Editors Note: Some language in this column may be offensive
By Larry Elder
How does one discredit the massive back-to-the-values-that-made-this-country-great rally in Washington at the National Mall?
Easy. Call Glenn Beck the leader and organizer of the rally a racist -- as does former Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean.
What makes Beck a racist? The question presupposes the need for a reason.
Ever heard of Journolist? Apparently neither have network news anchors Diane Sawyer Katie Couric and Brian Williams -- none of whom saw fit to spend one second reporting on this astonishing story.
Journolist was a confidential Listserv of 400 members of the media. It included people from Time The Huffington Post The Guardian The New Republic The Nation and other outlets. No Journolist member was a conservative. (Liberals would give a confidential Listserv of conservative media a somewhat different name: The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.)
Journolist was founded and run by a Washington Post blogger. It was exposed by The Daily Caller and written about on NewsBusters.org and by Andrew Breitbart who offered $100000 for a complete Journolist archive. Shortly after this exposure Journolist was shut down.
What was the purpose of Journolist?
The most innocuous explanation -- offered by a writer for the left-wing New Republic -- is that it was a mere chat room where people would yak about stuff like the NBA finals or where a Journolister working on a piece could solicit suggestions for an expert. Big deal.
The most sinister explanation is that it served as a forum/echo chamber for liberals to strategize with other liberals on how to advance their agenda craft arguments and discredit conservatives. Paranoia you say?
Recall that during the 2008 presidential campaign Barack Obamas candidacy was rocked by YouTube videos of his unhinged America-denouncing whitey-condemning anti-Semitic pastor of 20 years the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Several Journolist members cried Mayday! and traded e-mails on how to control the damage.
Spencer Ackermans Huffington Post bio describes his position with The Washington Independent as senior reporter. This Journolist journalist offered this game plan: If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down no matter what we choose we lose the game theyve put upon us. Instead take one of them -- Fred Barnes Karl Rove who cares -- and call them racists. You know eenie meenie minie moe.
To be fair some lefties actually want a plausible reason to call someone a racist. So what makes Beck one?
As we were constantly reminded this past weekend Beck once called President Obama a racist with a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.
Beck says he regrets what he said. He says he should have referred to and condemned the black liberation theology preached by Wright. But only liberals are allowed regrets.
Here is The Glenn Beck Rule: When one recklessly irresponsibly and with absolutely no basis calls someone a racist or accuses him or her of racism or of racial insensitivity or uses incendiary racially tinged language -- the person who makes the accusation is the racist.
Lets apply The Rule:
Rep. Maxine Waters D-Calif.: Then-President George Herbert Walker Bush is a racist.
Sen. (then-candidate) Claire McCaskill D-Mo.: Then-President George W. Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black.
Rep. Charlie Rangel D-N.Y.: George (W.) Bush is our Bull Connor referring to the racist Southern lawman who sicced dogs and turned water hoses on civil rights marchers. Of the GOP Rangel said Its not sp-- or n----- anymore; they just say Lets cut taxes.
Donna Brazile Al Gores 2000 presidential campaign manager: The GOP has a white-boy attitude which means the GOP must exclude denigrate and leave behind.
Rep. (then-state Sen.) Diane Watson D-Calif. on black affirmative action foe Ward Connerly: Hes married to a white woman. He wants to be white. He wants a colorless society. He has no ethnic pride. He doesnt want to be black.
Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton D-N.Y.: In a speech in a black Baptist church she said: When you look at the way the (then-Republican-controlled) House of Representatives has been run it has been run like a plantation. And you know what Im talkin about.
Director Spike Lee: Then-Sen. Trent Lott is a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan; and about his dislike for interracial couples Lee said I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.
The Rev. Al Sharpton: Falsely accused an assistant district attorney of sexually assaulting a black teenager; called the Central Park Jogger a whore; called black then-New York Mayor David Dinkins a n----- whore; denounced as white interlopers people wishing to do business in Harlem; and during the deadly Crown Heights affair said If the Jews want to get it on tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson: Jews are Hymies and New York is Hymie-Town. First he denied saying it. Then came an admission after that an apology followed by collective media amnesia.
Any questions?
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. His latest book Whats Race Got to Do with It? is available now.
