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Do Clintons Lie? Do Skunks Smell?

I have argued on more than one occasion (here?s one; here?s another) that it makes no more sense to be angry at Clintons for lying and skulduggery than it does to be angry at skunks for smelling bad. Now George Will has taken up that point and run with it, making it much better than I did:

America has passed another milestone on its march to equal opportunity thanks to Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, who this week proved that a black billionaire can be just as witless as are certain white billionaires who think their wisdom is commensurate with their net worth. Introducing Clinton at a rally, Johnson called Obama a ?guy who says, ?I want to be a reasonable, likable Sidney Poitier in ?Guess Who?s Coming to Dinner.? ? For the uninitiated, that is how you call someone an Uncle Tom in an age that has not read ?Uncle Tom?s Cabin.?

Johnson also said the Clintons were ?involved in black issues? when Obama ?was doing something in the neighborhood -- I won?t say what he was doing, but he said it in his book.? Johnson was, of course, referring to Obama?s admission of teenage drug use. With Bill Clinton supporting him, he later insisted that he was referring to Obama?s community organizing. The Clinton campaign should not be blamed for this comic dishonesty. In the Clintons? orbit, meretriciousness is as reflexive as a sneeze, and reflexes are not moral failures. [Emphasis added]

Read the whole column, which argues that the sensitivity chickens have finally come home to roost.

Full post as published by Discriminations on January 17, 2008 (boomark / email).