Racism in America? You Damn Well Betcha.

The conservative blogosphere is simply aghast that President Jimmy Carter has had the unmitigated gall to say that part of the atmosphere of detestation and disrespect directed at America's first black president is thinly veiled racism. To some extent they have a point: the vitriol pouring out of their corner of the press and the internet seems fairly evenly directed at any politician who dares to be a Democrat, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or any other metric of "how much you're different from me."

The conservative blogosphere, however, needs to get real and climb down out of their lofty manses to take the pulse of some real, red-blooded (and -necked) Amerikans. Even before Barack Obama was nominated, much less elected, racist jokes were already circulating. Here are two I heard from well-educated die-hard conservative professionals in the weeks leading up to the Democratic convention:

"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Eyes."
"Eyes who?"
(Step 'n' Fetchit-style caricature of Obama with speech balloon): "Eyes yo new President."

and

Q: "What does CHANGE stand for?"
A. "Come Help A Ni**er Get Elected."

Nope, ain't no racists out there - none at all...