MSNBC's Eric Alterman may be suffering from undiagnosed paranoia along with some latent racism. If you haven't read the post immediately below this one on outgoing Rep. Cynthia McKinney (Nutcase-Ga.), then read it now and then come back up here. Alterman, it should come as only a mild surprise, agrees with the Texas representative that only black people should be able to vote for blacks. At least that's his point as near as I can tell.

Because it plays into anti-Jew stereotypes, this kind of heavy-handed financial intervention to pick the winner of a largely African American race is actually a boon to anti-Semites of the black and extremist left-wing varieties. (See under: �Louis Farrakhan� and �Alexander Cockburn.�) What AIPAC et al appear to be saying is �We will tolerate no dissent of any kind on Israel in American public life.� They do Israel and America�s Jews no favor.

First, Alterman gets a spanking for violating a basic journalistic rule -- not telling us what the heck the AIPAC stands for. It's not like it's the UN or the NRA -- it's not on the Associated Press' list -- so spell it out. (I thought his was an edited blog -- a beating for the copy editor!)

Also, I'm interested to see how all of the voters in Georgia's were disenfranchised by some people sending money to McKinney's opponent. Besides, would Alterman be saying the same thing about the Arab-American lobby had McKinney won? From the letters to the editor I've seen in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution McKinney's anti-Israel rhetoric wasn't what turned voters off as much as it was McKinney's anti-America rhetoric.

Are voters in McKinney's district obligated to vote for her because the black establishment says they have to? The voters in the 4th District voted for someone who would represent their views in Congress. McKinney had gotten away from that in an effort to promote herself.

Is Alterman the best liberal thinker (and I use that term very loosely) that MSNBC can come up with? It's a sad state of affairs if that's the case.