(UPDATE: I just want to note that the the talking heads on the left as well as the right are trying to minimize the amount of racism being tossed out there; as if it's only a handful of people doing this. James Carville was on CNN just this AM trying to downplay the bigotry. I think not. Take a look at my long list -- a sampling -- of what has transpired not just in the South but all over the country. It's not just teabaggers, it's DC insiders and pols spewing racist garbage on the air as fact. )

Carter's observations may seem obvious to many of us here at Pandagon. We've seen this racist, code-laden garbage surface during the 2008 campaign only to revive with a bigoted bang right after the inauguration. But it's significant that the former President, a man of the South (as is Joe "You Lie!" Wilson) during a time when there was enormous social race-based upheaval calls it out so bluntly. He knows most of this crap is simply dancing around calling the current President of the United States a n*gger -- and you know Wilson knows it too.

Honestly, I'm surprised these fringe birthers, teabaggers and junior-league Klan member wannabes haven't thrown down that card yet. It's on the tips of their forked tongues. (Huff Post):

"I think it's based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."

The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was a part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators equating Obama to Nazi leaders.

"Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care," he said. "It's deeper than that."

More of what Pres. Carter said, via the WaPo:
"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American," Carter told NBC in an interview. "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that shared the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African Americans"

Continued Carter: "And that racism inclination still exists... It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."

Related: