The Missing Link

Since last week I've been scratching my head over a blog post by my good friend and adversary Warner Todd Huston. Warner has been insisting that Barack Obama is a hypocrite because he hasn't denounced the ugly tactics in the 9th District Congressional race between Steve Cohen and Nikki Tinker. The point Huston made is that Obama has claimed they're playing the race card against him, yet doesn't speak up when Tinker runs an explicitly anti-semetic campaign against Cohen.

I was perplexed by this, because as I pointed out, Jewish is not a race but a religion. Therefore McCain is as obligated to condemn this ugliness as is Obama, and as far as I'm concerned neither candidate is obligated. There's too many districts out there.

But Huston insisted the difference is Obama was obligated because he's a Democrat. I countered that if it was an ugly enough campagin for Obama to condemn, it was ugly enough for us all to. Huston moved on.

But I just learned the magical secret to this whole thing - Tinker is an African American! A particularly nutty one too. As reported by the AP today (which Huston insists isn't covering the race because of that liberal bias) Tinker lost 19% to 79%, and the latest ad, which claimed that Cohen was somehow linked to the KKK, both cemented Cohen's win and drew the condemnation of Barack Obama. Darn Jews! I knew they were infiltrating the KKK!

The 9th District, by the way, is predominantly African American.

Anyway, back to Warner. Somehow the Tinker-is-black element of his argument escaped my notice. He obliquely mentions it ("a member of (Obama's) own race" is how he puts it, but that means Tinker is half-white? Hawaiian?) but then goes on to argue that it's racism to attack Jews, when I believe what he really means is "those black people should keep each other in line." Given Obama's bloodline, again, by extension he's obligated to speak out about racism from all sides. Of course, that's only if you believe bloodline matters. I'm part Polish, but I don't feel responsible for Lech Walensa. I'm part Native American, but I'm not asking for an apology for the Trail of Tears. And I sure as hell aren't apologizing for Little Big Horn.

I've seen a picture of Warner (if there really is such a person) and he looks a little French to me. So I'm willing to give him a pass; the French, they say, are a funny race.