Blaming the white American man is an ingrained habit, driven by political correctness and unapologetic biases.
There was no joy in liberal land when the prime suspect in the Times Square bomb plot turned out to be a Pakistani-American. The right-wing terrorist boogeyman vanished. Leftist racial and ethnic profiling failed again.
The widely distributed videotape of a lighter-complected suspect near the attack scene – almost universally reported as a “white man” – raised expectations in some quarters that this could be the work of right-wing extremists, maybe even – oh dare it be hoped? – a Tea Party Republican.
The right-wing bomber story line quickly established itself in the meme stream. New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, prompted by CBS News reader Katie Couric, speculated that the culprit was “homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something.”
Translation: F*CK WHITE America
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and NBC News “terrorist analyst” Roger W. Cressey dwelt long on the idea of the bomber being someone with a “right-wing” agenda. Geraldo Rivera seemed fixated on the idea that the bomber was a “white man.” Similar unsubstantiated musings and outright accusations were rife in the liberal blogosphere.