Ben Smith, right and wrong

Shortly after I posted my reply to the SPLC's Dr. Heidi Beirich, there was a miraculous intervention (cough, cough) by which I was inspired to e-mail Dr. Beirich again, urging her to read an item by Ben Smith of the Politico:

The pastor of the San Diego megachurch Vincent attends (with Carrie Prejean, natch) is black. She's also spent most of the last few years on a pair of inspirational books about, basically, racial reconciliation in the friendship between a rich white art dealer and a homeless black drifter, the first of them a Times bestseller. More broadly, she hails from a (large) stream of Evangelicalism that puts racial reconciliation very high on the agenda.
Vincent is -- like Palin -- well to the right, as Blumenthal notes, on abortion; but the race card (in both cases) seems out of place.

So much for the "Lynn Vincent, Secret Racist" meme, then. But in the same item, Ben Smith also writes:

Max Blumenthal goes after Sarah Palin's co-author, Lynn Vincent, in a broadside that focuses largely on her 2006 collaboration with a conservative blogger, Robert Stacy McCain, whose views on race . . . have since made him a pariah even on the right.

This is simply false, and I dare Ben Smith to put forth evidence that my "views on race" have made me "a pariah even on the right."

To begin with, let Ben Smith ask himself, "What are Stacy McCain's views on race?" He'll have a very difficult time discovering the answer, as the sources for this old "white supremacist" smear are a Gordian knot of confusion and error, and in some cases I have been condemned for doing things I never did. (For example, contrary to Michelangelo Signorile's assertion, I never contributed to the white separatist site "Reclaiming the South.")

So if anyone tries to tell you that they know my "views on race" -- and especially if they claim my views are so hateful or extreme as to make me a "pariah" -- you may rest assured that you are dealing with either a Liar or a Fool. Given that so many have demanded some sort of Definitive Statement from me, however, I will now provide one:

I believe that liberals are wrong about black people. Liberals are also wrong about white people, brown people, yellow people and red people. If NASA announced tomorrow that it had discovered a distant planet inhabited by purple people, anything that liberals believed about purple people would be wrong, too. Liberals are not only wrong about race, but they are also wrong about economics, crime, poverty, religion, science, war, marriage and foreign policy. In fact, as evidenced by their global-warming hysteria, liberals are wrong about the weather. Insofar as there is a "liberal consensus" on any particular subject -- including movies and sports -- then the truth is likely to be the exact opposite of whatever liberals say.

One of the things I have sought to avoid over the years is the "some of my best friends" defense. If my friends are aware of these attacks, they will defend me. If they are unaware of the attacks, it would be wrong to involve them in a dispute that is not of their concern. My enemies are my enemies, and I would do my friends no favors by siccing my enemies on them, so as to expose my friends to these guilt-by-association attacks.

However, if Lynn Vincent is both (a) undeniably my friend, and (b) an advocate of "racial reconciliation," then it would behoove Ben Smith to notice that there is a very large non sequitur -- the size of an elephant -- in the room.

BTW, Ben Smith: I'm not merely a "conservative blogger." I've been cranking it out on deadline since 1986, winning national awards before I ever came to Washington, and came to Washington nearly a decade before there was such a thing as the Politico. I've got T-shirts older than you, punk, and next time you call somebody a "pariah," I'd advise you to make a couple of phone calls first.

As my Old School editors always told me, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." To which I would add this corollary: If a liberal says your mother loves you, your mother hates you.

UPDATE: Wow, suddenly everything comes tumbling down. Lynn Vincent "outs" her left-wing lesbian sister Lori and also the lesbian friend who was maid of honor at Lynn's own (hetero) wedding. (Hat-tip: Conservatives for Palin.) I wonder how long before Lynn outs me as a neo-Confederate lesbian?

Meanwhile, it has been noted that I elided the part of Ben Smith's post where he described me as being opposed to interracial marriage. To explain: Both my time and the reader's attention are limited quantities. A full-length explanation of the minute details of the accusations against me is ineffective and wasteful. The larger point is false -- I'm not a "white supremacist" or an "avowed segregationist," etc. -- and a discussion of the details only lends credibility to the accuser. "Stay out of the tall grass."

However, a commenter at the Hot Air Green Room -- "Diane" whose Twitter ID is "infobee" --raised this question quite directly, and I responded at length, citing the research of Dr. Zhenchao Qian at Ohio State University. Further explanation is possible but not, I hope, necessary.

Also see Cassandra at Villainous Company on "second-degree guilt-by-association."