How about we come up with a new phrase:
Slow Boating.
The continued defense of the indefensible through the absolute insistence that the terms of the debate at hand are solely the terms the Slow Boater brings to the table, despite the diversity and possible accuracy of the opinions of others at the table.
More below...
I live in District 4. I have to live with the results of the District 4 elections. I am white. Both the Democratic candidates for Congress are black. Do I care. Hell no.
I will always vote for McKinney in a race against a Republican, simply because the Republicans have diminished their own party to the degree it's impossible to even support a reasonable or even great man in that party because of the additional influence it gives the party as a whole. I'd vote for a hamster over a Republican at this point. I'd vote for a housefly. I'd vote for a broken bicycle.
But...having voted for CM in every instance like the above, I've had the opportunity to observe her in her natural state, which is not my district, but rather the political sphere itself. And as a result of years of this observation, I'm at the point where I will vote for any Democrat against CM when given the chance.
Cynthia doesn't speak "truth to power." She just spouts off. Frankly, in my eyes, her racist accusations against Al Gore in a crucial time put her in the same category as I put Ralph Nader, though on a smaller scale. But in that race, a smaller scale was all it might have taken between 8 years of Gore and 8 years of the Apocalyptic bullshit we've had to weather. Anyone who tore Gore down for false or insignificant reasons is at least a bit to blame for George W. Bush (I'm not saying he shouldn't have been "gored" at all, just that anyone on our side who damaged him with no good reason was wrong).
Cynthia is a grandstander, and she panders to those who actually think she's speaking for them, when she's actually diminishing their place in the political world. But, like Bush, she knows exactly who her crowd is, and she knows just what buttons to push to keep 'em riled up and supportive.
I'm not one of those folks. And I realize that the first thought in some heads is gonna be, of course, that I'm saying I'm not one of those folks because those folks are black, and I am white. And nothing I say will penetrate the adamantium shell they've built to protect the viewpoint that you can't be against Cynthia McKinney unless you are a racist or are the tool of racists.
Thus, Slow Boating.
Yes, there are quite a few white people in this District who're sick of Cynthia. Damnit, she's our representative in Congress, and we have a right to judge her accordingly. Her race is not a reason to throw her out, but it's not a shield against critique or accountability either. And, yes, there are quite a few black people in this District who're tired of Cynthia's screeds and public spasms, and they voted for Majette, and they're voting for Johnson this time. Slow Boating them by insisting it's the Republicans or the J-E-W-S or Diebold isn't giving them credit as thinking, discerning, black Democrats who come to their own conclusions, and accusing them of being tools of sinister Right Wing or Zionist forces is reprehensible.
Everybody has their own issues. Don't limit the debate by insisting that everyone is operating solely on the issues you're fixated on.
Stop the Slow Boating.