Wait.  How did that make your reply seem nonsensical?

All I did was add

Yes, report the news, not editorialize the news.  They reported it in a way that made it sound like something it wasn't.  Had it been students doing the exact same thing but with McCain it wouldn't have made headlines and been a minor story.  And it would have said they put up a McCain poster rather than hung an Obama effigy.

It's things like this that make me wonder why I'm a Democrat.

I didn't original line that you replied to.

Scott - wait - I think you're confused - did you read the story?  They didn't hang up a poster - they hung up a cardboard cutout of Obama - hung by his neck.

And, if they did it to McCain they would also be punnished - we don't know that they wouldn't have been because they did not do that.  We don't know - that's a false assumption.

BUT - here's the key - had they done it, it would have been wrong, but there wouldn't be the same outrage because our nation doesn't have a shamefull (recent!) history of hanging old white men from trees.

Now, if, say, students dressed up as Viet Cong and attacked a McCain effigy, it would be different. 

Based on the way the media has treated every candidate (including other Democrats) other than Obama, it's valid assumption.

Using your Viet Cong example, I didn't realize the students were dressed in KKK robes.  That would make a difference.

And would a cardboard cut-out of a white man hung by it's neck from a tree have any different connotations than a cardboard cut-out of a black man hung by it's neck from a tree?

Definitely.

Does Scott Richards get paid to miss the point?

Possibly.

Does Andrew Hess get paid to take pot shots at other posters personally rather than address the issues?

Possibly.

There is no other way to view a black man hanging by his neck from a tree.

If they were so ignorant to not understand the instant cultural association, they surely would be quickly made aware of it by all the attention, and they would come out and say "Wow!  Despite us being in college, we were ignorant of the history of lynching blacks in America - we meant to make a different kind of political statement."

There is no way to not see this for what it is.  If someone referenced a homosexual and dropped their wrist, would you assume they just had a sort wrist that day?  If someone was disgusted with a point and cupped their hand and jerked it up and down, would you assume they were... what?  Shaking a bottle of beer?  If someone walked up to you and extended the middle finger, would you asume they were justuring that you were number one?

You can not be missing the point when it's so clear.