Triturus vulgaris…or Newt’s just another slimy amphibian.

Interesting that the scientific name for the common newt contains the species designation, “vulgaris”, as newly designated front runner Newt Gingrich has a well deserved reputation as a back-bench bomb thrower prone to overheated and ill-advised partisan rhetoric that often seems to be more of a self-serving attempt to show off his professorial vocabulary and penchant for clever analogies than anything else.   Barely concealed contempt for his political enemies and a tendency towards bloviation characterizes much of what Gingrich spews and the rest is a virtual case study in verbal gymnastics intended to obfuscate what he said last week or last month or last year. 

Yesterday it was widely publicized that he had essentially been on the payroll of the much reviled and tea party-favored punching bag Freddie Mac for years, earning upwards of 1.5 million dollars in his post-speaker role as a lobbyist or, as he prefers, an historian.  Of course this begs the question, why on earth would Freddie Mac need an historian.  It is an agency that had grown from a useful and, some would say, necessary part of the government’s attempt to foist the American dream of home ownership on the public, to become an obscenely bloated bureaucracy kneeling at the public trough and acting for all the world as if the banquet was never ending and no one would ever dream of closing the buffet. 

No, clearly the recently departed speaker of the house, who ignominiously resigned after 4 long years of spectacularly failed leadership - repeatedly hitting on 17 - was selling access and influence to the highest bidder, small government principles be damned.  Still, his attempt at an explanation was revealing in itself; he was advising Freddie Mac on their “strategies” for dealing with congress.  This explanation is akin to putting too much mustard on the ham sandwich; the strategies thus offered and accepted only led to one of the largest financial collapses in history and a sucking wound that continues to fester in the body politic unhealed and bleeding money.   Nice work, Dr. History. 

This is only the most recent in a series of spectacular blunders, position changes and inconsistencies that are glaring to anyone interested in examining the record but which republican sheep…uh, I mean lemmings…er, I mean primary voters apparently are willing to ignore.  Or they don’t remember.  Or they can’t follow.  

For someone who claims to worship the original intent of the founders – as seems to be de rigure for all the candidates sucking up to the tea party – the Newt-ster has some weird notions about the constitution.   In trying to prove what a tough little amphibian he is, he has said he would ignore the constitution and the Supreme Court when it came to matters of national security, a particularly chilling glimpse of the barely concealed fascism and the megalomania that underlies much of his public persona. 

His insistence on flaunting his academic credentials and demeaning adversaries makes it hard to reconcile the religiosity that he and his wife exhibit in public proclamations and in the book they’ve produced, Rediscovering God in America.  His interpretation of the founding fathers’ intentions in the constitution - their insistence on the separation of church and state – flies in the face of the prevailing republican dogma of “original intent”, insisting that, rather than a government functioning outside of religious parameters, the founders wanted us all to gather in the town square and praise god together like one big happy family on bended knees. 

Of course, this religiosity seems to have eluded him in the romantic arena; the lord apparently had a hard time directing Newt to that one correct woman so he’s had to work his way through three. 

His close relations with god, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have also failed to staunch the chubby little would be dictator’s good old boy Georgia racism either.   He sounds like he’d roll back key provisions of the voting rights act so that people would have to stand on one leg and recite the declaration of independence backwards in order to vote.  He was recently heard sniping at Obama for various things using subtly charged language, the meaning of which might elude his dimmer constituents but which was perfectly clear to anyone paying attention. 

My guess would be that the desperate republican voters will take a sip of Newt, swish him around for a short while and then spit him out faster than a marijuana brownie.  He is a pompous, arrogant pipsqueak with a Napoleon complex who fancies himself the smartest guy in the room, lives high on the hog with his trophy wife and is questionably popular among his own party power brokers.  Yeah, they want to win. But they may be thinking twice about this guy being their ticket to the Oval office.  John Boner in particular may be sitting up at night drinking at the prospect of the man whose downfall and removal he orchestrated in 1998 being the one calling him in for conferences around the big fireplace at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave; of having to deal on a daily basis with a man obsessed with the infidelity of Clinton only to leave his dying wife in her cancer ward for the woman with whom he had been having an affair.   There is an element of repugnant hypocrisy that I think will turn off all but the most willfully ignorant voters so we need to prepare ourselves for the rise of the next in line, be it Rick Santorum or Gary Snider or the improbable Buddy Roemer.   It just won’t be Newt’s moment much longer…and really; would we respect ourselves if we elected a guy named Newt?

"Self reliance means, if anyone will not work, neither should he eat." M. Bachman

It appears there are two currents in play when looking at the republican presidential candidates; the “electability” contingent, who favor Mitt Romney, even as he attracts disdain and contempt from many of the party’s king-makers, and those who, in a determined fury of self destruction, have doubled down on crazy again after being seduced, first by Michele Bachman, then Rick “Is that leather thing the saddle?” Perry and most recently by Herman “Hey, nice tits” Cain.  Now after another bracing debate, overflowing with empty rhetorical flourishes and idiotic policy statements, it appears that Newt Gingrich is on deck and ready for his turn in the spotlight. 

Preparing for the next debate, which will focus on foreign policy, Mitt Romney spent some time this week sharpening his pencil and trying to prove how big his dick is, lambasting Obama for molly-coddling Iran and thus betraying our only friend in the region, Israel.  Mitt then revealed his preferred policy towards Iran, which was composed of “tougher sanctions” - in concert with allies if possible but unilateral if necessary - and parking an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea or Eastern Mediterranean.  Bold talk, for sure.  And we all know that Ahmandinejad is a total push over for saber rattling, posturing and empty threats so that just might work.  But since our exports to Iran in 2011 have a year-to-date value of 167 million dollars and our imports $700,000, the unilateral sanctions thing may not be that scary.  As a matter of fact, ironically our chief imports from Iran are fruits and nuts and since we seem to have a current surplus, I am thinking these would not be missed.

Maybe he’s thinking if we cut them off from the goods we are shipping to them, they’ll come around to our way of thinking and stop trying to build those nasty nukes in which they seem so interested.  Possibly…but; U.S. exports to Iran — including brassieres, bull semen, cosmetics and possibly even weapons — grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran, at least $158 million worth under Bush, than any other products.  (Current TV)

Hmmmm…brassieres, bull semen and cigarettes…I can see Ahmandinejad and his merry band of mullahs sitting around the conference table in a stinking, smoke-filled room debating whether or not nicely filled out burkas and Marlboros are worth more than developing the bomb.   Not sure we can make that work, Mitt.   You know what pussies the Frenchies are with those sissy god damn Gauloises.  And lingerie – I mean they would be all over that too.  No, I’ve always thought that the best way to make peace is to give everyone the chance to buy over-priced blue jeans and snowmobiles so the whole “tougher sanctions” thing may be an illusion.

Of course starting wars is something the republicans seem to favor and be good at; not as good at finishing them for some reason though.   George the Elder and George the Lesser both thought arming Iran to the teeth was a swell idea in the past, even while calling them evil swine and making weird faces at them.   Now running for office against a president who has decided a little calm and thoughtful conversation would be a welcome alternative, Romney and the rest of these clowns – and Santorum in particular – are relentlessly taking shots at him for being a softy and a bleeding heart, weak and ineffective and a sissy bitch.  You’d think ten years of grim death and horror in Iraq would resonate with these people but instead we get another dick measuring contest, with all of them trying to out-tough the other until it sounds like November 15, 2012 will be fucking doomsday and make Bachman happy after all. 

The state of the world and the Mid-East in particular has rarely been more complex; revolution roils the entire region leaving countries with virtually no tradition of democracy struggling to find their footing and move forward out of the 16^th century and into the 21^st in the course of 6 months.  Israel meanwhile continues to do its damnedest to undermine any peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue with willy-nilly settlement construction and a general belligerence as their prevailing diplomatic posture.  And our newly liberated vassal state of Iraq will doubtlessly struggle to hold together any semblance of unity after ten years of bitter occupation preceded by a thousand years of tribal hatred.  Oh, and then there’s China…

Know-it-all chumps like Romney haven’t gotten their hair mussed up doing anything remotely as complicated and dangerous as directing US foreign policy and yet they stand in front of adoring but ignorant crowds mouthing platitudes and blather, looking for all the world as if they could solve everything if we’ll just give them a chance and get rid of that awful, awful negro. 

Santorum wants to start bombing Iran his first day in office.  Bachman is waiting for Jesus to come back so she doesn’t give a shit what happens.  Gingrich is half as smart as he appears to think he is but is a blowhard at heart and would spend the entire four years trying to get someone to return his phone calls.  Perry is a dumb ass who thinks Texas is already a country because they play country music.  The only one who makes any sense is Ron Paul but he also wants the government to be reduced to a bunch of guys who get together for drinks a couple times a year and play rock, paper, and scissors to decide who’s in charge. 

The next debate will be interesting only in so far as it will reveal who is most naïve about our place in the world and not coincidentally, least qualified to lead us there.  Stay tuned and make sure your helmet is strapped on tight.

Panic in Detroit or another day; another debate debacle...

I can’t figure out why the republican party continues to embarrass itself through the never-ending series of candidates’ debates that are ending up as the political equivalent of self immolation and, in case they missed it, that usually ends badly.  Rick “Wait…uh…” Perry’s inability to back up his tough talk about cutting entire government departments by naming those he’s targeting may have finally – mercifully – ended his campaign in the same dense fog that seems to be between his ears.  You could hear the sound of potential campaign donors muttering, “Oh fuck…” and tearing up their checks before he finally was able to wander off the stage.   He later gave a statement that was heroically understated; “I may not be the slickest candidate…”  If by that he means he’s the dumbest candidate ever than he deserves some credit for candor, if nothing else. 

The continuing spectacle of Herman Cain rushing out of the room trying to pull his pants up isn’t helping to sway more independent voters, who hold the key to the 2012 election.  His brain dead supporters can be admired for their loyalty – if not for their intelligence – but 25% of the republican primary voters aren’t nearly enough to carry the day if he wins the nomination and every thinking person can see that.  Obama’s advisors are practically volunteering to go door-to-door for the guy, hoping he’ll be the nominee.  Poor Herman; every time he opens his mouth now people hear him like 13 year old boys; “Hee hee…He said “stiff” penalty…hee hee”.

There has been a surge of support lately for Newt Gingrich but his “sell by” date was 1998 and you get a sense that he’d just as soon be doing something else than trying to distinguish himself from Banana and the Bunch in these disjointed and dizzying debates.   Ironically he has benefitted from the dimwittedness of the aforementioned Perry and the sausage- pizza-left-under-the-couch stench around Cain but is that enough to resonate with swing voters who yesterday seemed to show signs of being sick and tired of partisan horseshit and watching the two parties slap fight over every issue?  Probably not.  Newt is anything but post-partisan and I can’t see him striding in triumph to the nomination, at least not on this planet.

The others are irrelevant for the moment at least.  Santorum and Bachman are nuts, each in their own inimitable ways.  She thinks that the way to solving the problem of inadequate revenue being available for us to pay for everything we want is to make sure that the 47% of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes have to throw in “two Happy Meals worth” of contributions to the national treasury.  This is an idea striking only in that is so pointless and insipid.  Let’s assume that’s 40 million tax payers at 10 bucks each – you get 400 million, not enough to buy on F-35 fighter plane.  Good thinking though Michele – outside the box.  Now go home.

Santorum is the hard working but angry catholic boy, a type with whom we are all too familiar.  He's probably in some Motel 6 in Dubuque right now pissed off that the senate judiciary committee voted to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and working on a stump speech vilifying queers for wanting to destroy the sanctity of marriage and cause the end of life as we know it.  Of course this is a guy who wants to nuke Iran too so it’s a little bit hard to take him seriously and, as he’s finding out, almost no one does.

Ron Paul is 75 and could easily get elected as National Grandfather, assuming he can tell a good story, but he’s going through the motions for the sake of exposing his ideas to the public, not an altogether irrational thing and what else does he have to do, really, except maybe talk to Rand about where polar bears come from.   Ron seems to understand fundamentally that he far outside the mainstream of national political thought; Rand does not.  It’s a teaching moment. 

And finally there is poor Jon Huntsman, who could probably be in line behind you buying groceries and neither you nor anyone else would know who the hell he is and for some reason – probably because he is not a crazy asshole – he can’t get any traction.  Two words for you, Jon – third party.

In a final attempt to ignite the gasoline in which they’ve soaked themselves, republican congressional leaders have made a laughable attempt at tarnishing Obama’s leadership abilities by citing his distance from the “Super-Committee’s” deliberations, only serving to highlight their own selfish and destructive stance and reinforce the growing perception by the public that these guys are a bunch of conscious-less sluts serving only those rich enough to pay top dollar for their services.  Not to put too fine a point on it, fellas, but most whores don’t live happily ever after either.   As they watch the Faux News highlights of the debates these guys are probably hitting the gin over Frank Sinatra singing It Was a Very Good Year and wishing they could start over from the 2010 mid-terms. 

Even front running Mitt Romney has problems stemming from his constant but ill-advised attempt to portray himself as a tough guy.  Ruben Navarette, a well spoken conservative national columnist and influential voice in the Latino community, wrote a syndicated piece recently saying that Romney is essentially dead to Latinos for coming off like a Jan Brewer wanna-be on immigration and generally acting like a hypocritical dick.  If you can’t attract some Latino votes in this country anymore, you’re dead on arrival. 

So it’s no surprise given this sad-sack group of candidates that Karl Rove and other influential republicans are concentrating their efforts of exploiting the Citizens United ruling and pumping zillions of dollars into super PACs, concentrating on buying votes and propaganda rather than supporting any one these donkeys.  Of course they’ll eventually pick one…and that makes me laugh out loud…

Election score card for November 2011...

Every day seems to bring a new story about how cities, states and individuals are feeling the effects of policies either put in place by republican governments or trumpeted by the republican candidates for president.   Election night is a good time to reflect on the impact of these policies after having them in place – for the most part – since the 2010 mid-term elections just one year ago…

                                                                                     

·         A small town in middle America has had to resort to taking out street lights to save money and close a 5 million dollar budget shortfall.   Variations on this theme are everywhere across the country.  Parks are closing, police departments are being consolidated, libraries are closed as much as they’re open, class sizes balloon and millions of college students – unable to get financial aid any more – are slammed with potentially crushing debt in order to complete their education at the same time as classes are cut and their job prospects suck.

·         The tough immigration law in Alabama has had the effect of scaring the hell out of farm workers who normally line up to work the sweet potato harvest but who now have left the crops to rot in the fields rather than risk the heavy handed “stop & frisk” law enforcement enabled by the new law. 

·         As a result of deep cuts in revenues, government employment is at an historic low, leading to sever cut backs in services as well as playing hell with local economies, as private employers continue to wait before hiring. Republican orthodoxy aside, government workers go to the super market and the shoe store and the Chevy dealer and buy things.  Sure, maybe we don't need multiple deputy sub-committee vice chairmen regulating the county fair pig races.  But government jobs are actual jobs and support actual families.

·         Mississippi is attempting to pass a law that says that “person-hood” begins at the very moment of conception, calling into question all manner of birth control methods in addition to curtailing a woman’s control over her own body and potentially criminalizing 14 year old boys jerking off in the upstairs bathroom.  Or is it just the female zygotes that are in peril?  Hey, I have an idea; why don’t you idiots figure out a way to get your state off the bottom of the list of minimum wage jobs and people on food stamps instead of getting yourselves all worked up about zygotes?

·         Governor Jan “Adolph” Brewer of Arizona, apparently not content with Arizona republicans controlling both house of the legislature, pulls a down and dirty Nixonian hit on an independent head of the redistricting commission, appointed by the legislature, when her and some of her would be Black Shirts objected to the drawing of districts seeming to favor Latinos.  Now she has the Justice Department checking under her desk and going through her dumpsters.  Her explanation was a fine example of someone caught red handed doing something both stupid and borderline illegal; “Well she acted, uh, inappropriately. Well it was very, pretty much obvious that she in communications, and doing things, uh, not in the public, and the people of Arizona deserve that...", at which point she was interrupted by a sympathetic radio host who was probably embarrassed for her. 

·         Ohio voters soundly rejected Governor John Kasich’s pet union -busting and probably unconstitutional bid to prohibit government workers access to collective bargaining and to make them the scapegoats for economic problems brought about largely by policies championed by republicans at the national level.   John, you may want to contact Faux News about getting your old job back.

·         A respected republican-appointed and well known conservative judge in the District of Columbia refused to rule unconstitutional a major component of Obama’s health care reform legislation – the public mandate – handing Obama a victory as the US Supreme Court gets ready to hear a case of its own on a similar issue.  The ruling by Judge Lawrence Silberman – apparently a close confidant of Clarence “Mumbles” Thomas – is expected to be influential to the thinking of the Supremes as they consider a similar case.

·         In a surreal “Through the Looking Glass” moment today, Bitch McConnell accused the democrats on the so-called Super Committee of wanting it to fail, citing as evidence comments made by Chuck Schumer, who observed – quite justifiably – that the committee will probably fail because republicans refuse to consider any new taxes.  McConnell, probably the single most hyper-partisan human being to ever walk the planet and a sour-faced prat, accused Schumer of being partisan and the democrats in general of wanting the committee to fail.  Whoa…pot, kettle, black there, Bitch.  How’s that feel?  

·         Herman “Touch that right there, honey” Cain continues to deny – not just groping or harassing any women – but of not remembering a dang thing about the women, the situation, the groping, their names, their bra size…wait, strike that.  Anyway, the point is, Herman has shifted his blame from the politically questionable target of Rick “Where’d he touch her again?” Perry to unnamed yet well known “liberals” - those evil bastards responsible for most of what is wrong in America today.  I am sure he’s grateful to have Rush Windbag in his corner helping him as well.  The fat-assed drug addict is busy these days blustering about Cain’s latest accuser and, more specifically, her son, who he compared to nazi brownshirts for encouraging his mom to go public.  Nice, Douchbag.   Pick on a 13 year old defending his mom. ..what a righteous and admirable tough guy you are…dick.

Actually tonight had a whiff of republican desperation and despair as the election result rolled in.  As I was writing this it was declared that Mississippi voters had wisely declined to consider unfertilized eggs to be people.   Lucky for them; their state is too broke to pay their unemployment as they wait for a friendly sperm to swim by.   No, today for the first time in a long while, the net/net of the news didn’t make me want to throw anything at the TV or hurl my lap top out of my car window.  I’ll count that as a win.

Standin' Around Crying...

Herman Cain once again has demonstrated you can never go wrong blaming your problems on the media, as he called out “dishonest” and “nitpicky” members of the media for making him try to explain his virtual ass-grabbing while he was head of the National Restaurant Association.  He had about as much luck successfully doing so as he has had trying to explain why he didn’t know China has nuclear weapons or how the 9-9-9 plan will make taxes fairer for everyone.  The man is a colossal meathead, vacuous and willfully ignorant on the issues but capable of the occasional rhetorical flourish and skilled at giving the tea party crowds what they want to hear, whether it makes any sense or not.  His hand-holding date with his pal, Newt Gingrich the other night gave him an opportunity to spread this swill to a large audience – ironically right in Rick “Hey, he’s a black guy” Perry’s back yard in Houston – out tea-partying Rick to his face, both of them pissing in his corral while debating who was more likely to slash social programs with the most cold-blooded vigor.

That Cain can get a standing ovation from a tea party crowd is not so surprising; what is surreal and very much a Chauncey Gardiner moment was his invocation of Ronald Reagan and his notion of American as that “great city on a hill” at the end of the debate, to stomping cheers and whoops from the mostly white crowd, apparently forgetting a few details like Reagan’s record of relentlessly increasing government spending like there was no tomorrow, to help dig the country out of the oil embargo recession that got him elected. 

Neither of them apparently grasps the irony of complaining about members of the media who are dishonest, as the stiff-haired cheerleaders of Faux News regularly distort and dissemble on their behalf and that of the other brain damaged dwarves on the campaign trail.  I guess it's just a matter of telling the right lies, right Herman?

In a rare exhibition of political guts, Jon Huntsman called Herman out for his garbled explanations and denials, telling him to get his dirty laundry out, sort the colors from the whites and get it cleaned before the filth brings all of the candidates down.

Ron Paul, as is his wont, called a spade a spade, saying the whole thing is blown out of proportion and, more importantly, completely misses the point and obscures the obvious fact of Cain’s lack of basic competence and qualification for the job for which he is running and currently the leading candidate.  

But now today when a fourth woman has come forward – publicly – it looks less and less likely that blaming the media, denying any wrong doing and, finally, refusing to discuss it, will be the most successful long term strategy, no matter how much love you keep getting from the far right. 

I agree with Ron Paul; it is a distraction.  I wish someone would ask Cain for his opinion on the fact that one out of a hundred Americans is in jail.  Or how he reconciles John Boner standing straight faced and saying there’s no money to try to provide jobs or aid to the states for education and cops but plenty of money for the Pentagon – more than they really want - and massive tax cuts for the biggest and richest corporations and the wealthy.

 I’d like to ask him how he feels about the republicans’ systematic attempt to disenfranchise whole blocks of voters to try to limit the votes they think will go against them and steal the 2012 election like some two bit dictator in a banana republic.  And speaking of two bit dictators, how would he handle Hugo Chavez, leader of the most hostile country in the hemisphere but one which provides the US with about the same amount of oil as Saudi Arabia.

The thing is, he’s been asked questions like that and answered them sounding like what he is; a personable man who is completely out of his depth and hasn’t a clue really about most anything.

His continuing appeal to the far right of the republican party is a true mystery but maybe it’s the same reason America embraced The Cosby Show; here is a non-threatening black guy who smiles a lot and makes them laugh and feel comfortable.  It’s like it’s a relief that he’s not sporting a big fro and he’s not pissed off at them for being white.  But seriously; president?  First Bachman, then Perry, now Cain...who’s next?  Carrot Top...?  Somewhere Jon Huntsman is smiling...
 

How I Learned to Stop Worrying about the Deficit and Love Defense Spending…

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Some folks is even whiter than me...

The republican party is usually good for a laugh as it tries to reconcile its normal racial politics with race itself, particularly as it pertains to the very few not-crazy prominent black conservatives - like Clarence Thomas, for example – and especially when one of them does something stupid and is called out for it.  That’s why it was so funny today to see the comments made by deranged she-Satan, Ann Colter, talking about presidential candidate, (ack…gag…coff, coff…ack), Herman Cain.   So much of her incendiary political napalm is subtly racial that when she is trying to defend one of her precious and few black comrades that are being attacked in the media it still comes out like she’s telling "nigger" jokes in a 1950’s southern sorority house.

She was on Sean Hannity’s show on Faux News last night and ran this little bit of brain-dead racism at Sean who, typically, was too dull to catch it: “our blacks are so much better than their blacks” because “you have fought against probably your family, probably your neighbors… that’s why we have very impressive blacks.”   Whoaaa sister…sounds like you’re being a little possessive there, don’t you think.  I’d be willing to bet that Herman isn’t likely to respond well to having a skanky, no-ass white princess like you calling him one of “our blacks”.  They’s good workers though, ain’t they Ann?  Sounds like you come out the back of the plantation house and want Herman to hitch up the wagon so you can show him off to the neighbors.

The hilariously repugnant comments were repeated later as she apparently still feels that any publicity is good publicity and may actually believe she is doing some good, defending a republican candidate for president in her usual half-crazed pit bull bitch way while dissing Obama in the same breath for not having American slave ancestors.  Whew…that is a sure way to make the republican tent bigger and more inviting to minority voters Ann, and I think you should just keep on jabbering this same incredibly ignorant rant as often as possibly in inner cities across the land. 

While the mainstream press and other members of the media have gotten themselves all worked into a lather over Cain’s bad dirty jokes and creepy innuendo, the public is stifling a yawn.  Why?  Well raise your hand if you’re surprised that a politician turns out to be a hypocrite, particularly as it pertains to their behavior when the cameras aren’t running.   Hell, Newt probably puts on a thong and does muscle poses for Callista and who among us wants to know anything about that? 

Being sexually twisted is certainly not limited to republicans or African Americans or any other category of politician.  There seems to be a picture of someone’s dick under every rock.  Sexual scandal has become so commonplace – my guess is that, aside from a psychotic hyper-religious fringe element, no one cares.  Or we just chalk it up to a sort of “new normal” in aberrant behavior and move on to the next thing.  On the other hand, the ordinary racism underlying so much of the modern republican party rhetoric is a more serious thing in a country becoming less white every day. 

Double electrified fences guarding the Mexican border is only a ridiculously blatant example of what passes for “ideas” coming from republican candidates for dealing with race-tinged issues.   It’s a casual country club racism in many cases; “We love the way Juan takes care of the grounds…” – or it can be the rabid, frothing overt variety inherent in much of the vitriol coming from the most extreme elements of the tea party.  But when it becomes clear that a party is systematically trying to disenfranchise voters of color who might well favor a president of color with borderline unconstitutional manipulation of access to the voting booth, the fundamental racism is revealed.  Bony-assed Ann Colter is just enough of a publicity hound that she doesn’t care about this reveal if it sells a few more volumes of her toxic screed.  Huzzah!  I say make her the key note speaker at the republican convention to high light the nomination.  At the moment it looks as if it will be either  the country club version in Mitt Robbery, (“Are you nuts?  You can’t have a wet back mowing my lawn, fer chrissake!  I’m an important politician!”) or the southern red-neck version in Rick “Hey Fernando; come on and bus my table now, hurry up…” Perry.  Either way it will be the leading lights of the party intelligencia – like Ann & Sean and Glen Beck – rolling out the red carpet leading to the podium and that’s a beautiful thing.