Watching conservatives cower at the feet of Limbaugh, and watching them swallow their tongues so as to not accidentally disagree with anything the mighty talker says, continues to be a one of my favorite seasonal sports. And this week, the weak-kneed participant is Andrew Breitbart who has dutifully kept his mouth shut in the wake of Limbaugh attacking Obama as a “racist.”

The problem for Breitbart? He's spent much of his year yammering on and on about how awful and dishonest and just completely disgraceful it is for partisans to interject race into our political discourse. (i.e. When liberals do it.) Breitbart has been quite clear on this point as he's relentlessly attacked liberals and Democrats for 'playing the race card.' The idea of claiming, or even suggesting, that somebody in public life is a racist is just totally out of bounds, and now keeps Breitbart up at night:

The worst thing you can do right now in the United States, in politically correct America, is to accuse somebody of being a racism [sic] through slurs and innuendo without evidence.

And:

I find that offensive because there's nothing in this country that's a worse accusation. It's where, in America, if you accuse somebody of racism, that person has to disprove that.

Except that (surprise!) we've discovered there's a rather enormous loophole Breitbart has fitted so Limbaugh can squeeze his way through it.

Because, apparently, when Limbaugh calls people racists, it's okay. And specifically, when Limbaugh attacks the President of the United States, it's just fine for ODS General Breitbart. When that happens Breitbart suddenly becomes sheepishly quiet and, of course, this being the Right Wing World, knows not to say a word because it's the Almighty Rush Limbaugh who was throwing around the “racist” charge this week. And how could somebody possible stand up and say Limbaugh is wrong?

Sadly for Breitbart, this timid genuflection routine before Limbaugh is becoming habit forming. Because Limbaugh now regularly calls people “racist,” and Breitbart regularly keeps his yap shut.

But if nothing else, this unsightly charade makes it obvious that the sudden right-wing obsession with race --and the endless, partisan allegations about who's using race for political gain, why they're doing it, when they should stop etc.-- is a farce. As Breitbart has illustrated for everybody to see, nobody on the other side actually believes anything they're saying about race or racism or why nobody ought to be called a racist. (Instead, conservatives, and especially the Tea Partiers, just don't want to be called out on the topic. Period.)

Indeed, the pungent hypocrisy Breitbart engages in by so thoroughly sucking up to Limbaugh allows everyone to see that the topic of race is nothing more than a sham, and that 'wingers like Breitbart still must do, and say, whatever Limbaugh tells them to do.

And this week? It's yell “racist.”

Enjoy Andrew!

UPDATED: Recall that last week Breitbart was sucking up to Limbaugh by retweeting the AM host's warmed-over talking points. It's getting kinda creepy. It's especially weak for somebody like Breitbart who presents himself as such a media maverick. I mean he did get photographed in a bathtub with a laptop, right? Edgy.

UPDATED: Right on cue today Limbaugh lashed out on his radio show, calling liberals “racists.” I'm sure Breitbart is just fuming.