I read that the Washington Post has already put more words on its front page about Rick Perry and Schrodingers Rock — a ginormous boulder with a racial slur on it that some people see, some people don’t see, and no one seems to be able to take a picture of the damn thing — than the Washington Post ever did about Jeremiah Wright.I mentioned that on TV last night and everyone still wants to just talk about Rick Perry. But the story really is not about Rick Perry as a racist, though the media would have you believe that. It was, to be sure, a hit job on Rick Perry, but the story really is about a cultural divide too.Few of those who have reported on it seem to have any idea of how a hunting lease works or why the Perry family just didn’t find some other land in Paint Creek to hunt on. To those asking about the latter, you have no idea how popular hunting leases are or how high the demand is. For perspective, the Perry family was only allowed to hunt on 2% of the total acreage of the land in question — land they did not own, control, or manage.But the larger issue is that reporters believe Southerns still have to prove, not their guilt, but their innocence when it comes to racism. Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times was on John King USA with Donna Brazile and me last night. Zeleny pointed out that there may be other stuff about growing up in West Texas that could compound this insensitivity issue for Rick Perry. (Hat tip to the always gracious Donna Brazile who started her remarks up front that Perry is no racist. She thinks he does need to address the issue and I do agree with her completely on that. The media won’t let it go until he does)Yep.

And what we are seeing in this story is that the media’s presumption is that there is something and they will pursue it. The whole story is a more damning indictment of the DC-NYC’s cultural alienation and back alley myths of white Southerners in the 21st century than it is an indictment of Rick Perry. The DC-NYC media, particular the political media, maintains the the so called “southern strategy” converted all whites in the South to Republicans in the early 70’s. This same cadre of media types forgets the Republican Party did not get more than 50% of the white vote in congressional elections until 1994, and even later for state and local elections. BONUS POINTS: The person who carved that racial slur on that rock was more likely than not a Democrat.Again, it seems more ink has been spilt on the front page of the Washington Post about a giant rock the Washington Post has not even gotten a picture of — it was supposedly seen as recently as 2008 — than was spilt over Jeremiah Wright. White guys in the South are supposed to prove their racial innocence while sitting at the foot of a preacher spewing black liberation nonsense for twenty years is culturally acceptable. Another story the media will avoid like the plague is Barack Obama with the New Black Panthers. The media will also ignore whether Media Matters and the Department of Justice coordinated pushback on reports about the Obama Administration shutting down Justice Department action against the New Black Panthers. They will ignore it because, despite their reputation or methods, the New Black Panthers largely get a pass in the media due to cultural premises related to those that presume Rick Perry a racist till he proves his innocence. A rock no one can find is fair game for the media. But a story about Barack Obama, the New Black Panthers and pictures to prove it too is just too much fanning the racial flames.