“Either a lot of Democrats have been slandering millions of American voters as racist, or the Tea Party hasn’t gotten the word that Herman Cain is African American.”

But when GOP conservatives from South Carolina have a Black Congressman, a non-white governor and are lining up to vote for a Black presidential candidate, I think it’s time we reconsidered the slur and defame policy. Whatever their parents and grandparents may have thought, and whatever atavistic creeps still snipe from the fringes, the mass of white southern conservatives today have moved on. They clearly and incontrovertibly are judging political candidates by their character and their views, not by the color of the skin.

It would be nice to see a few more voices in the establishment media take note of that. Who knows? An end to the constant drip-drip-drip of accusations that American conservatives are racist thugs longing for the days of Jim Crow might just do something to restore civility in our political discourse.

It’s just a thought.