Simple question. And it's been two days since conservative spokesman Newt Gingrich made the incendiary claim. And since then the deep thinkers at the right-wing Corner have posted more than 100 items. Yet it's radio silence about the Gingrich controversy. Nobody at NRO has any opinion on Gingrich's claim of racism. None. It's The Topic That Cannot Be Mentioned.

As we noted earlier this year, this is typical of The Corner and how the right-wing blogosphere works. It's typical of how The Corner and its 'serious' writer run and hide whenever elements of the GOP Noise Machine make fools of themselves.

So it is with the Gingrich story, which explains the complete, and as far as I can tell, unwavering silence at The Corner. My hunch (and it's just a hunch) is that there are conservatives writers there, with their college degrees in hand, who think the “racist” claim is batty and destructive and unjustified. But Newt and Rush and Glenn said it, so nobody's allowed to disagree. Nobody at The Corner is allowed to question the wisdom of the right-wing Holy Trinity. And because conservative writers now play second fiddle to AM talk show hosts, everybody at The Corner plays dumb and types away on whatever other Sotomayor issues are being tossed around.

Why the hunch that some Corner writers disagree with the “racist” claim? Simple, If NRO writers agreed with Newt they would say so online. They would cheer the allegation and back up Newt with all kinds of evidence. And they would demand that other conservatives shout out the same clarion call: Sotomayor is a racist!

But instead, nothing. Zip. Zilch. The NRO writers appear to be too chicken to even write about Gingrich's “racist” claim because quite clearly they would either have to champion it, which nobody has done. Or they'd have to condemn it, which nobody has. So instead, The Corner plays dumb. Again.