Barbour Shaves His Own Nuts

Haley Barbour's recent defense of the White Citizens Council of Yazoo City isn't hard to decipher. Like a lot of conservative southerners of his generation, he saw (and still sees) the problem of racism as little more than one of incivility: the KKK displayed bad form; they made the natural white power structure look trashy and exposed the South's dirty laundry, whereas the WCC were more respectable. I doubt that Barbour is a hard core racist. He's just utterly oblivious to matters of racial injustice, and he assumes that the old boy network from which he emerged is just good Christian folks. Barbour's a smart guy and smooth operator. If he had an ounce of racial self-awareness, he would have been wily enough to conceal his own wretched backwardness.

So one more serious (but not really serious) GOP presidential aspirant commits political suicide, joining Mark Sanford in the loser line. Barbour never had a chance anyway. The 2012 race is going to be between (a) Sarah Palin and (b) NOT-Sarah Palin, and the moneycons are desperately seeking someone to fill slot (b), for which the defining qualification is "do not embarrass the party!" Haley was always a long shot for that role. As good a money guy as he is, someone who comes across like W.C. Fields after he swallowed George Wallace does not make a compelling challenger to our first not-exactly-Yazoo-City-mayoral-candidate-worthy president. Who does that leave for the GOP in 2012? HCR is a big cross Romney will have to bear (along with other better known crosses). Huckabee can't compete against Sarah! for the exact same slice of the GOP pie. McCain is done 4evs. Chris Christie is a cartoonish baffoon who cannot wear well with anyone who is not a DC reporter. Pawlenty? A-Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Rubio is too green, McDonnell too polarizing. Thune looks the part to me, and he's both dumb enough and pliable enough for the moneycons to see as a convenient tool (see also, Bush, George W.). This is the weakest bench I can ever remember on the GOP side. Who's the "white" horse?