On Steve Cohen (The Hate Flyer)

(Photo: CA) Posted 1/12; Click the conversation for update.

At some point Monday, the CA had to make a decision: should it post the Rev. George Brooks' hateful flyer on its Website?

The CA did but removed it later, only to repost it again. In today's print edition, the newspaper simply excerpted the flyer's first two sentences and pushed readers to the Web site if they wanted more information.

Good decisions, in print and online.

The flyer should be public. Suppressing ignorance doesn't serve the greater good. If people get incited by it, then there are two primary responses: 1) they can either rally against polarization, or 2) they can sympathize with the flyer's message. Either way, the public benefits from knowing who stands where and for what. But I digress.

Here's an important note:

Cohen faces a challenge by Pinnacle Airlines labor lawyer Nikki Tinker, an African-American, in the Aug. 5 Democratic primary.

Tinker did not respond to a reporter's call on Monday but her Washington-based spokesman, Cornell Belcher, said Tinker's campaign was not involved in the flier.

"Oh, my God; are you kidding me? Are you even calling me asking that?" asked Belcher. "This is an absurd question. Of course we wouldn't have anything to do with that. I don't even know what you're talking about but, no, we would have nothing to do with that."

The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, released a statement in Atlanta Monday condemning the flier, saying, it "makes an outrageously false claim about Jews' attitudes toward Jesus, and it attempts to drive a potentially dangerous wedge and incite tensions between African-Americans and Jews in Memphis."

The denunciation from Tinker's campaign is notable as is the CA's obligation to ask if they had any hand in the flyer.

On another note, it's arguable whether the CA would have published the story at all if the ADL had not released a statement about it. (The statement is not on the ADL's Website.) I mean, who outside of Murfreesboro knew of Rev. Brown before yesterday?

He's no Memphian. He can't even vote here. So, did the ADL overreact? Did it indirectly further Brown's goal--or someone else's?

I'm just saying, is the latest rendition of the race card in the Ninth Congressional election an indirect one where any African American candidate against Cohen must defend against the instant demonization as a closet racist before one even ponders whether he or she is actually qualified?

UPDATED (2/13): The CA blasts Nikki Tinker for a non response. But she responds to WMC:

"I would not stand for any attacks on the Jewish faith or any other faith for that matter and I just want to make sure everybody knows that Nikki Tinker doesn't play those types of politics," she said.

The Washington Post picks up the story.

UPDATED (2/14): H/T Flyer: The Wonkette uses Brooks flyer to get at Obama. So does this woman. This is pure madness.