Charles Johnson Attacks Robert Stacy McCain as Racist

As of this moment, Charles Johnson has over 1,000 comments on a "private" afternoon comment thread devoted to smearing Robert Stacy McCain as racist:

Here’s a private open thread, restricted to registered LGF users, for a mind-boggling Monday as the right wing blogosphere unites to support an open racist who associates with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, Robert Stacy McCain — a man who believes Abraham Lincoln was a “war criminal” who should have been tried for treason.

Charles Johnson's free to do what he wants with his own blog, but he strains legal and moral boundaries with his libel-blogging against Robert Stacy McCain. And I am happy to disabuse Charles of the notion that R.S. McCain is an "open racist who associates with white supremacists and neo-Nazis." There is no proof for the allegation, not one shred of it. I have known R.S. McCain for two years now, and there's nothing in him that remotely reeks of racist sentiment. Indeed, R.S. McCain represents the epitome of a gentleman and a scholar, and I testify to his unimpeachable integrity on civil rights.

The sources for the common attacks on R.S. McCain as "racist" have long been discredited. Most recently by Stogie at Saber Point, a personal friend of R.S. McCain's during the period of the allegations of racism, "Robert Stacy McCain: I Know Him Better Than Charles Johnson Does." Stogie cites three posts that R.S. McCain has written:

1. "Point One: Charles Johnson doesn't know me from Adam's house cat."
2. "Point Two: Charles Johnson is prejudiced, and subscribes to stereotypes."
3. "Point Three: Charles Johnson will regret it but once, and that will be continually."

I wrote recently that Little Green Footballs "was getting pummeled from all sides." I noted at that entry that it was never personal with Charles Johnson. It's been more a fascination to watch someone who I read and linked to many times descend into cowardly incoherence and megalomaniacal infirmity. It's no longer fascinating; it's now a matter of concern, if not pity. A look at Johnson's blog over the last week shows a search for fringe elements to validate a warped theory that the GOP is taken over by extremists. Sure, the fringe is out there, and these elements include myself, if you want to be technical. It's called the conservative/libertarian base, and it's diverse. I hardly agree with the most unhinged allegations against President Obama and the Democrats. But I endorse many of the charges against them, and I'll defend my positions competently and with ease.

It gets ridiculously boring listening to people like Charles Johnson demean common folks as racists and Nazis. Such smears reveal a shallowness of character and a flickering of ideological commitment.

The "right wing blogosphere" has noticed. See:

* "Goodbye Little Green Footballs, Hello Powerline."
* "Talkin' Charles Johnson Paranoid Blues."
* "Little Green Footballs' Johnson Sinks Further Into the Abyss."

Image Credit: Saber Point, "Charles Johnson Rides Into the Sunset."