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It was only a matter of time before race became an overt issue in this year’s presidential election. That time has finally come, and the fallout is already hitting the fan. The presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama in July predicted that his rival would attempt to scare Americans [saying “he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name,’ you know, ‘he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.’ “] The phrase was apparently in response to John Mcain’s campaign ad that visually compared Obama to pop celebrities Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton. In response to Obama’s words, John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, accused Obama of playing “the race card … from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.” McCain reiterated those statements [play McCain clip]. Each camp is accusing the other of “playing the race card.” While mainstream media coverage is focusing on who “played the race card first,” the media watchdog group FAIR, is accusing corporate media itself of botching the reporting on this issue. According to FAIR, playing to existing white racism has long been part of the Republican playbook and the media has uncritically accepted McCain’s spin.

GUEST: Jim Naureckas, editor of Extra! FAIR’s publication. For more information, visit www.fair.org.