Michael Fumento

Gee, and I thought August was supposed to be the slow news month.

"Joe Wilson is racist!" Why? Pres. Obama is black. Well, in the U.S. he is. That's a result of slave laws and the so-called "one drop rule." In any other country he'd be called mulatto - as white as he is black.

But okay, in this country he's called black. Wilson is white. Ergo, Wilson is racist right? Maybe. But you don't establish a pattern with one reference point.

Then you get the people who defend Wilson because, they say, Obama did lie.

Then you get the people who say Wilson is wrong because, they say, Obama didn't lie.

And then there are those who say it's arguable whether he lied or not, and go into a DEEP discussion of the merits of the accusation, but ultimately conclude Wilson shouldn't have done it.

I think even the last category is missing the mark.

No you're not going to get a 700-word column out of this, but here's all it comes down to. Wilson didn't show disrespect for Pres. Obama, be he black, mulatto or a shade of purple. He showed disrespect for the Office of the President.

It's that simple.