As Big Journalism readers know, a New York Times reporter accused a speaker at CPAC of using “racial tones” and “racial stereotypes.”

I was that speaker.

Last week, I was invited to participate on a panel to discuss my forthcoming book, Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation.  The New York Times’ Kate Zernike wrote up the speech for the NYT’s “Caucus” blog.  This was her headline:

CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, in Racial Tones.

In the very first paragraph, Zernike writes, “How can conservatives win the youth vote that overwhelmingly went for Barack Obama in 2008? At the Conservative Political Action Conference, apparently, some are betting on using racial stereotypes.”

Her evidence? Nothing I actually said, but to her tin ears, I was allegedly channeling a “Chris Rock” voice.  Yes, Chris Rock.

Regarding my closing statement, Zernike opines, “Can we save our generation from Obama zombies, he [Mattera] asked. He answered himself by borrowing the president’s campaign slogan: ‘Yes, my brothahs and sistahs. Yes we can!’”  Obviously, Zernike is insinuating I purposely mispronounced the words “brothers” and “sisters” in order to mock black people, particularly President Obama.

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The BigJournalism.com editorial panel is attending this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., and it didn’t take long for a media-induced controversy to break out.  We expected the mainstream media couldn’t cover a gathering of 10,000 conservatives for an entire weekend without playing the race card at least once, but The New York Times‘ Kate Zernike charged Young America’s Foundation Spokesman and CPAC panelist Jason Mattera with “using racial stereotypes” by lunchtime of Day 1.

We’ve included the video of his speech below, as well as relevant excerpts from Zernike’s New York Times piece.  Let us know if you think it was appropriate for her to describe Mr. Mattera  using some of the most caustic vocabulary in American life.

We’ll be offering our commentary in the days to come.

Bonus question: Identify with time stamps where Mattera uses the “Chris Rock voice.”

February 18, 2010, 12:45 pm
CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, in Racial Tones
By KATE ZERNIKE

How can conservatives win the youth vote that overwhelmingly went for Barack Obama in 2008? At the Conservative Political Action Conference, apparently, some are betting on using racial stereotypes. (more…)