http://twitter.com/#!/Auburn1977/status/278236342314475521

Ugly Atwater-esque racial undertones of Karl Rove’s newest ad campaign show a GOP doubling down on racial resentment: salon.com/2012/12/10/kar…

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 10, 2012

Earlier this fall, Salon writer and white guilt purveyor David Sirota flipped his lid, accusing conservatives of criticizing Obama because of white privilege. Today, he picked right up where he left off, donning his trusty race goggles and whining about the latest raaaaaaaacist ad from Karl Rove’s American Crossroads:

Did you catch that? All the white people, that is? In the few seconds featuring people who were not the president, there was not a single person of color! Thankfully, Sirota is on the case:

As you can see … Rove presents the image of an African-American man as an evildoer, referring to him as the tax-raising “he,” and pitting him against the “we” in classic demagogic “us versus them” terms.

Now before you explain that away as non-racial partisanship against a Democratic president rather than coded racial messaging, remember one additional point: In the ad, almost all of the “we” who allegedly oppose tax increases just so happen to be white people. That’s right, save for possibly one or two factory workers blurred in the background of a single shot (I say “possibly” because their ethnicity isn’t clear), all of the “we” who Rove implies are against tax increases — all who are shown while the voiceover says “we need ideas we can all support” — are white. (In all, there are 12 people representing the “we” against Obama — and at most two or three of them are people of color, and that assumes those in question aren’t white, which, again, is unclear. Bottom line: the montage of “we” in the ad is obviously designed to be a montage of White America.)

Obviously.

Sirota insisted that the ad was spawned by the same kind of racism supposedly contained in the GOP’s Southern Strategy of appealing to racist whites and purportedly cherished by former GOP strategist Lee Atwater. Lee Doren attempted to set the record straight:

@rbpundit Even worse. @davidsirota didn’t listen to the full Atwater interview, where he said the opposite of what Sirota says he said.

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@rbpundit @davidsirota Atwater’s point (if you listen to the interview) was that it was too much of a stretch to equate taxes with race.

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@davidsirota Did you listen to the full Atwater interview before you wrote this? salon.com/2012/12/10/kar…

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@jonhenke The distortion is even worse if you listen to the full tape. @rbpundit @davidsirota

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@jonhenke Atwater went out of his way to say the public didn’t care about race so Southern Strategy wasn’t used. @rbpundit @davidsirota

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@jonhenke So The Nation takes the few seconds of the interview and uses it to say the opposite of what he said. @rbpundit @davidsirota

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

@jonhenke And then @davidsirota writes a column based on the opposite meaning. //@rbpundit

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

The @davidsirota Salon article isn’t just wrong b/c it is absurd–which it is. It is wrong b/c it is based on a distortion of Atwater.

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) December 10, 2012

But facts are hard when there’s a point to be made. Sirota may take issue with the truth, conservatives know better, and they called him out for his race-baiting idiocy:

@jtlol I love being told that my opposition to Obama is based on racism. @davidsirota

— Carlton Hinds (@MethuselasChild) December 10, 2012

@davidsirota You are the voice of the black community.

— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 10, 2012

Heh.

@davidsirota How about the all white cast of Obama’s financial Fed, treasury and other financial advisors?

— PJ(@museisluse) December 10, 2012

Good question!

@rbpundit @davidsirota The irony of that article is near-suffocating. Now that takes talent.

— Kitten (@katearthsis) December 10, 2012

@davidsirota Do you see racist conspiracies in crop circles and cloud formations as well?

— jon smythe (@SmytheJon) December 10, 2012

@davidsirota Never mind, I went to your website and watched it. If you see race in this ad you need help. Seriously dude, get help.

— Ward Sheeder (@wsheeder) December 10, 2012

@rbpundit @davidsirota Sirota is suffering from what I call Racial obsession Syndrome! EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING is racial

— Doug Hagin (@DaleyGator) December 10, 2012

Memo to @davidsirota those obsessed with race are the racists.

— Tom (@jtinfo) December 10, 2012

You see, @davidsirota, you can’t see anything BUT race. That’s makes you, by definition, a racist.

— RB (@RBPundit) December 10, 2012

Exactly.

Even liberals couldn’t help facepalming:

This Salon.com article explaining how the words “he’ and “we” are racist reads like it’s from The Onion salon.com/2012/12/10/kar…

— kirsten powers (@kirstenpowers10) December 10, 2012

Sirota column on Crossroads ad is the rare thing so dumb I’m afraid to make fun of it, less the dumb attach itself to me like a curse

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 10, 2012

@davidsirota David, from 1 rational guy to another, I think you’re right abt GOP dog-whistle tactics. But I just don’t see them in this ad.

— Kyle Farquharson (@kylefarq) December 10, 2012

david sirota has almost perfected the art of trolling.

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) December 10, 2012

david sirota looks at standard issue dumb karl rove ad, sees giant ball of racism only visible to him.

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) December 10, 2012

When you’ve lost Oliver Willis …

One would hope that the criticism from both sides of the aisle might give Sirota pause about his race-baiting proclivities, but alas, no. Sirota doubled down:

Just a coincidence Rove chooses almost all white people to exemplify opposition to Obama’s tax hike? Paging Atwater… salon.com/2012/12/10/kar…

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 10, 2012

@kylefarq Im sure it was just coincidence that all opposition in ad is white. And if you believe that Ive got a subprime loan to sell you…

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 10, 2012

I’m sure its just a coincidence that those on Twitter insisting theres nothing wrong with the Rove ad are – shocker! – almost all white!

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 10, 2012

Does anyone really believe the almost-all-white cast of Rove’s ad is a coincidence? Really? Really? Wow. salon.com/2012/12/10/kar…

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 10, 2012

Does Sirota really believe people out there take him seriously? Really? Really? Wow.

Jim Treacher graciously put the stompy-footed screamer into a nutshell:

@davidsirota You are a race-obsessed boob.

— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) December 10, 2012

Indeed.

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/12/10/salons-david-sirota-throws-down-the-race-card-no-one-wants-to-play/