The American Spectator

* June 15 — The New York Post reports exclusively that the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network charity (NAN) is being investigated by the Brooklyn US Attorney’s office. The story says Sharpton, a past candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is accused of threatening CEOs of some 50 companies with negative racial publicity or consumer boycotts if they do not hire him as a consultant on race relations or write checks to NAN. The Post says Anheuser-Busch has made a “six-figure” contribution to Sharpton, Colgate-Palmolive has given $50,000, and “Macy’s and Pfizer have contributed thousands” to Sharpton’s charity.

* June 20 — Senator Barack Obama invokes both racism and sexism as he campaigns, saying of Republicans: “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid,” Obama said at the fundraiser. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.”

* July 13 — A federal government investigation of Princeton University is revealed.

Reason? An allegation that Princeton University (not run by any known outlaw clique of on-the-record conservative Republicans) discriminates against Asian-American applicants by accepting black and Hispanic students with lower entrance scores. Princeton officials deny the charge.

* July 16— Fox News reveals that the Reverend Jesse Jackson is caught on videotape whispering to a fellow TV guest that “Barack…he’s talking down to black people…telling n——-s how to behave.” All of America watches as Jackson also says he wants to cut Obama’s “nuts” off, making a quick cutting motion with his right hand. Jackson had previously called for a boycott of a newly released DVD of the Seinfeld TV shows in response to Seinfeld cast member Michael Richards’ use of the “N-word” in a comedy routine.

* July 31 — Senator Barack Obama says Republicans will campaign against him by saying he “”doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

* August 15 - “If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the Republican Party…” said DNC Chairman Howard Dean in an interview on NPR. A DNC spokesperson later said Dean “misspoke.”

* October , 2005 — This one goes back to the post-Katrina days in New Orleans. The speaker is the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. He was addressing the fears of local black contractors: “I can plainly see in your eyes that you want to know, ‘How do I take advantage of this incredible opportunity?’ How do I make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexicans?”

* Last, but certainly not least, is the rejection of Congressman Cohen himself, the only white man in the House who represents a majority black district, by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). In the words of Caucus member Congressman William Lacy Clay, a black Missouri Democrat: “Quite simply, Rep. Cohen will have to accept what the rest of the country will have to accept — there has been an unofficial Congressional White Caucus for over 200 years, and now it’s our turn to say who can join ‘the club.’ He does not, and cannot, meet the membership criteria, unless he can change his skin color. Primarily, we are concerned with the needs and concerns of the black population, and we will not allow white America to infringe on those objectives.”

If you like your racism straight up, Bull Connor, that sterling member of both the Ku Klux Klan and the Democratic National Committee, could not have said it better than Congressman Clay to Congressman Cohen. It is Connor, of course, who is infamous in history for turning police dogs and fire hoses on civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was not only a leading Democrat but the Public Safety Commissioner. Interestingly, Mr. Cooper of the ACRU brought up this issue of being barred from the CBC to Cohen on air during the Doyle show. Cohen fell silent and chose not to respond.

THE HARD FACT of political life in America is — and if Congressman Cohen and his party get their way it will apparently always be — that Democrats cannot help themselves when it comes to playing the race card. They have played it every day of their party’s existence. It could be 1808 or 1908 or 2008. It could be the deepest parts of Alabama or the middle of Harlem. The topic could be Mexicans getting contracts to rebuild New Orleans or a white membership in the Black Caucus. It can surface with Jesse Jackson as he waits for a television interview, Al Sharpton as he allegedly shakes down major corporations, or Barack Obama as he works the presidential campaign trail. In every and all instances the bottom line for Democrats is always the same: race, race and race again. How to make it pay off financially, how to gain from it politically, how to scare with it or how to ruin someone’s career with it.

Congressman Cohen calls the idea of an apology for all of this kind of thing a “red herring.” What is a “red herring”? It’s Democrat-speak for having absolutely no intention of officially apologizing for slavery, segregation, lynching or their addiction to race-baiting politics. It is also the Democrats’ way of seeing to it that America never reaches the goal of Dr. Martin Luther King, a color-blind America where Americans are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Ever.

Why?

As always, they have too much to gain.