It appears that Democratic racism has spanned the nation from coast to coast. After a Ned Lamont campaign volunteer* posted a blackface picture of Joe Lieberman at the Huffington Post, the leader of the California state senate referred to conservatives demanding an end to illegal immigrations with a racial slur:

The state Senate leader ridiculed some San Diego-area opponents of illegal immigration yesterday by describing them as “crackers,” often used as a disparaging term for poor, white people in the South.

During a media briefing, Oakland Democrat Don Perata was asked about whether it was politically wise going into an election to push a bill that would give illegal immigrants the ability to obtain driver's licenses.

“No. Let's face it. Immigration is a red-meat issue,” Perata said. “You've got all these crackers down in Southern Cal – ah, where is it, San Diego, taking on the governor. You know, even the governor was shocked. He said he was embarrassed, and I agree with him.”

These two events demonstrate yet again the obsession with identity politics that plagues the Democratic Party. One does not see Republican campaign volunteers photoshopping opponents' pictures to make them appear in blackface. No one from the GOP would get away with using a term like "cracker" in an interview, or something similarly objectionable about another ethnic or religious group. Trent Lott got hounded out of his leadership position just for saying something nice (but very foolish) about Strom Thurmond on his 100th birthday, and he never even mentioned race at all.

Will Democrats take Peralta to the woodshed? Will Leftists finally reject identity politics and rely on rational argument instead of scare tactics in their campaigning? It seems doubtful. Instead of the kind of outrage that we saw on the Right when Lott blew it at Strom's birthday, we will likely get a whole lot of insincere apologies for any offense we take, and a long explanation about how it's our fault that Democrats play the race/ethnic card.

That's worn so thin it's transparent -- to everyone but the Left.

* - Jane Hamsher helped shoot an Internet campaign ad and traveled extensively with the Lamont campaign. That qualifiers her as a campaign volunteer in my estimation; YMMV.

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» Illegal Immigration Watch: California State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata - “You’ve got all these crackers … down in San Diego.” from FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
California State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata San Diego Union-Tribune: State Senate leader: ‘You’ve got all these crackers down in San Diego’ Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata Thursday discussed the difficult political clim... [Read More]

Tracked on August 4, 2006 10:37 PM