This is what America still is

The Republicans can trot closet case Ken Mehlman out to woo black voters, and they can put a few tokens on stage at their conventions, and they can pay Armstrong Williams to write nice things about them, and they can run Alan Keyes for office, but there's no getting around the fact that when the winds had died down, the white people with cars and jobs that paid enough so that there was money for gasoline got out of New Orleans -- and the black people without cars and no money left for tickets on buses that stopped running on Saturday were left behind. There's no getting around the fact that for THREE DAYS, the President of the United States yukked it up with friendly audiences and continued his vacation while black people were starving and dying in New Orleans.

America is still a country divided by race and class. All those much-vaunted "tax cuts" -- the unfortunately-monikered "rising tide" in Bush's supply-side policies have not lifted the boats among the African-American poor in this country.

So what do Americans do? Do they look into their own souls and resolve to do better? Hell, no. When all else fails, blame the n-----s.

Yesterday I was at a barbecue at which I resolved to avoid all political discussions. Listening to the conversations of others, what I heard was griping about how much it costs to fill the SUV with gasoline, how the gas stations are gouging customers, and how New Jersey politics are designed to take all our money and give it to people who just want to work.

I'm not a drinker, but after a few hours of this, I was about ready to join Mr. Brilliant in downing some shots of Absolut -- neat.

Because I think what I saw yesterday was a microcosm of the America that 25 years of predominantly Republican rule have given us: I got mine and fuck everyone else.

Via Steve Gilliard comes this report from Annatopia about its search engine referrals. Nothing about the people who lost their homes. Nothing about babies dying in the Superdome. Nothing about pregnant women going into labor with no medical care around. Nothing about people with no food or water for five days. Just searches about "n-----s looting."

Here's a sample of what this particular breed of American thinks:

Let's talk about the niggers. The niggers who didn't bother to listen to the warnings. Not surprising, since they don't listen to the government when it says "pay your taxes". The same niggers who continue to breed like rabbits regardless of their socioeconomic condition. The looters (niggers) need to be shot, but anyone who steals or rapes or kills needs to be shot, regardless of color. Niggers don't get to break the law whenever they want just because they're niggers and used to pick cotton for whitey. If they still were picking that cotton, they wouldn't be relying on the government to give them everything for free and wouldn't live in the cesspools they create for themselves. And before anyone starts yelling "they aren't educated", let me remind you that niggers can go to school anywhere they want for free. It's lack of initiative that keeps niggers niggers after all these years. If they'd learn to keep their dicks in their pants, they might not be swimming in sewage right now. They can kiss my taxpaying white ass. I wish someone would rape those causing trouble down there with a branding iron up their stinking nigger asses.

Like Steve Gilliard, I'm linking to this guy's curiously phallic e-mail address so you can tell him what YOU think.

This is the Republican base, folks. These are the people to whom they're directing their energies and policies.

I don't know about you, but I'm ashamed to share a nationality with people like this. At least I try to fight them, though, unlike people who overlook them because they're afraid a couple of gay men might want to pledge their love to each other or because they're afraid of another terrorist attack, and somehow think the Bushistas will protect them.