All of the recent “Republicans are a bunch of racists” posts, and comments on posts, are getting so tiresome. And, not tiresome in the “why do those guys have to keep bringing this stuff up, can’t we talk about something else” way but instead the “this is a completely baseless, insulting, and knee-jerk reaction that carries absolutely no merit” way.

Some of the recent statements I have read on Nashville blogs include things like, “Republicans can throw as many brown guys as they want in front of the cameras but it doesn’t change the fact that they are racists” (Or, as Southern Beale put it exactly

, there is a “huge racist faction” in the Republican party. Really? Huge? What’s your basis for this adjective?) and “Won’t some Republicans get mad when they find out they have a black chairman. Better not put his face on any mailers” and “There are more racists in Republican circles than in liberal ones.”

I understand, Democrats. I’ve been there. I used to be a Democrat and I had a blast mocking the GOP as a party of awkward, old white men. Oh, what good times those were! I was a senior in high school when Bob Dole ran for President in 1996 … he made it easy. Then I grew up and realized that name-calling is really just silly and an easy out, especially when no one makes you explain yourself. Just say a Republican is a racist. No problem! It’s fine … everyone knows it’s true!

Let’s think back to the primaries, shall we. How many articles were published that featured Democratic voters who could not bring themselves to vote for Obama due to the color of his skin? And, they weren’t just in the South. They live in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, Idaho, and certainly the South as well. Unfortunate, but true. Do you not include these folks at part of your party? (By the way, I grew up in D.C. and worked/lived in the Northeast after college. The South does not hold exclusive rights on racist residents … not by a long shot.)

As far as Chairman Steele is concerned, what basis … what REAL basis … do you have for thinking that average Republicans are not going to be happy that a black man is leading the party? Besides, let’s take a look at the rich and diverse racial history in the leadership of the Democratic National Committee. There’s former Chairman Ron Brown and … and … well, that’s about it. What happened, Democrats? Did your constituency get too nervous about having a minority in charge so you went back to electing all white men (and one white woman) since then? See how absurd that sounds.

Yes, you certainly can throw out antecdotes about individual racist morons in our party or isolated cases in which racial overtones were used by certain subgroups within the party as campaign tactics to appeal to a SMALL segment of the population, but I can match you each time with an instance in the Democratic Party. I have no doubt about this assertion at all … I have plenty of examples running through my head already. Racism is ugly and should be condemned when it happens, but it is not tagged to one party.

Can anyone who likes to throw around the “Republicans are a bunch of racists” line to point to a single policy or value advocated by the party that implies or outright smacks of racism? Please share. Or, has it just become politically cool to make the two “R” words automatically synonymous with absolutely no basis for such an assertion?