Daily Kos: Romney sure is kinda-sorta-really racist, huh?

posted at 6:07 pm on May 30, 2012 by Dustin Siggins

This morning, Daily Kos staff writer Jed Lewison posted a collage of photos from Mitt Romney’s new ad “The Promise of America.” Lewison’s headline? “MittRomney’s ‘better America’ sure is white, isn’t it?”

Back in 2010, of course, Lewison was pointing out that Romney was the moderate candidate in the GOP, and that this moderate political philosophy (especially with regards to health care) would defeat his chances of being the GOP nominee. Now that he’s the nominee, Lewison and Daily Kos in general have gone from bashing the GOP for not accepting a candidate they used to say was the best of the bunch (though he was briefly pushed to second-best when Jon Huntsman was a candidate) to bashing Romney as a racist. And in case you think Lewison isn’t accusing Romney of being racist, this liberal blogger came right out and said it: “I’ve always believed that visuals provide some of the most powerful tools available for dog whistling. And when you combine these images with the content of the ad, this one is literally screaming.”

A couple of years ago I wrote a response to a Lewison post on federal spending, and the post led to a cordial series of e-mails between the author and myself. I left the post, and the virtual conversations, with a great deal of respect for Lewison both as a person and as a political writer even despite our political disagreements. Unfortunately, posts like this really stretch his credibility as a political analyst, especially since it takes some effort and planning to notice that all but maybe one (I watched the ad very carefully after reading Lewison’s post) of the people in the video are white. Unless I’m missing something, and it’s both more obvious and more insidious than I thought? Either way, if this is the worst “racism” the left can find in Romney, I have to wonder why the effort is being made. The left is wrong on most policy issues, but that doesn’t make them bad strategists, and accusing Romney of racism when the vast majority of Americans won’t see it is not a good use of time, effort and other resources.

Recently in the Green Room:

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• “She could always find a violation — at least in her opinion, or in her head.”
• The Warriors—And Families—We Honor
• Anthony Weiner’s campaign website accidentally features the Pittsburgh skyline
• Video: Is the age of the flying car about to arrive?

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