" 

 :::I have to join the chorus of voices disagreeing with this. The charge of 'racism' has been thrown around countless times in our society, along with other slanders. Generally, in order to rise to the level of documentation, one needs to show that there is sufficient reason to believe the charge. Here we just have a few people speaking off-the-cuff saying ""it's racist!"" with no proof or justification whatsoever. Dowd even found it necessary to add an imagined word to Wilson's comment to make it 'racist'. It's sheer speculation, no matter who said it, and if some editors are going to allow an unfounded accusation like this to tarnish this man's name, we'll have to add refutation of this opinion - something like Jonah Goldberg's excellent article pointing out that if Dowd hears racism where there is none, this means she is prejudiced. This could quickly devolve. So why not just remove it? "