Haters

By Sniffles

The Heritage Foundation has spent the last 24 hours or so squirming over a guy called "Jason Richwine."

You've probably heard the story by now. Jim DeMint's new employer put out this silly "report" that predicted immigration reform would cost the U.S. trillions. And now it's come out that one of its authors — Heritage Foundation policy analyst "Jason Richwine"  — is a white supremacist. (Here's a link to one of the icky, far-right websites he writes for, although curiously, they seem to have taken his stuff down.)

We cats say, goodness gracious. Remember the Heritage Foundation in the good old days, before DeMint took over? Now, just a few short months later, the organization has managed to embarrass itself beyond description. Great work, Jim!

It's also, of course, another sure nail in the coffin of the GOP's attempts to appeal to Latinos and other minority voters. If Republicans hang out with (and publish) racists who openly proclaim Hispanics as less intelligent than whites, it's hard to see how states like Texas won't turn blue in the next 10 years.

But see, here's the deal. Jim DeMint and his crowd don't have the corner on conservative haters. They lurk everywhere. Take this recent story that you may otherwise have missed:

"The Harvard professor and economics commentator Niall Ferguson issued 'an unqualified apology' over the weekend for suggesting that John Maynard Keynes was indifferent to the long-term implications of his economic theories because Keynes was gay and had no children."

Our first reaction was: John Maynard Keynes was gay? Cool!

Our second reaction? That the people who pass for today's conservatives — even academicians like Ferguson, with reasonably solid reputations — are prejudiced jerks. And their ideology makes their academic work — guess what? — worthless.