Carter, Limbaugh and the nexus of racism and wingnuttery

For the last 3 months, discussing wingnut politics with friends (some of whom are wingnuts), I've asked "Why don't they just come out and say it? Why don't they just call him a ni**er and get it over with? I know they want to."

All of this 'I want my America back' nonsense.... back from what? This obviously doesn't include everyone who disagrees with Obama. There is lots of room to disagree. But this paranoid, I'm-bringin'-a-gun, birther, Muslim, socialist, Nazi, Hitler crap - that's all code word.

It's because he's black.

So imagine how thrilled I was to hear a Southerner, raised under segregation to become President, echo my feelings.

"There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president"

“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he is African-American," Carter told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview Tuesday.

The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was a part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators equating Obama to Nazi leaders. He repeated his sentiments at a town hall held later at his presidential center in Atlanta.

"Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care," he said. "It's deeper than that."

Now comes Rush Limbaugh, echoing Matt Drudge, trying to race-bait using a fight on a school bus

You put your kids on a school bus you expect safety but in Obama's America the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering 'yeah, right on, right on, right on.' Of course everybody said the white kid deserved it - he was born a racist, he's white.

Can we really dismiss Carter out-of-hand?

Sure, Rush is an opportunist. He'll do anything for attention. But the people he caters to really believe this stuff. So when you hear the radical right dismiss this connection, pay attention to what they're consuming every day.