“They have made common cause with the left-wing and Islamist antiwar movements in this country and in Europe. They deny and excuse terror. They espouse a potentially self-fulfilling defeatism. They publicize wild conspiracy theories. And some of them explicitly yearn for the victory of their nation's enemies.” – “Unpatriotic Conservatives,” National Review, April 7, 2003

Who was guilty of such perfidy? Was it anti-war protesters, the Dixie Chicks, or the French? The answer was none of the above. The targets of this diatribe from David Frum, former Bush speech writer who gave us the Axis of Evil, were prominent conservatives who opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Right wing columnist Robert Novak was among those caught in the war hawk cross hairs.

The mistreatment of white Americans arouses fear, suspicion and a flight or fight response so high that it can’t be measured. When white people are victims of police brutality or medical malpractice the society at large sits up and takes notice. Black people do too, but not because we feel less worthy of justice or proper treatment. We know that the system is designed to benefit white people, so their mistreatment sends an extra measure of alertness into the black mind. We are outraged by the abuses heaped upon us and yet part of us is not surprised when we are mistreated and humiliated.

All of those reactions are heightened when the wrath of the powerful falls upon white people. Black people are never allowed to forget missteps, bad decisions or poor choices of words. If discredited we are drummed out of public life, made to disappear like those out of favor in totalitarian states. As the song says, however, the times are changing. White people who don’t toe the line are treated like black people, dismissed and demonized unless the slate is wiped clean by contrition and groveling.

Robert Novak has been a conservative columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for 40 years. His face is seen on nearly every pundit-filled public affairs talk fest where he waxes grandiloquently on the right wing point of view. Novak’s membership in the conservative movement made little difference when he spoke against the war in Iraq. If the mistreatment of white people causes fear, the mistreatment of a card-carrying white conservative by other white conservatives is perhaps a sign of Armageddon.

At first Novak tried to defend himself but it wasn’t enough. The right wing had passed its own internal Patriot Act and Novak was the first defendant. His treatment was akin to what happens when poor people are arrested. An attorney is provided but he or she usually advises a guilty plea to minimize the sentence.

Novak gave up proclaiming that he was a conservative, too. Like a junior Mafioso he had to whack someone to earn his stripes as a made man. In a July 14, 2003 column he revealed that Valerie Plame was a CIA analyst. Her husband, Joe Wilson, had also chosen the wrong side. Wilson’s years of work for the State Department were quickly disregarded when he told the world that the Bush administration was lying about Iraqi attempts to obtain uranium for nuclear weapons.

If hard core conservatives like Novak aren’t safe then middle of the road DLC Democrats like Al Gore have to be crushed, too. Of course, Gore is a very great danger to the right wing. They cannot allow the American people to remember that they actually elected him instead of Bush. As a result Gore fills a very special role as the white punching bag du jour for useless journalists and other opinion makers. He recently gave a speech outlining his reasons for believing that the war in Iraq was a mistake. The speech was classic Gore, smart, to the point and punctuated by the occasional ovation.

What did our pundit class think of the speech? Conservative columnists called him “insane”, “nuts” and theorized that he was “off his lithium” all because he dared state what we know to be true. There was no WMD threat from Iraq, the CIA was misused (it is scary when progressives feel for the CIA), and Americans have died needlessly in a cynical effort to seize oil and power in the Middle East.

Proving that black pundits are of no more use than white ones, Gwen Ifill of the PBS series Washington Week said that Gore, “… took the far left point of view about this.” In fact Gore made no suggestions at all for extricating the military from Iraq and advised John Kerry to do likewise. Gore didn’t advocate leaving Iraq and he expressed his outrage over the Abu Ghraib prison abuse because of the effect it had on U.S. troops and America’s image abroad, not because of the effect it had on the victims and the rest of the Iraqi people. If Gwen Ifill doesn’t know the meaning of the term left wing and she didn’t bother watching the speech then perhaps she should resign from her job and give it to someone who knows something about being a good journalist.

Of course, Gwen Ifill and her media colleagues have a very special job description, it is to support the powerful. The result is the discrediting of anyone who threatens them. A presidential front runner like Howard Dean is beaten down and thrown out like yesterday’s news. Gore is still treated as a figure of amusement or derision. As for black people, we should be very, very afraid.