I’m a racist. You’re a racist. He’s a racist. She’s a racist. Wouldn’t you like to be a racist, too?

This election cycle has sounded like a sicko version of that old Dr. Pepper ad. So many people are racists, it’s hard to keep up!

Let’s take a look at this week’s charges of racism, which come from the Left. They focus on two ads in the Tennessee Senate race. This race features Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. Corker is a white, former mayor of Chattanooga, and owner of a successful construction business. Ford is a black Congressman from a prominent political family in the state.

Here’s the TV ad in question. Go ahead and watch it. I’ll be here when you get back. The alleged racism lies in the fact that a white, blonde woman says, “I met Harold at the Playboy party,” and entreats him to call her at the end of the ad. The theory of those crying racism is that the idea of a white woman fraternizing with a black man was meant to conjure up some good Old South feelings about interracial dating.

It’s a serious reach to assume that was the intent of the Republican National Committee. Had they featured a black woman asking him to call her, I’m sure there would have been some coded message there as well, like, “Harold Ford should stick to his kind.” I don’t know how the liberal mind works, but I’ve gotta believe if it weren’t this racial overreach, it would have been another one.

People disagree with me on this. Republicans disagree with me on it. Ken Mehlman said he understands the other side’s point of view and Corker disavowed the ad on the grounds that it was “tacky.” Others have told me it was a Republican gaffe, racist or not, because it could be read as racist. Well, frankly, if we limit our political advertising things that won’t offend liberals, we will have no political advertising.

Try the other one on for size. It’s a radio ad, once again anti-Ford. Listen to it, here.

Now, the “racist” story behind this one is that there are drums as soundtrack to the parts of the ad that talk about Harold Ford. Liberal blogs have referred to them as “tom-toms” and “jungle drums,” and suggested that they’re meant to evoke images of Africa, the Dark Continent, thus turning off lily white Southern voters. Of course, it’s hard to make the argument that the anti-Ford ad is accentuating Ford’s ethnic “savagery” when the ad copy refers to his prep-school education and Northeastern roots.

Is it just me or does it feel more likely that the people who see and hear these innocuous ads and immediately jump to accusations of racism are the ones with the racial hang-ups, not Republican Southerners?

All of their theories, of course, are predicated on the idea that Tennesseans, and all Southern conservatives, are troglodytic racists who are boorish enough to vote against a man because he’s black and simultaneously sophisticated enough to pick up on very subtle coded political messages about his race.

I just don’t buy it. Listen, I understand that white Southerners are not wholly undeserving of such suspicions. Neither, certainly, are Republican operatives. I’ve lived in the South my whole life. I have seen much racial strife. But I’ve also seen much racial strife overcome.

The South is a resilient place full of warm people who don’t spend all their time thinking about race. It’s a place where black and white people live side by side, in greater percentages than any other region in the country, and where peace between them is the rule, not the exception.

Tennessee, in particular, was the first former Confederate state to ratify the 14^th amendment and it had an anti-Klan law as early as 1868. It elected its first black member of the state General Assembly in 1873—Sampson W. Keeble.

More recently, the state has also elected Harold Ford, Jr. and his father before him to represent the 9^th Congressional District from 1975 until now. Those are just a few things you can learn about Tennessee from a quick Google search. The same can be done for any Southern state. The South and its people are not the caricatures the Left makes them out to be. Continued...