The only surprise in the left’s new attack on podcast king Adam Carolla is why it took so long to happen.

Carolla took on Calif. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom during a recent podcast, challenging the liberal politician on his assertion that check cashing stores directly harm Blacks and Latinos. Carolla jumped in, asking Newsom why those two groups in particular lacked access to ATMs and checking accounts. The podcaster aggressively questioned Newsom, saying those groups suffer disproportionately from broken families, a condition that leaves them vulnerable to the kind of predatory practices employed by check-cashing outlets.

Newsom wouldn’t engage in the debate directly, using rhetorical caveats to deflect most of Carolla’s questions. That posturing leaves the problems unsolved, Carolla argued, and that hurts the populations in play.

Both The Huffington Post and Gawker.com used Carolla’s deconstruction of Newsom’s empty platitudes toward the downtrodden into a race card primer, complete with selectively edited comments. Current TV soon followed suit, and more will likely pile on.

Only Carolla isn’t prepping his apology tour like so many other artists in the cross hairs, and he punched HuffPo back–hard–in a recent podcast. He said HuffPo had “blood on its hands” for silencing those who want to help communities in turmoil.

“Me saying parents should stick around and raise the children – me saying families and cultures should focus on education — is not radical or revolutionary. It’s the fucking truth … you silence them by calling them a racist. You have the racist finger out all the time. But the finger you use for personal responsibility — that stays up your ass. That never leaves your asshole, you hypocritical pussies.”

Carolla continued his HuffPo attack yesterday on The Morning Answer on KRLA 870 featuring Breitbart News’ Ben Shapiro.

“Screw you, Huffington Post,” he told the show’s hosts.

Carolla is new to the culture wars, and he’s already sussed out the left’s key weapon: using race to silence those who offer opposing views. He won’t keep quiet, though. Despite HuffPo and Gawker’s pathetic attempt to marginalize him, Carolla’s “pirate ship” is self-powered. It’s his podcast, his digital network, his books and touring schedule, his self-created alcoholic drink (Mangria) and there’s little way pressure from self-appointed interest groups can shout him down.

Which is all well and good, because the left has just begun to fight Carolla. And it’s going to get uglier.