When I got home this evening there was a “furor” on the “news” I was watching as it seems the WHOLE WORLD had discovered the “tea party” candidate who won the nomination for the US Senate from Kentucky (as a republican), Rand Paul, is racially insensative (I’m being polite here) as shown by recently made statements WHICH BROUGHT ATTENTION TO numerous public statements made over the past few years.  In fact, the viewers of the several shows I watched were left to surmise (or, should I say infer?) that Paul is a racist.  And, I can tell you for a certainty that I was shocked as I watched these “news” broadcasts.  Not by the revelation that Rand Paul has racist tendencies (there I go being “nice” again), but by how absurd the “news” media is to act like this is some kind of surprise!

Let’s just focus on the MSNBC “Keith Olberman” show which I’m most likely to watch (if I watch anything).  I’ve seen countless RACIST signs, and heard countless RACIST remarks from “tea party” participants (at rallies) while watching Olberman’s show – enough in fact to be able to say definitively tonight that it’s NO SURPRISE to me that someone who would rise to the top of that movement would have racist tendencies.  How could you not?  I mean, how could you look at all the signs they carry at their rallies and continue to be associated with their “movement” without being at a minimum RACIALLY INSENSITIVE?  How else could you explain all their complaints about Barack Obama after being TOTALLY SILENT during the eight LONG years of George W Bush and Dick Cheney – the two MOST RESPONSIBLE for all the ILLS these “tea partiers” are CONSTANTLY bickering about.  And, that’s not to mention the pictures of Barack Obama with a bone through his nose, or being depicted as a monkey, or with words such as “The zoo has an African lion, the White House has a ‘lying African.'”  It’s true that Olberman takes these people on, but his “surprise” at the RACIST remarks of Dr. Paul seemed a bit disengenuous to me.  (these remarks have been part of the public record for months)

Come on, I’m just a sixth grade school teacher and I can figure all this out – and, RATHER EASILY!  Think I’m nuts?  Take a listen to Rush Limbaugh once in a while.  Or the other water carriers for the extreme “right” of this nation.  The thought to them of a Black president succeeding is just not acceptable.  And, they’re willing to take this nation down in an attempt to make sure that Obama “FAILS” as Limbaugh so UNelequently puts it.  Why would all these people want Obama to fail so much as to appear to want it almost desperately?  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure this out.  If Obama succeeds, it will be like every other aspect of American life that these people figure is “lost;” and that is we will have other future presidents and national leaders of color.  I mean, if you don’t remember, Limbaugh’s stint on Monday Night Football only lasted one night because he just couldn’t keep his racist thoughts to himself.  It was too much, even for ESPN (which is owned by Disney) to allow someone to be berating a quarterback on the air (and, a great one at that) because he’s black.  (I’m guessing that, in private, Limbaugh is still angry that Jackie Robinson was allowed to play major league baseball)

So, what’s the big surprise with Rand Paul.  Of course he’s a racist – he’s the darling of the “tea party” movement and he’s right out of the heartland of Kentucky which managed to give us Mitch McConnell (the master of the code words) and Jim Bunning – two republicans who have shown they are more than willing to ruin this country in an epic “patriotic” attempt to “save our county.”  I’m still wondering if anyone has asked any of these people who they want to “take our country back” from when they spew those words.  Are they meaning they want to take it back from the 53% of the people who voted for Obama?  I mean, they (the “tea partiers”) seem to be supporting the republicans who created the economic, military, and legal mess we’re all suffering through – so, are they saying they want more of the Bush doctrine?  Personally, I’d like to see more of the “fourth estate” stand up and be counted here.  Do some serious reporting so that when “flaps” like this one with Rand Paul show up it’s not such an apparent surprise to so many people.  Have the media been intimidated right out of their much needed duty to report the actual news by the corporate masters who are pulling the “strings” for people like Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Lars Larson?

Why are what’s left of our media outlets so timid about reporting the truth about people?  I mean Rand Paul seemed so surprised when his words started coming back to haunt him.  I’m sure he felt it was some kind of witch hunt – which maybe it was (although, these were his ACTUAL words).  Of course, the only way I could see that as being true would be if there was some plan to wait for him to win the primary before he got the “magnifying glass” treatment – when people should have known the truth about him long before the primary.  In fact, I have no idea whether the voters of Kentucky knew Paul to be a racist or not.  My good side wants to trust that they didn’t know and that now that they do know he will have a difficult time winning in November.  However, my instincts are telling me that he’s a republican, he’s running in Kentucky, and that’s all we need to know – he’s in.  Can he cause more harm than Jim Bunning?  Well, I believe he’ll manage to stay awake during hearings, and he’ll be every bit as beholden to the corporate masters as Bunning was – meaning he’ll be another sure member of the republican no squad – voting lock step in whatever direction McConnell points him.

All that being said, the reality is that I find it interesting that it’s Kentucky which has an opportunity to put the present trend of the republican party to rest (and, to prove my instincts wrong).  Should Jack Conway, the democratic candidate (who would make a good senator from what I can find out) win the seat, it will send a strong message to Washington – which will be different from the one they’re perceiving at this moment.  Most of the talk is about the anti-incumbent fervor in the country, but the “fervor” should be about an anti republican (as the party exists today) movement.  They are the ones, after all, who are responsible for almost ALL of what “ails” us.  Of course, you’d never guess that to listen to them – they’re still spouting the “lower taxes” line, they’re still claiming torture is an effective deterrent to terrorism, and they’re still claiming the democrats are the “big spenders.”  They don’t want to talk about Iraq or Afganistan (and, Obama’s done them a favor here by continuing the Bush policies – putting the democrats in an awkward position on the two occupations themselves) and, it won’t be long until the republicans are blaming the Gulf oil spill on Obama while the republican governors of Louisiana and Mississippi have their hands out requesting federal aid – despite pretending to decline “stimulus” funds while telling the “feds” to “mind their own business.”  (of course, it wasn’t too long after that when these same governors started taking credit for the job creation from those same stimulus dollars they ended up “reluctantly” accepting)

Here’s the thing that’s bugging me tonight.  I’m leaning toward the position that it doesn’t matter one way or the other who wins these upcoming elections because of the impending effect of the “Citizen’s United” decision from the Roberts’ Supreme Court.  It’s the multi-national corporations who have their collective “hands in the cookie jar.”  They are the ones who are buying off people like Limbaugh, Beck, Larson, and the other right wing water carriers.  I know those people probably have been spewing so many lies that they actually are believing their own lies are true,  but the reality is they’re following directions given to them from “on high.” (and, I’m not talking about anything remotely spiritual here)  The “assault on reason” will continue – in fact, it’s going to increase exponentially based on my interpretation of “Citizen’s” – so, the battle is about to be cinched up a notch – and, that’s the battle for the heart and soul of this nation.  My concern is that the democrats will figure this out too late – the senate appears to be like a fraternity house – there’s little chance the democrats will “rock the boat” sufficiently to turn the present state of affairs in America back on the republicans where it belongs.  As I’ve stated many times, the prime opportunity to do that was at the beginning of the Obama adminstration and President Obama chose (inexplicably) to “look forward, instead of back.”  If my (and many others) worst fears regarding “Citizen’s United” come true, Obama’s decision to pardon Bush/Cheney will be exposed as a MAJOR BLUNDER comparable to some of Bush’s worst miscues.  Either way, this ludicrous corporate led debate over the future of America needn’t even have had to take place.  Had the republicans been totally exposed for their crimes against the American people, we wouldn’t be facing the possibility of a US Senate with the likes of someone with Rand Paul’s extreme racist views.