If there was ever any question to how many in the liberal Democratic establishment view Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, it was unveiled on Tuesday by state Rep. Mandela Barnes.

During a forum hosted by the Madison Capital Times on state politics and the effect Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential aspirations have had on it, Barnes held nothing back when the topic of Clarke came up. Saying what has practically become scripture among liberal America: That black conservatives are not ‘really black.’

The Journal Sentinel’s Dan Bice has the details.

Initially, Barnes made his comments about Clarke’s race during a forum on Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential bid on Tuesday night.

During the discussion, [Journal Sentinel columnist Christian] Schneider noted that Walker had defeated an African-American opponent, state Sen.Lena Taylor, in heavily Democratic Milwaukee County.

Barnes then dismissed that idea, saying, “We only have one black countywide elected official in Milwaukee, and that’s David Clarke and he’s not any lefty by any means.”

“Right,” Schneider responded.

“So that one doesn’t count,” Barnes said.

“What?” asked a clearly baffled Schneider. “What are you talking about?”

“It doesn’t count that he beat an African-American because it doesn’t count, because it was a countywide election,” Barnes said. “We have one black countywide elected official and he’s . . . I don’t even accept him as black.”

Schneider concluded, “You are about to get tweet-stormed, by the way.”

“That’s OK,” Barnes said.

When Bice followed up with the sheriff for comment his response was itself, classic Clarke.

“Mandela who?” the sheriff asked via email. “I had to look up his bio, and just as I thought, he’s a political lightweight, a community organizer, and nothing else. This mental midget was engaging in plantation politics.”

You can listen to the full panel discussion here, the Clarke comments come up around the 43rd minute.