FuglyStick

I respect Jimmy Carter. If nothing else, he was and is a decent man--probably too decent to be the commander-in-chief. But his assertion that the opposition to health care reform is driven by racism is off the mark. While a certain, small, and very vocal percentage of the opposition to health care reform is undeniably tinged with racial undertones, the overwhelming majority have concerns with the policy itself, not the color of the president's skin (this thread is not about the legitimacy of those concerns, but what role, if any, race plays in those concerns).

President Obama has denied race is playing a role in the health care debate; so has Bill Clinton. Does Carter's accusation hurt the health care debate? And is the Republican party doing enough to distance itself from the fringe that is bringing race into the debate, or is it embracing those fringe elements? And if the GOP is embracing those fringe elements, is it hurting the Republican cause?

__________________
AZIZ! LIGHT!