Herman Cain And Bigotry

Forget the strange mixing of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. As I've said many times, any politician can flub a line. Forget the "wise crack" about a moat filled with alligators guarding our border. Taking hyperbole too far is bread and butter for a politician.

Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, presidential candidate Herman Cain decided to double down on naked bigotry.

Rightly so, local Republican Charlie Harper calls him on it.

The concept that the federal government would get involved into a local building and zoning dispute is difficult enough to swallow. The fact that a person who thinks he is material to be Commander in Chief believes that he should decide which religions are acceptable and which are not goes beyond troubling. This should not only disqualify him from consideration from anyone who values freedom of religion, but demands that party leaders renounce this deliberate act of religious bigotry.

 I can't disagree with any part of Charlie's column. Although, I'm always a little bemused at the seeming surprise of many when a loon starts squawking. It doesn't take long hours of listening to talk radio or trolling the "conservative" blogs to discover this type of nuttiness is seething just beneath the surface.

And Republicans have ignored it for too long. Democrats do to, but lately it seems the Republicans are intent on cornering the crazy market

The only way to disabuse this notion is to do as Charlie requests - prominent leaders need to call out this mess for what it is. No spin. No carefully crafted statement. No elides. Say it's wrong, because it is. Nothing more.