ENTER THE RACE CARD [again]

It was bound to happen, and so it has: Democrats and their allies are playing the race card.

Big time. On the preceding page, columnist Michelle Malkin surveys the race-baiting being conducted by Democratic Party supporters.

As for the party itself, no less a luminary than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday lit into a radio host who had the temerity to note that former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines has been an adviser to Barack Obama's campaign.

"The only connection that people could bring up about Raines and Barack Obama," said Reid, "is that they both are African-American. Other than that there is nothing."

Actually, The Washington Post has reported that the Obama campaign sought advice from Raines "on mortgage and housing policy matters." That may not be the end of the world, but it's sure not "nothing."

Then there's Democratic luminary Barney Frank, who this week charged that GOP criticism of subprime mortgage loans being made to those who couldn't afford them - a practice he most emphatically encouraged - is racially motivated.

"They get to take things out on poor people," Frank told a Boston symposium. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint."

Democratic accusations of racism to counter legitimate criticism by Republicans is getting pretty tiresome. After all, it was Frank himself who, just two months ago, declared:

"We basically have to tell people who want to make mortgage loans something terribly radical: Do not lend money to people who can't pay it back."

Does that make Frank a racist?

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