In case you haven’t heard, yesterday, at his library in Atlanta, former president James Earl Carter, Jr., said Joe Wilson’s outburst was racially motivated. Now, Jimma, where in the wild world of sports did that come from?! Oh yeah, from James Clyburn, another member of the SC Congressional delegation; oh, and also from the Rev Al (Sharpton), Maureen Dowd, and countless others with a national audience… some have even added the “N” word to the end of  “You lie!”.

As a white southern conservative, this is a card game you can’t win – the race card trumps them all. Regardless of your history, regardless of countless misinterpretations, misrepresentations, and misunderstandings, once you’re branded a racist, you wear the scarlet “R.” Joe Wilson now is historically a racist, because he voted against moving the Confederate Flag while in the SC House, because he is a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, and because he accused a sitting black President of being dishonest with the American people. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think Wilson’s outburst was epically inappropriate. But, had John Conyers, Sheila Jackson Lee, or better yet, John Spratt or Gene Taylor lost their cool, they wouldn’t have been called a racist. Well, Gene Taylor might have; he’s a Blue Dog.

Here’s the inherit problem, liberals think conservatives are racist simply because they’re conservative. The Rev Jesse (Jackson) admitted as much on MSNBC:

“… There is a struggle between the hope of going forward and the fear of going backwards and the word – the atmosphere is loaded with coded words. Hitler, socialist, un-American, not born in America, even indoctrinate our children, these are very heavily coded words. And the elephant in the room really is the big ‘C’– behind the big C-word, conservative, for some that means fiscal, for some, it means religious ethics, for some it means a code word for race…”

For these people, it has nothing to do with issues; if you go against the grain you’re a racist. Obama can’t be called a Socialist, because he has espouses leftist ideas; he can’t have his birth record questioned, because there is still a glimmer of suspicion; and he can’t be accused of lying for not telling the whole truth. His policies cannot be rejected simply on the basis of politics; if you’re a white conservative, you’re a racist; if you’re a black conservative, a la Michael Steele, you’re an Uncle Tom, a sellout.

So, what do we do? Keep fighting nationally, roll with the punches, and hope one day the rules change. BUT, mostly, keep pushing the ideas one on one. A good friend told me once, “When you drill down to the wallet, we’re all conservative.” (Bryan Calvert)