Jon Stewart was right

Why would I complain about "spineless Democrats," as well as the GOP? Jonathan Edwards, for example, has been campaigning, not for President (well, not quite) but for hotel workers to get decent wages. But then, as Jane Hamsher notes, he says this:

Queried by Russert about the racial divide and Hurricane Katrina, and whether this has hurt the Administration in the eyes of African Americans, Edwards says:

"And then, finally, and this is a critical component, responsibility matters. You know we, the American people, our country, we expect people that we're helping to help themselves. And where we -- we have to address things like teenage pregnancy. One -- one of the things I find when I sit at these tables with families who live in poverty is the mother of four or five children has kids who are having kids. We have to do something about that."

Jane is right:

There's really nothing quite like a panel full of white male millionaires scolding poor African American women about their reproductive irresponsibility, particularly in a conversation about the victims of Hurricane Katrina and in a week where South Dakota has passed a bill guaranteeing every rapist the right to have his fetus carried to term because women just really need to learn to keep their legs together.

And Edwards' comment is nothing more, nor less, than a sop to white racists who, despite the AMPAS giving Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939, are still a major factor in American society.

The best moment of the Oscars last night was after the self-congratulatory montage meant to highlight the Academy's social awareness. Said host Jon Stewart when it was over: "And none of those issues were ever a problem again."

Exactly.