Racism Remarks on Imus

I caught the end of Evan Thomas' conversation with Imus yesterday and missed the racism discussion. You know, the one where it is implied that Tennesseans are too ignorant or racist to choose a senator based on ability. This morning, Imus raised the issue with Tim Russert, who also apparently believes that there are a substantial number of people who will not vote for a black man solely because of his race. The interesting thing to me is how the implication is that the white person is the one that is acting in a discriminatory fashion. While I don't dispute the idea that some people are racists and will vote based solely off of race, it would be interesting to compare the percentage of white people who vote against Harold Ford, Jr. primarily because of his race to the percentage of black people who vote for Ford primarily because of his race. No white apologist will ever mention that aspect of the "race is a factor" issue and no one else has the balls to raise the question. I do. Ultimately, we may find that racism actually works to Ford's benefit, not his detriment. I would love to see Imus ask the question of Thomas or Russert. Won't happen.