I disagree.
They are not being racists. I doubt they could care less about any actual racism. What they are doing is using the term to divert the discussion. Imagine having a discussion with your spouse about finances, and they say “You’re an idiot.” You reply “I’m not an idot.” “Yes you are.” “No I’m not, I have a college degree.” “You’re still and idiot.”
What happened to the discussion about finances? Totally gone. The discussion was diverted to arguing about whether you are an idiot.
We’re trying to have a debate over health care. Suddenly someone says “You’re a racists.” “No I’m not.” “Yes you are, you just can’t stand a black man being president.” “I could care less about his color.” “Bull, you’re a racists.” etc...
What happened to the health care debate? They rerouted it into one about race. The don’t care about the race issue, they just want to sidetrack the debate.
Try another scenario:
We’re trying to have a debate over health care. Suddenly someone says “You’re a racists.” “You’re a racer trying to use race as an excuse to sidetrack this debate. Let’s stay on track and talk about health care.”
Suddenly, you have a comeback that isn’t defensive (they want to put you in a defensive posture, because they can use that to sidetrack the debate.) You have an offensive comeback. You can accuse them of being a racer, put them back on the defensive, which will allow you to put the debate back on track.
bump