PressEthic

Watch the MSNBC video on AlterNet, if you haven't seen it yourself.

Tony Snow responds to a question from Chris Matthews saying "maybe I’m just quaint in this day and age. But no, I think there is always an attempt when you've got an African-American candidate to try to attribute something to the race card."

In the tape you can see that Matthews' mouth is agape. Even he can't believe it.

Alterman says:

Matthews, no liberal, very clearly lays out the pre-existing stereotype that this ad fits snugly into; yet Snow smirks it off

Nasty campaign-inspired attacks are nothing new, but that doesn’t mean that we should laugh any of them off as just part of the game. I hope Tennessee’s voters will reward this tactic by voting for Ford. But it’s not enough to just let each election decide what is fair game, we need a national response, preferably from both parties, to call an end to these tactics.

Now back to the White House. Should we just call this Snow’s gaff? Is it unfair to question whether that mentality is shared by others at the White House?