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Robert Novak And the Race Card

Conservatives often accuse others of “playing the race card.” Those accusations are, in essence, that others assert that racial animus is the motivation for actions when no proof of such motivation exists.

One person who is fond of suggesting that others are playing the “race card” is Robert Novak. When Al Gore and Jesse Jackson called for Trent Lott to step down as Senate Majority Leader after his comments regarding Strom Thurmond and segregation, Robert Novak was quick to accuse Jackson and Gore of “demagoguing and playing the race card.”

When then Vice president Gore chastised Republicans for their treatment of Judge Ronnie White, Novak called it “Gore’s Race Card.”

When Jesse Helms was criticized by Democrats, Novak came to his defense claiming that Helms' critics had been “reduced to ad hominem assaults and playing the race card.”

Via Elton Beard, by way of Julia, it appears that conservative columnist Robert Novak is now doing exactly what he professes to abhor.

From a Crossfire transcript:

NOVAK: Congressman, do you believe, you're a sophisticated guy, do you believe watching these hearings that Dick Clarke has a problem with this African-American woman Condoleezza Rice?

EMANUEL: Say that again?

NOVAK: Do you believe that Dick Clarke has a problem with this African-American woman Condoleezza Rice?

EMANUEL: No, no. Bob, give me a break. No. No.

If Novak has evidence to suggest that the race or gender of Dr. Rice animates Richard Clarke’s position, he needs to produce it. If he has no such evidence, he needs to apologize to Clarke. He also needs to keep his mouth shut about others playing the race card.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at March 26, 2004 10:30 AM | TrackBack