If you are black: Get off the straight talk express!

Nope, The McCain campaign doesn't just say "Get to the back of the bus!" They kick a reporter right off the straight talk express campaign premises simply because he is a black reporter.

Via the field negro: Sorry Stephen, they can't take any chances.

Poor Stephen Price, he sure could have used his race card over the weekend. All he wanted to do was his job. But it seems like Mr. Morton's security folks had some different ideas. (Sorry Stephen, we can't allow you to get too close to the Senator, you could be an Obamaholic. We know you blacks like to stick together). Stephen was told to take his black ass packing down the road. So do you have the proper press credentials Stephen? Check. Do you have a proper picture ID? Check. But Stephen, you do realize that you are are black right? Check. Sorry Stephen, we just can't let you get too close to the Senator, you people are getting desperate. I wonder what Bob Gabordi, the Executive Editor of the "Tallahassee Democrat", was thinking? Couldn't he have found a white reporter to cover the event? Hello! It was a republican event! Were you prepared to give poor Stephen combat pay Bob?

"We're deeply concerned and disturbed that our reporter — of all of those in that area — was asked to move.....My understanding is that Stephen was the only reporter approached and asked to leave the area, and the only reporter in that area who is black. Another reporter who stood up for Stephen was then asked to leave."

But it wasn't all bad. One of Stephen's colleagues had the guts and courage to stand up for him. (I told you all you should have some white friends). Unfortunately, she was told to take her n****r loving ass packing as well.

McCain has repeatedly taken the low road and played the race card over and over again. The McCain campaign has tried to claim it was because the reporter wasn't designated to be in that area, but the problem with the claim? Many of the white reporters weren't supposed to be there either.

Jonathan Block of the McCain campaign, who was not there at the time of the incident, expressed regret, but stated,

"I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had nothing to do with it."

Block said the area where Price was standing was restricted to members of the traveling national press corps that accompanies McCain on the campaign trail.

Wow. Really. There's this story line going around that McCain loves to be "unscripted" and was always wandering into unprepared situations, giving the impression of "getting down to the people." Why was the black man singled out? And then why was the other reporter ousted for defending him? Why couldn't they simply tell them right then and there that this area is restricted to press that travels with McCain, if that was, in fact, true???

UPDATE: The next line from the Tallahassee Democrat is:

"At the end of the day, your reporter was in the wrong place. I do not know why the other reporters were not moved. The rest of the local press should have been moved as well," Block said.

Which looks like the McCain campaign's excuse strategy, and typical of such things for him. OK, it was just one of those things. But why does this happen now, this way, why always something against blacks?

An excerpt from something previously brewed in New Milford, McCain is content to play the race card and then play the bush/republican victim card:

Though John McCain broke his promise to get back to everyone on that question, NARAL did it for him:

"Let me give you a real, live example, which I've been hearing a lot about from women. There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice," she said.

But as the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America was happy to point out, McCain twice voted against measures that would have required insurance companies to cover birth control -- in 2003 and 2005.

The Republican said Wednesday that he did not recall those votes. "It's something that I had not thought much about," he added.

A campaign aide who refused to speak by name said the Arizona senator opposed all mandates.

No wonder he has been unable to grasp the complex issues of foreign policy. Does McCain's "I don't recall" moment remind you of the bush administration, or what?

Never mind that pesky "ignorance of the law is no excuse" legal dictum -- it's just a tired cliche, I guess.

Topping the list, though, is a classic . . .

Official Statement # 1: "I don't recall."

Many have used these words before, and no doubt many will do so in the future. But who can forget the legendary appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee of the 80th Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales? (Shorter musical version here, and longer KO version here. )

I don't recall. I have no recollection. I don't remember. . .

I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to note a new phrase, rising fast on the charts as the administration's days come to an end: "Let bygones be bygones."

Never mind looking back at past lawbreaking. Don't bother trying to sort out who in the Bush administration (or who, under their orders) did what to whom in violation of US government regulations, federal laws, international treaties, or the Constitution of the United States of America. As the clock ticks down on BushCo, that "accountability moment" that comes every four years is looking mighty frightening to everyone from Bush on down, and so "let bygones be bygones" is sounding better and better.

Ah, the classic official statements of the Bush administration. If you have a favorite variation, do share it in the comments. They all get embroidered, embellished, and enhanced, but each one comes down to the same thing: Don't blame me!

Mighty presumptuous and uppity of McCain to be using presidential talking points already, parroting his BFF bush, ya think? Apparently "Don't Blame Me!" has already worked it's way into the McCain campaign, as well, as McCain and his surrogates dealt the race card from the bottom of the deck and tried to Blame the Obama campaign for doing it.

It is really hard to excerpt any of this, it is so perfectly laid out:

The racial fantasy factor in this presidential campaign is out of control. It was at work in that New Yorker cover that caused such a stir. (Mr. Obama in Muslim garb with the American flag burning in the fireplace.) It’s driving the idea that Barack Obama is somehow presumptuous, too arrogant, too big for his britches — a man who obviously does not know his place.

Mr. Obama has to endure these grotesque insults with a smile and heroic levels of equanimity. The reason he has to do this — the sole reason — is that he is black.

So there he was this week speaking evenly, and with a touch of humor, to a nearly all-white audience in Missouri. His goal was to reassure his listeners, to let them know he’s not some kind of unpatriotic ogre.

Mr. Obama told them: “What they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he’s not patriotic enough. He’s got a funny name. You know, he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He’s risky.”

The audience seemed to appreciate his comments. Mr. Obama was well-received.

But John McCain didn’t appreciate them. RACE CARD! RACE CARD! The McCain camp started bellowing, and it hasn’t stopped since. With great glee bursting through their feigned outrage, the campaign’s operatives and the candidate himself accused Senator Obama of introducing race into the campaign — playing the race card, as they put it, from the very bottom of the deck.

Whatever you think about Barack Obama, he does not want the race issue to be front and center in this campaign. Every day that the campaign is about race is a good day for John McCain. So I guess we understand Mr. McCain’s motivation.

Nevertheless, it’s frustrating to watch John McCain calling out Barack Obama on race. Senator Obama has spoken more honestly and thoughtfully about race than any other politician in many years. Senator McCain is the head of a party that has viciously exploited race for political gain for decades.

He’s obviously more than willing to continue that nauseating tradition.

Go read the whole thing. The other reason the McCain campaign is so excited to accuse Obama of “playing the race card” is that one of Obama’s strengths is that he is not perceived by the wider American public as the aggrieved black man- he is no Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. By claiming Obama is playing the race card (however absurd the charge), they can turn him into the angry black man.

It really is shameless and disgusting, and while I had seen no racial component to the Britney ad earlier, I can understand where Herbert is coming from now. I just didn’t see it before.

The thing you need to remember is that this is not an accident. The McCain campaign is not doing this willy-nilly. This is a plan. This is a strategy. They know damned well what they are doing. And John McCain has not only signed off on it, but he is actively participating on it

Welcome to the panic of dog whistle divide as McCain plays fear and hate politics to stay alive in this campaign. There is nothing clean in John McCain's campaign. Even his supporters are as dirty as they come as they willingly repeat his bigoted and lying talking points with a straight face and feign ignorance to it all.

But lying, smearing and dividing the nation is what the GOP machine has done best for the last 8 years under bush, and that has not changed even one little bit under the McCain banner.

McCain is just another scum-sucking, low-life lying republican. Same failed actions, policies and incompetent ideas, just a different name to put on it all.