened European brethren probably do expect it - mores the pity. He kept calling me sir, when if you went by age, it was obvious that he was the only sir in the car.

Republicans teach me soooooooooooo much! In fact, my vast portfolio of ruthless political tactics was compiled almost exclusively from Republican examples. They're just so damn good at it. You simply have to show some respect.

Take their latest for example...

A recent study backed by 50 years of research found as one of its conclusions, that "George W. Bush is appealing as a leader to those Americans who harbor greater anti-black prejudice."

Not surprisingly, the GOP didn't appreciate that finding a whole lot, so they went straight to work in their newest battle in the Republican War on Science:

Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said he... ...questioned whether the researchers themselves had implicit biases -- against Republicans -- noting that [Researchers] Nosek and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji had given campaign contributions to Democrats.

Did you see that? So quick! So smooth! In a single breath, Brian Jones undermined the perceived credibility of not only this extensive study, but also the prior 50 years of associated research.

You have to respect that political skill and deflective grace.

This is a little essay that has been brewing in my mind since hurricane Katrina, and which I put together in honor of Martin Luther King, jr.'s birthday, though it applies to all of us, not just blacks.

In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams yesterday, Bush defiantly declared he wasn't a racist:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday the federal government's reaction to Hurricane Katrina was appalling, but was not the result of racial indifference to blacks hard-hit by the storm. "You can call me anything you want, but do not call me a racist," Bush said.

That's right, Bush isn't a racist. His incompetence and indifference is an equal-opportunity destroyer.

George Bush doesn't care about black people. While Bush loves to tout that the employment rate is 5%, he fails to acknowledge the huge gap between white and black unemployement rates. The unemployement rate among black today is twice that of the national average--a staggering 10.6%. In too many cities, the rates of black male unemployment are hovering around 50%.  That means one in every two black males in New York (pdf), Milwaukee, and other cities have no stable way to support their families.

More on the flip...

Over the past week, there's been an uproar nationally and in this neck of the woods over an editorial that ran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last weekend.

In the opinion piece, now being referred to as "The Asterisk Editorial", the Journal Sentinel editorial staff wrote that "In losing a woman, the court with Alito would feature seven white men, one white woman and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America."

This comment has resulted in tremendously platitudinal backlash, with right-wing hypocrites throwing around terms like "thinly veiled Liberal racism" and recalling old strawman phrases like "acting white".  But such claims are intellectually dishonest in the context of this editorial, and come down to a simple strategy: The right-wing is playing the race card again.  And this time, like usual, they're laying a 2 of clubs and calling it an ace of hearts.

Continued...