Racebaiting

The racebaiting has turned from tragedy to farce.  Barney Frank...

Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation's housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that's racially motivated. [...] "They get to take things out on poor people," Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people."

 I hardly know where to begin.

• Yes, "subprime mortgage crisis" is obviously just code for "minorities".
• Yes, it's obviously inappropriate to suggest that extending mortgages to people who can't afford them is somehow responsible for this financial crisis of people unable to afford their mortgages.
• No, it's not at all ridiculous for Rep. Barney Frank to say these things just weeks after he had praised Bernanke's new rules that restricted mortgages that were "inappropriate" for unqualified borrowers.
• No, it's not at all hypocritical for Barney Frank to say it's racist to point out the problems with loans made to poor/underqualified people just weeks after he had said we need regulation that says "Do not lend money to people who can't pay it back."
• No, it's not at all contradictory for Barney Frank to say "They get to take things out on poor people" just weeks after he had said "we have made a mistake in this society" by "push[ing] and encourag[ing] people into home ownership - people who, in some cases, weren't ready for it."

I keep thinking these people are going to get called out on this obvious, laughable crap, but they keep saying it and - with a few noteworthy exceptions that do "fact check their ass" about the mortgage crisis - the media keeps transcribing it. 

Why are  Douglass K. Daniel, the Associated Press and Andrew Sullivan so eager to race-bait?

I'm not saying they're racists, per se, but it is rather remarkable how often they imagine they're hearing "dog whistles".  It's even more remarkable that they have no problem fomenting racial tension for political gain every time they find a way to infer racism.

On the other hand, perhaps there's no important distinction between "racist" and "willing to casually, intentionally racebait for political gain."

Racism is a genuine problem and Republicans should do more to denounce it when it happens.  This seems like a good opportunity.