U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was right when, during a speech for Black History Month this year, he called America "a nation of cowards" for not openly discussing the issue of race. To paraphrase Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina in a more notorious context: We're damned liars, too.

Mr. Wilson's premeditated intemperance during President Barack Obama's speech last week got him formally rebuked by the House of Representatives this week because of his refusal to apologize on the floor of the institution he shamed. It has also led to yet another asinine debate about race in a country that has yet to sustain one honest conversation about it for more than a few seconds.

Here's a news flash: Both genuine ideological opposition and heightened racial anxiety can co-exist in the hearts of those opposed to the president's policies. When protesters carry signs depicting the first black president as a crouching African witch doctor with a bone through his nose, their ideological hostility is obvious. Do you have to be a "paranoid liberal" to perceive racial animus on the premises, too?

When President Jimmy Carter speculated that much of the opposition to Mr. Obama's policies was based on the color of his skin, you would have thought he was attempting to overthrow the Second Law of Thermodynamics given the snarkiness and ridicule it churned up among the political class.

"There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president," the former president said as the universe outside the Washington Beltway let out a collective "duh!"

In another sober-minded policy analysis this week, Rush Limbaugh said that a case where two black kids beat up a white kid on a school bus is indicative of what whites can expect in "Obama's America." Was Rush merely being ironic when he called for "segregated buses"? Let's see a show of hands from those who believe the most prominent conservative voice in America would never engage in racial fear mongering.

Keeping with its policies to never miss an opportunity to agree with its enemies, the White House rejected Mr. Carter's opinion informed by eight decades as a Southerner. Spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted that Mr. Obama doesn't believe that the relentless criticism that equates him with Hitler, the Joker, an illegal alien, the antichrist or a witch doctor is "based on the color of his skin." Where Mr. Obama comes from, we're supposed to believe that's just old-fashioned policy differences -- even when the criticism is awash in outrageous racial symbolism.

Given the president's skittishness when it comes to enflaming racial controversy after a summer of beer summit silliness, David Duke himself could stand on the White House lawn with a 9-foot-cross soaked in gasoline and pretty much expect a complimentary book of matches and a bag of marshmallows to be sent down from the Oval Office within the hour. Unless we're talking about Kanye West, the president isn't given to doubting the purity of someone's heart.

Thank goodness Bill Cosby is on my side on this one. On his Facebook page, the Jell-O pudding pitchman said: "I agree with President Carter that racism is playing a role in recent outbursts against President Obama." Uh-oh, sounds like the right-wing's most quotable black comedian has gone off the reservation big time on this one. I doubt we'll see the following Cosby quote on Drudge or on Fox News anytime soon:

"In 'Birth of a Nation,' D.W. Griffith used white actors in black face to portray black legislators as having low intelligence and acting like fools. Today, we have a band of real life congressional fools seemingly bent on blocking any meaningful reform of the health care system. But if we allow even one American to die simply because he or she cannot afford treatment, we are creating a shameful scenario that could aptly be called 'Death of a Nation.' "

We can only pray that the White House doesn't issue a statement distancing itself from Bill Cosby, too. Mr. Cosby is arguably the only black "pundit" in the nation considered an honest broker by both the mainstream media and the right.

Of course, I'll get e-mail accusing me of being a race-baiter with an obvious distaste for white people. Whatever, dude! Sometimes the urge to tell the truth overwhelms my natural tendency to remain trapped in the amber of moral equivalence expected of all journalists. Don't worry, I'm just venting. It's my way of revving up for the G-20 Summit next week. It sure beats shouting "you lie" during a joint session of Congress, doesn't it?

Update on 9/18: Several readers have informed me that Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" on Thursday night devoted a segment to Bill Cosby's comments about Jimmy Carter. I occasionally knock Bill O'Reilly. Let me now correct the record and congratulate him.