Interesting tidbits from recent news, and great fodder for late night talk show hosts, politicial pundits and guys like me who like to muse about the masses. In an earlier column, I noted that political correctness had reached critical mass some time ago, and everyone has an opinion on what’s safe to say and what isn’t. Couple that with those whose heads are either buried in the sand or up their asses, and we have a funhouse of folly to write about today.

An old college classmate of mine who ran for Massachusetts governor in 2007 offered one of the more amusing television ads for a political candidate I can remember. It was a cartoon similar to the work of Mike Judge (Office Space, SNL), and when a candidate was asked a question on an issue, he/she immediately bent down and shoved his/her head up his/her ass and walked away. What we have today is life imitating art imitating life imitating art, sort of like the politics of an endless array of mirrors reflecting mirrors. It’s great theater, great sadness, great shame and great cause for concern about the future of our race on this planet.

We have a woman and a black man running for the Democratic presidential nomination. The woman is the wife of a former US president, and a US senator who has served in that position since January, 2001. The black man is a US senator who has served in that position since January, 2005. Under rational circumstances, it would be pretty darn exciting to know that a woman and a black man in the United States would be competing seriously for the highest office in the land, and any truly sentient being would applaud the advancements in our society for this dynamic.

These are anything but rational times, though, and there is not the plethora of sentient beings in this country one would hope for. Both the Handicapper General and the Correctness Cops are hard at work misdirecting everyone’s attention, as odd as that might seem, considering that everyone’s attention span is de minimus already. But, let’s humor ourselves for a moment and look at the news.

Geraldine Ferraro, 1984’s Democratic candidate for vice president, and a woman, stated that if the black US senator running for president was not black he would not be a viable candidate. She’s being excoriated across the land, accused of bringing race into the race, and demands were made for her head on a platter. Oh, and she also said that if her name had been Gerard Ferraro, in other words if she were a man, she would not have been the Democratic candidate for vice president way back then. Politically speaking, he was lucky to be black, and she was lucky to be a woman – - about the gist of her remarks.

Pundits are punditizing now about race being an issue in the campaign, and furrowing their brows and shaking their heads at the sadness of it all. Gee, we thought race and bigotry were in our past.

Next, let’s turn to the exit polls from the recent Mississippi primary to see what we can learn. To the mock horror of all, the surprise of no sentient being, and the satisfaction of the Obama campaign, those exit polls show that race played a major role in the outcome. The black man in the race got 91% of the black vote, and the white lady got 72% of the white vote.

What are the take-aways from all this? I’ve a few to suggest for your consideration:

1. Suggesting the black man would not get the black vote if he were white is bad.

2. The black man getting 91% of the black vote because he’s black is good.

3. And, whatever you do, don’t talk about race in this race.

From all of those who think race is not a factor in this year’s election, I want to know one thing – - – how difficult is it, really, to walk around with your head up your ass? In those political ads last year, it was just cartoon characters, and cartoon characters can do anything. I just want to know how hard it is in real life.

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