Randi Rhodes: Deja Vu

Randi's out today while her studio undergoes some critical repairs. But fear not, our good friend Nicole Sandler will be guest hosting.

The Trayvon Martin case brings back memories of the civil rights era in the 60’s. Today the video images are no longer in black and white, but our society is still defined in terms of black and white. Today, the Attorney General is a black man. The President is a black man. So some things have changed, but not Florida. There’s something about Florida that allows very frightening things from the past to survive. It’s no coincidence that Florida is where you find alligators.

“Stand Your Ground” gun laws have been pushed all over America by the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Florida’s law is identical to the model legislation that ALEC came up with. Come on, Florida legislators! Even high school kids know to rearrange a few things from the Wikipedia entry before turning it in as their own work. The NRA supports ALEC, which controls Republican state governments. So if you live in a Republican-controlled state, the person ultimately in charge of your life is Ted Nugent.

You’ve probably already heard about how the Mitt Romney campaign adviser said that Mitt’s ultra-conservative positions in the primary could just be erased in the general election: “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.” The fascinating thing about this Romney gaffe is that it was made by an aide. Mitt has so many gaffes that he has to delegate them!

Within hours of the gaffe, both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were at campaign events with actual Etch A Sketches as props. The Rick Santorum campaign is so disorganized that I wouldn’t have been surprised if he would have showed up at a campaign even with a Lite Brite or an Easy-Bake Oven. Santorum warned Republican voters that if they vote for Romney, “whoever you vote for is going to be a completely new candidate.” Actually, that’s something of a comforting thought. A candidate who is completely fake and insincere is better than a candidate who truly believes in the ultra-conservative crap that Mitt Romney has been spewing. And the candidate who truly believes that crap is Rick Santorum.

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Last night in NYC there was a 'Million Hoodie March' calling for justice for Trayvon Martin (video below / NSFW language) - tonight the rally moves to the scene of the crime in Sanford, FL.

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