But of course. If you think it’s bad now, wait until every questioning of President Obama’s policies is met with claims of racism. It’s an easy way to silence his critics, too afraid of being called something they know they’re not.

“Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain’s ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

“A deliberate attempt to smear Obama”? He launched his career in the living room of and spent years associating with a well-known domestic terrorist. As for seeing the country the same way others do, it’s not exactly a secret that the right accuses him of elitism. Oh, wait, I forgot. Even though we used the same line against the very-white Kerry, that’s suddenly a racist accusation, too.

Her reference to Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers’ radical views and actions.

The Associated Press’ outright apologia for Obama is staggering. The “he was a kid when Ayers bombed buildings” is straight out of the Team Obama spin book. In a September 11, 2001 edition of the New York Times, Ayers told the paper that he didn’t regret the bombings and thought we should’ve done more. As stated earlier, Obama’s career was launched in the living room of Ayers. Obama even called him mainstream. Her “palling around” remark is only an exaggeration to those so far in the tank for Obama that they can’t breath.

Second, Palin’s incendiary charge draws media and voter attention away from the worsening economy. It also comes after McCain supported a pork-laden Wall Street bailout plan in spite of conservative anger and his own misgivings.

First of all, Biden voted for the same pork-laden bailout. Second of all, there’s no indication whatsoever that conservatives would retaliate by not voting for McCain come November. “It’s a distraction!” is yet another classic from the Team Obama spin book.

Most troubling, however, is how allowing racism to creep into the discussion serves McCain’s purpose so well. As the fallout from Wright’s sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America’s promise to treat all people equally.

Since when has learning about the character and history of someone looking to be our president become a distraction? Oh, right. When the Associated Press’ candidate of choice was discovered to have spent 20 years in the church of an anti-American pastor who says we deserved what happened on 9/11.

The author of the AP article is Douglass K. Daniel. Daniel is notorious in the conservative blogosphere for his liberal spin. He claimed that a center founded by two liberal thinktanks is “independent” and attacked Tony Snow in the very article announcing his passing. He’s a liberal hack and nothing more.