I think we're starting to drill this down. I think you're gettng hung up on the lack of intent. I think we all agree that racism implies intent. By using typical GOP talking points, the McCain campaign can avoid all allegations of being intentionally racist itself, because its attacks can arguably be used against a white candidate. But the typical lines of attack are more powerful against a black candidate because of institutional racism. The McCain campaign is well aware of this.

It's the institutional racism embedded within the electorate that is allowing these weak-ass lines of attack to stick, which is what is so frustrating. And the McCain campaign is well aware of this.

The McCain campaign knows they're not just unleashing a swarm of bees - they're doing it on a group of people who are allergic to bees. In othe words, the electorate has a particular weakness that the McCain camp is intentionally exploiting. Of course their built-in excuse is simply that "this is what we've always done. It's not our fault that it works better against negroes."

So maybe that's the disconnect here. I fully agree that the McCain campaign won't release ads that are overtly racist. But they will make every excuse they can to appeal to the racism of the electorate, and these petty, shallow, simplistic, superficial attacks are what they've decided are the key to victory. And they very well may be.

First, sorry for calling you Jed.

Yeah, Gore and Kerry and Clinton and Mondale were all accused of being anti-American, unpatriotic, muslim terrorist-sympathizers. I forgot all about that. Yes, you as a rational, intelligent person may see Obama's ancestry as being more "American" than most, but I assure you a majority of people in flyover country do not feel that way.

The people who are "crying" racism are not trying to quell legitimate debate and questions on Obama's positions. I have no problem with his policies being attacked. But that's not effective because it flys over the heads of most voters like a 747 flying over Iowa. What works and what gains the most traction is the stuff ordinary 'mericans can understand - the shallow, superficial, character-based attacks that are deeply rooted in institutional racism. The latest McCain ads tap into that - the "are we really gonna let this uppity negro get away with thinking he's 'The One'" thing.

It's all the more obvious when you consider that McCain only abandoned his pledge to stick to the issues when he realized he was getting clobbered on the issues. This is 21st century marketing at work - the people running these campaigns are pros, and know exactly how to sell subliminally and tap into people's most base-level fears and prejudices.

If McCain gets back to the issues, I assure you the racism allegations will go away. But he will not get back to the issues, because he has only started gaining in the polls since abandoning the issues and going straight for the lizard brain.

You couldn't be more wrong. The "American candidate Americans have been waiting for" CLEARLY contained the embedded message that Obama isn't fully American. Where do you think all this unfounded "Obama hates America" stuff comes from?

It's institutional racism - the subtle undercurrent of fear and contempt for people "not like us". This entry (and the American Prospect article it linked to) are dead, spot-on. Obama is in a catch-22 because of ever-shifting expectations for him. For many people, he can do no right, and the McCain campaign is all-too-eager to dish out justifications for what amounts to plain old institutional racism. Obama has to be beyond perfect to get our seal of approval, and meanwhile McCain can take a dump on the sidewalk and that's just good ol' (emphasis on OL') Johnny Boy being his maverick self.

You see it everywhere on message boards, blog postings, and man-on-the-street interviews. The kind of people who jump at every opportunity to bash Obama without even realizing what they're saying or why it's totally inaccurate, misleading, and illogical. Most people don't even realize they're doing it, and when you call them on it they get extremely defensive, which is what makes combating it so difficult. The trick is educating people without making them feel bad about themselves. It took me awhile, with the help of some very dear black friends, to realize the power and pervasiveness of institutional racism, and I assure you that it's very real, and nobody is "making this stuff up".

You're right - they should really be using their 30-second commercials for detailed policy proposals.

I agree that it's a fine line, and people are all-too-willing to categorize any negative directed toward Obama as being racist.

HOWEVER, you cannot deny the effect of institutional racism. Obama is under a vastly more powerful microscope than McCain - his every utterance is dissected down to the molecular level looking for something that can be spun negatively. He isn't given the benefit of the doubt on anything - he has had to be far more perfect, far more polished, far more flawless than the other candidates. Why do you think that is? Just because he's young and relatively inexperienced? Or is it because he's inherently less-trusted than the white candidates? Obviously it's impossible to disentangle the multitude of factors that cause people to be more skeptical toward him than McCain, but institutional racism is certainly one of them.

For instance, Jeremiah Wright is no more controversial than John Hagee, yet Wright dominated the news cycle for months while Hagee barely warrants any mention. Why do you think that is?