N.Y. Gov: GOP Insinuates Race in Obama Criticism

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday that there were racial overtones in the Republican presidential ticket’s criticism of Democrat Barack Obama’s work as a community organizer. “There are overtones of potential racial coding in the campaign,” Paterson said at an event in New York City. Paterson said that while Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin haven’t directly talked about race, it’s strongly implied in comments Alaska Gov. Palin and others have made about Obama. McCain’s camp said Paterson’s claim is false. “The Republican party is too smart to call Barack Obama ‘black’ in a sense that it would be a negative,” Paterson said. “But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican convention. A ‘community organizer,’ they kept saying it, they kept laughing, like what does this mean? “It means that an individual who could have ... (link)