One thing I have driven for in Chaotic Fringe is to make sure to state the views I write are my views. I'm not beholden to any party, any creed or any affiliation. The motto of Chaotic Fringe has been taken from the classic television program The Prisoner. “I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.” For many years when I was younger, when it seemed I was made to be a doorway into the thinking of black America, I would always tell people I never had lunch with Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or any other person they deemed as a spokesperson for black America, so they don't speak for me. I would say I am not tapped into the Black (which was an allusion to The Green which was part of Swamp Thing at the time) so don't expect me to tap into some black universal network to divine knowledge of all things black.

The past week has been draining for me. All the talk about Herman Cain, watching some defend him, most denounce him, cries by some he is their black, which is different from the left wing or their black, watching black pundits come on and try to speak for the vast majority of blacks from their personal perspective.

It almost makes one long for the old days of the 80s when racial politics was pretty clear cut.

So, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, other right wing pundits and the vast underground of basement dwelling YouTube mouthbreathers that I have discovered in the past few days, stop pretending you like Herman Cain. Just because you have a new black 'friend' doesn't mean you have any indication of what it is like to be black, understand the black experience in America, or can use the few black people you associate with (and let's be real, in your world there aren't a lot of black conservatives) as some rosary you can rub for absolution of past racial sins you have made. When you continue to talk about black people as property (our blacks vs their blacks) when you make patently racist comments you only show your ignorance. Black conservatives, stop acting like Tiger Woods. You are not Camalasian or whatever racial designation you think makes yourself comfortable. Yes, you might be able to walk in the front door of the country club, you might be able to eat off the fine china, you might think in their eyes you are Sidney Poitier in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but behind their back you ain't that, you ain't Shaft, you are black lucky punk looking down the barrel of the Magnum from Dirty Harry.

Those on the right, if you had bothered to LISTEN to Herman Cain, bothered to judge his deeds and actions fairly, and not by the color of his skin, you would know he isn't ready for prime time. Stop showing your ignorance. When you claim the 'mainstream media' wouldn't attack a white man for doing the things Cain did, how short is your memory? Anthony Weiner got ridiculed for what? It was not the sex so much as the lying that did him in. Last I looked he was white and you people on the right attacked him like crazy, but complained the left treated him with kid gloves. You know what, you were right! Bad judgment, no, stupid judgment on Weiner's part for sending his private part. So be consistent and stop looking for tit for tat points.

See, that's really the problem on both sides. It doesn't have to do with race, that just happens to be a convenient pawn in this particular instance. The real elephant in the room is when one side gets embarrassed by a leader on their side, the standard option is to use any means necessary to protect the person. If that means reversing yourself on a position you hold dear to keep the person alive, you will do it. That is why the right was pulling it's hair out when Clinton had a blowjob while the left did back-flips to protect him. That's why the left gave a blind eye to the Congressman who had thousands of dollars in bribes in the freezer, or Charlie Rangel and his ethics issue. But, and you have to be fair about it, you on the right took a blind eye, just as the left did with their sacred cows, to Governors who left the Appalachian trail to head to Brazil with his mistress, to the Senator(s) who hired call girls, to the Senator with the wide stance and now to Herman Cain with his possible sexual harassment problems and definitely his bold face lying issues with the American public.

So, to both sides, though yes my focus is with those on the right, stop trying to protect those that have done wrong. I'm all for vetting and giving a reasonable time to look at the true facts of scandal when it first comes out, but the thing that is always said on these things should be stamped in the brain of everyone; it's not the scandal that kills you but the cover up. Let the public decide if your sin is a white lie or eternal damnation, but if you lie about it, if you try to hide it, we are going to think the worst of you.