Race-Baiting and The Gubernatorial Election

Margery Eagan’s column on Sunday said something that had to be said about race-baiting and this year’s gubernatorial election… and it’s about time someone in the media finally did.

This contest hasn’t been all about race, has it? Or even much about race, despite dire predictions from the only ones still talking about it. That is: white liberals and professional progressives who seem to revel in discovering some racist outrage to rail against.

You know, Democratic activists insisting any mention of Deval Patrick and crime is racist “code.” Left-of-center women’s groups whispering about the black man stalking the white woman in the notorious Kerry Healey parking garage ad. There was no man, black or white. But there it is, the widely read liberal Web site Blue Mass Group decrying race baiting over Healey’s orange-jumpsuited inmates.

Democratic state chairman Phil Johnston took heat for calling Healey’s use of immigration against Patrick close to “race baiting,” too. But many liberal bloggers and commentators said Johnston was absolutely right. Sometimes it seems as if the more racism they see in everybody else, the better they feel about themselves.

While race hasn’t exactly been an issue of this campaign, it seems like those that support Patrick are the ones who are trying to make it an issue. Even the Boston Globe, in their endorsement of Patrick, said “Patrick doesn’t often explicitly address his race in the campaign. But his positive reception [...] has been a good sign that this state can move beyond its reputation as old, cold, and closed.” Could the message have been any clearer from the Globe? If you don’t vote for Patrick you are “old, cold, and closed,” when it comes to race.

In other cases, as Eagan points out, race has been deliberately inserted into the discussion of Kerry Healey’s ads, which made no mention or implication of race, when they were somehow accused of having racial undertones. Patrick supporters were quick to make the connection with Healey’s ads and the infamous Willie Horton ad… another ad ridiculously accused of being racial because the criminal shown in the ad happened to be black.

Patrick’s internet supporters have also been quick to label Healey’s ads as racist, and even accuse her and her supporters of being bigots, skinheads, etc. etc. This kind of rhetoric is far more negative than any ad put out by the Healey campaign.

Patrick’s supporters ought to be ashamed of themselves for how they’ve acted this campaign season.

Matt Margolis is co-author (with Mark Noonan) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at The Buffalo Bean. Follow Matt on Twitter.