Josh Marshall notes a new trend with elChimpo--He has become the saviour of the "Colored" masses!?!

Perhaps it is a sign of the more general desperation. But watch how the president now routinely accuses critics of his Iraq policy of being racists.

This is from a brief press availability the president gave this morning with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin ...

"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern."

There is so much that is wrong-headed and dishonorable in this repeated invocation -- an implicit, churlish claim that the only reason to oppose him is racism -- that it is hard to know where to start.

This constant refrain does suggest a certain hyper-awareness and focus on skin color and perhaps limpieza de sangre. And what's the deal with 'our' skin color being white? I'm white. The president is white. But 'our' skin color is not white.

Perhaps the principal problem here is the president's belief that saying he's for 'democracy' makes it so, that making the claim places him on the moral high ground even if he has no idea how to accomplish it, has already largely bungled the process, and has already lost the trust of those whose democratic aspirations he claims to defend and champion.

-- Josh Marshall