Maureen Dowd's disgusting insinuation that Joe Wilson is a racist would land her in court in Britain

Nasty piece of work, Maureen Dowd. In the Barack Obama-worshipping New York Times over the weekend, she insinuated that Congressman Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst during the presidential address was inspired by racism:

The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind.

Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

“Boy”, of course, is how some whites used to address black subordinates, even if they weren’t young. Maureen tries to cover her ass by including the caveat “fair or not”. I wonder if the Times lawyers insisted on that, or whether she thought it actually made her suggestion less outrageous.

Either way, I can’t see a British newspaper lawyer allowing her to get away with that snide “boy”, or with this:

But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

This isn’t a case of limey gutlessness. It’s to do with our legal requirement that if you accuse someone of a gross moral lapse, you have to prove your case. Dowd has just strongly implied that Wilson insulted the office of the president (and there’s no doubt that he did, and was right to apologise) because he’s a racist. Evidence? None that a jury over here wouldn’t throw out in five minutes.

Please, don’t give me that first amendment crap. The New York Times demands high enough standards of evidence when the target of a defamatory remark is a liberal. But Joe Wilson is fair game – not because he behaved so badly, but because the financially troubled “old gray lady” and her employees are still in the grip of Messianic delusions.

This might seem a mean thing to say about an old lady, but I really hope she croaks soon.