An Open Letter to Jimmy Carter - Or, What you talkin' bout, Willis?

Dear Jimmy Carter -

You should really be ashamed of this.

I FIRMLY believe that Rep. Wilson cares about the future of our country, our citizens, and our economy, and it was his passion for these issues that led him to his perhaps ill-timed, disrespectful, but by no means criminal, outburst the other night. I DON'T think that Joe Wilson thought, "hmmm, I don't have to listen to what he says because he doesn't look like me."

Maybe, just maybe, Joe Wilson's outburst had more to do with, oh, I don't know, HEALTHCARE than with racism?

Is there even the slightest possibility that, until you communicated these race-based views that people were more interested in the issue at hand than the color of the skin of the person presenting the platform?

By putting this sort of view out on the national stage, Jimmy Carter, YOU are the one who is observing, mentioning, prioritizing, and giving different treatment to a president because of his race and/or ethnicity. And that is the definition of Racism, sir.

Do the country a favor...please stop placing these misleading, damaging, and completely UNNECESSARY ideas out for an already fired-up populace to seize onto. We are smart enough to know when someone is being bigoted and when someone is being outspoken. And (in this case, at least) those two have no relation to each other. Joe Wilson was standing up for something he believed in, and that something was NOT white supremacy.