Many black conservatives have used the phrase 'liberal plantation' to imply that the left is not the ally of the black community that it seems to be. They have so far gotten little traction, but eventually that could change. The little-reported case of lefty pundit Spencer Ackerman is one more bit of kitty-litter under the tires. Ackerman is a writer whose email was exposed by the blog the Daily Caller.

Ackerman, brainstorming with fellow lefty journalists on how to respond to stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, recommended that they randomly select some critics of Obama, and "call them racists." According to a writer at politico.com, the left-blogosphere is far from outraged by this tactic; it has responded with a "collective shrug."

Early in the 20th century, racism was part and parcel of progressivism. Like so many hogwash theories of the left, this was based on pseudoscience that had become fashionable in academia. From a review of a book by David W. Southern that appeared in Reason magazine::

"How did reformers infused with lofty ideals embrace such abominable bigotry?..."At college," Southern notes, "budding progressives not only read exposés of capitalistic barons and attacks on laissez-faire economics by muckraking journalists, they also read racist tracts that drew on the latest anthropology, biology, psychology, sociology, eugenics, and medical science."

Later of course, the left divorced itself from racism, and became champions for diversity. Black voters in overwhelming numbers turned to the Democratic party, culminating in the election of Barack Obama as the first black U.S. President.

But even as Obama was being elected there were signs of trouble in paradise, and a circuitous return to the progressive racism of the past. The Duke lacross rape case was an eerie echo of the Emmett Till story. A former Vietnam war protester and Democratic prosecutor Mike Nifong tried to railroad white Duke students for the rape of a black woman in Durham, NC. Thomas Sowell is by no means alone in suggesting that Nifong's plan was to gain favor with black voters and thus win his election.

What is infrequently made explicit is that the false accusation of racism is itself an intrinsically racist tactic. It doesn't take a PhD. to realize that the inevitable result of the repeated use of the tactic is greater racial division. And the proliferation of accusations predictably makes it more difficult for genuine victims of racism to plead their case. No semi-reflective person would employ the tactic, unless they were comfortable with creating a more racist, more divided America.

With the Ackerman email and the left's 'collective shrug,' we finally have smoking gun evidence. From now on when a left-winger makes a baseless accusation of racism, we only have to respond with two words: "Spencer Ackerman." That whirring sound, slowly declining in frequency, is the sound of tires finally starting to gain traction.