Jimmah Carter's outburst put a screaming halt to the "RACIST!" canard. When the 'worst president of the 20th century' says conservatives who oppose Obama are "RACIST!", liberal people began to realize how ridiculous it sounded. Couple that with the fact that conservatives were not cowed by the appellation; they've pulled it back with the realization of how little sting it actually carries now. As you pointed out, they need to conserve that for a "real emergency". However, I think they will also find 'that dog won't hunt' if they try to play it again in the future. Hard to scream RACIST! when you've got a Black man in the WH and a Black man running DOJ. The diehard Obamabots will buy it, but it appears that they comprise only 12% of the electorate.

The race card stings in a different way now.

People have had enough of being falsely accused of racism and aren't going to stand for it any more.

So see, Jimmy had a real purpose in life after all.

I believe you included an extra word in your final sentence w.r.t. to these 3 individuals - 'useful' ?

To my mind, at least, Dukakis appeals strictly as a caretaker senator until the next election.

Keep in mind Dukakis is 76 years old now, especially when you say "caretaker". Probably better to just stuff Splash and prop him up in a chair. Everyone already knows how he'd vote.

What a sick joke to play on the People of Mass. The socialist's are scraping the bottom of the barrel for sludge to replace uncle pickled. Looks like they've found some.

914 - Hey, on the bright side at least it's not another Kennedy. Just a clone.

The Left has already forgotten about Alinsky.

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

Previously, when the Left played the race card they followed Rule 11 and made it a personal attack. Now we have individuals playing the race card, not against individuals but against general groups.

Nobody wants to be seen defending a racist for fear of being called a racist themselves. When played against individuals or small groups it is effective in peeling them away from the herd.

Most people are NOT racist anymore. So if the charge is used too much or too broadly, it is no longer effective.

When Jimmy Carter says that most people who oppose Obama are racist, then the racism charge is no longer personalized.

Look at the polls, it ts the majority of Americans who oppose Obamacare. The racism charge is not targeting individuals, it is painting the majority of Americans as racist.

What that means is the average American hears Jimmy Carter and says "Wait a minute. Is he talking about me? I don't feel comfortable with Obamacare. But, I'm not a racist."
The charge is not peeling people from the herd anymore.

Also, look at the last line of Rule 11.

Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

Ironically,it is the healthcare debate that has been personalized into Obamacare. And its the racism charge that looks like the attempt to shift or spread the blame.

Damn, I wish I had read this book 20 years ago. Alinksy's book could be on par with Sun Tzu or Miyamoto Musashi.

Liberals (progressives as they like to be called now) also hate rule #5. They do not like ridicule when it's aimed at them.

Eric@9, Great observation.

"" ... John (McCRainman) says (Carping Cartah) was one of the worst "presidents" of the 20th century ... ""

Only one of, eh?

So Mr McCRainman's a fool AND a liar.

Yawn.

Next?

"914 - Hey, on the bright side at least it's not another Kennedy. Just a clone."

Clone? In that case they scraped the river bottom for some matching DNA.

Brian always has a really cool comeback. Now if only he was intelligible.

YAWN!

Pat is the most vital commentator on tv. his books are always best sellers, even "the unneccesary war" which is like 500 pages long and an exceedingly dry argument about ww2. and he was the only person on tv or in the press who really came out strong against the iraq war, which added many years to his career.

He the most honest commentator, which is why he's so controversial. I don't agree with him on everything but I admire him for being honest and value him espeically for his antiwar views. without him the anti war movement would have literally no one speaking for us except for when they deign to allow Ron Paul on for like a minute.

check out his stuff at

http://original.antiwar.com/author/buchanan/