So if I understand how this works, we currently live in a media world where “Juan” is racist, where “food stamps” is racist, where pointing out that a president who enjoys basketball enjoys basketball is racist. But “cracker“? Why, that’s not improper in the least.

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Well, I guess it’s okay to use the slur “cracker” for the for the same reason it’s okay to use the N-word. Some in the black community use the N-word and some in Florida use the word “cracker.”

Oh, wait; it’s not okay to use the N-word.

Anyway, what does logic have to do with the mainstream media justifying and rationalizing anything they do? But justify and rationalize Jonathan Martin did when he called in to Newsbusters to justify and rationalize his use of the word “cracker.”

You can read the whole thing here, but this is my all-time favorite part:

Let’s face it, you were on MSNBC where virtually every criticism of Barack Obama they report as being somehow racist.”

“Totally agree that there is now a culture in the sort of political media universe on both sides where there is this sort of outrage industry that has been created where both sides monitor the other and try to find examples of offensive comments that can be seized upon and stirred up entirely for political gain where you have this, again, faux indignation, but it’s really just posing as indignation,” he said. “It’s all about political point scoring, and I think it absolutely takes place now on both sides.”


He elaborated, “It’s the same goal, and it’s to try to catch the other side in saying something that is going to be received as offensive or outrageous or politically damaging or what have you. That’s the game, okay? But keep me out of it, alright?”

“Keep me out of it.”

That’s rich coming from a guy who investigated a private citizen after that private citizen had the temerity to ask then-candidate Obama a question that created a political problem for The Teleprompter-less One.

And isn’t it interesting how Martin has all this time on his hands to articulate a case against what he sees as a cynical game of racial gotcha when it’s him in the cross-hairs, but as a POLITICAL reporter he’s apparently too busy to put the same effort into exposing and deconstructing this game when it’s played by others… against conservatives.

I guess that when Obama’s supporters and the MSM and Politico itself engages in racial gotcha to stifle debate, Martin doesn’t see that as worthy of a story, something that should be exposed for what it is. Moreover, Martin’s obviously not so principled against this tactic that he isn’t willing to appear on MSNBC, the very network that patented and never stops engaging in this tactic.

But when he thinks it’s happening to him, you can expect a phone call!

If Martin doesn’t want to write about how Politico’s pals at MSNBC and Media Matters (click those links for the full story) have made a cottage industry out of racial gotchas, you’d think that his principled opposition to such things would at least put a stop to it in the predominantly Caucasian Politico newsroom. You’d think that before Martin called up NewsBusters, he’d take a moment to…

Clean. Up. His. Own. Backyard.

Martin’s got all kinds of time to dig up 15 year-old nothingburgers about Herman Cain and then participate in and encourage a feeding frenzy around them that even left-wing media watchdogs said went too far. He’s got all kinds of time to defend himself from rules written by his own occupation and publication. But where’s the deconstruction of all this “political point scoring” when Politico engages in it, when the left and their allies in the MSM relentlessly engage in it?

There isn’t any; in fact, it’s just the opposite. Politico amplifies and makes news and aids and abets this racial demagoguery as much as anyone.

Jonathan Martin made some pretty persuasive arguments for why it’s okay for him to use the word “cracker,” but it appears as though he’s saving that defense only for himself. He’s too busy doing the real reporter-ing needed to investigate private citizens and take down GOP candidates.

Living by the sword is one thing. Dying by the sword is another. But whining about the sword is simply pathetic.