A new low

Among the several news items that caught my eye over the weekend, this one was the most infuriating. From Think Progress:

At the Values Voter Summit this weekend, vendors sold an item called "Obama Waffles" featuring a racist cartoon of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the box front - with "popping eyes and big, thick lips" - and another image of him wearing an Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Good God, Conservatives, have you no shame whatsoever?

The Washington Post also noted on Saturday:

While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the old image of the pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype...

Placing Obama in Arab-like headdress recalls the false rumor that he is a follower of Islam, though he is actually a Christian.

On the back of the box, Obama is depicted in stereotypical Mexican dress, including a sombrero, above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" that says it can serve "4 or more illegal aliens."

You know, for most of my adult life I've tried to be patient with Republicans, hoping against hope that the actions of the most radical among them do not reflect the mindset of the average, run-of-the-mill GOP member. Clinging to my belief that most people, even Conservatives, are generally decent and good at heart. Counting on that inherent decency to motivate Republican citizens to criticize unacceptable behavior even when it's done by one of their own.

But once again, the silence from the Conservative rank-and-file is deafening. Guess that means that this type of stunt is representative of the Party as a whole, and accurately summarizes the innermost thoughts of everyone who calls the GOP home.

You all make me sick.

That these obviously racist items were made available at a Values Voters forum is indicative of the type of "values" your twisted, disgusting Party holds dear. That your Republican leaders would openly tolerate such a thing while daring to cry "sexist" over the vetting of Saint Sarah is the height of odious hypocrisy.

That anyone in 21st-Century America would even contemplate defending this grievous offense makes me want to spit on each and every supporter of the GOP I might see on the street, if for nothing else than your silent complicity in sabotaging the true democratic ideals of this nation.

Sadly, as digby ruefully noted in a Saturday post:

There's nothing new in this. For years they've been selling buttons that say "Happiness is Hillary's face on a milk carton" at conservative confabs.

Driving the point home, digby's blog page then displayed a picture of a button that was recently being sold at the Texas Republican convention. Its message: "If Obama is President... will we still call it The White House?"

You despicable Right-wing assholes - are you fucking kidding me?!

Unless there's an immediate and overwhelming cry of "foul" from those of you who wear the Republican mantle proudly, then you all richly deserve to be tarred and feathered right along with your more visible compatriots. These messages of intolerance, bigotry, and hate have no place in an advanced, democratic society. They're a new - and ugly - low.

And for a Party defined by its low moments, that's saying one helluva lot.