More rhetorical questions

This time from Peter DiGaudio, whose Texas Hold 'Em Blog doesn't take comments either. In a post entitled "The Hildabeast Attacks," which in its opening words references the "Al Sharpton Traveling Circus," Peter tries to lecture us on tolerence:

Sen. Hillary Clinton made her appearance, shrill as ever. There is something about the Hildabeast that reminds me of fingernails on a dry chalkboard. I also have to roll my eyes at The Smartest Woman Who Ever Lived — lecturing us about the "culture of corruption" in George W. Bush's Washington. Talk about irony. Let's take a trip down Memory Lane, shall we, and revisit the most corrupt administration in American history. Filegate, Travelgate, Whitewatergate, Chinagate, Cattlegate, Zippergate, the Missing Billing Records, Pardongate, etc. — you can read all about those as well as all the Clinton scandals here and here for a refresher. [. . .]

One of the worst things to come of out the mouth of the Hildabeast, though, was the race card right off the bottom of the deck when she compared the House of Representatives to an antebellum plantation in the Old South.

When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about...

Simply amazing. Is there no level to which the Democrats will go?

Was Shrillary out of line in specifically using the plantation reference for Republicans on a day set aside to honor the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? You be the judge.

How many prominent black Democrats can you name? Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois. Maybe Charlie Rangel, the veteran congressman from Harlem. That's it.

I can name whole rafts of celebrities and other public figures, from Kanye West to Oprah. Without even Googling, I can name a significant chunk of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Jesse Jackson, Jr. and our own Gwen Moore. Harold Ford, who's running for Senate in Tennessee. John Lewis who, with Jesse Jackson Sr., is one of the few remaining public figures who marched with Dr. King. The whole of the CBC, in fact, is Democrats: Republican districts have not elected a single African American since JC Watts retired (though Peter gets points for reminding us that Watts and the CBC didn't come to terms).

But this isn't--and shouldn't be--a spitting match, to see who can loogey the farthest. Peter levies some serious charges: "Tell me which party is the party of bigots. Please," he writes. He is proud that his Republican president has appointed African Americans to top posts. (I won't mention how Lani Guinier and Jocelyn Elders, Clinton nominees, were rejected by an overwhelmingly white Congress on trumped-up trivia.) Peter rightfully trumpets a couple of African American Republicans running for things, and how Michael Steele got elected in Maryland (but only in the sense that voters elected Dick Cheney). Then, "Tell me which party is the party of bigots. Please."

I don't know. Maybe it's the party of Trent Lott, who announced today that he's running for senate again, neglecting to say whether he still wished the segregationists had won election back in the 40s. Maybe it's the party of Newt Gingrich, who said, under similar circumstances to Hillary Clinton yesterday, "Since they think it is their job to run the plantation, it shocks them that I’m actually willing to lead the slave rebellion.” Maybe it's the party of Ken Mehlman, who was forced to apologize for the "Southern Strategy."

Okay, so the "Southern Strategy" is generally abandoned, and Republicans have made great strides in reaching out to minorities and burying any last vestiges of overt racism too deep to see. But to call Democrats bigots--as Peter implicitly does--because he doesn't follow national politics enough to name prominent elected Democrats and candidates is ridiculous. If Newt Gingrich can lead a slave rebellion, surely Hillary can, too.

But what of being bigots, intolerant or judgmental? Well, Peter uses the basest insults to describe prominent women and minorities in the Democratic Party--"Hildabeast," "Shrillary," and "Sharpton's Traveling Circus," for example. He names every single Republican faux-scandal surrounding the Clinton administration, though administration officials were cleared of wrongdoing in every single case by the most expensive and zealous prosecutions ever, implying a flasehood--that the Clintons were corrupt. If Peter is setting the standard for fairness, decency, and respect . . . well, let's just say he isn't. At least, I won't accept that standard for myself.