hypoc-ri-SY, hypoc-ri-SY, no escaping that for thee...

(Apologies to Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder)

All week, the Republican noise machine has been hammering Howard Dean for characterizing them as "pretty much a white, Christian party," that "(has) the agenda of the conservative Christians." As noted in the WaPo:

Republicans accused Dean of trying to divide Americans by religion and faith. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia called the comments "Howard Dean's games of division and hate."

Now I can't say I approve of Dean's strategy; personally I think such things will backfire (even if they are nothing more than an in-kind response to what has worked so well for the other side). But to hear the Repubs attack anyone as "divisive" borders on the absurd. We're talking about people who've managed to turn gay bashing into an art form, riding a wave of revulsion and bigotry into the highest offices in the land. (Aided by their puppetmasters Dobson and Perkins and their minions at Focus on the Family and the FRC) We're talking about people whose leadership actively participates with those who tried to spin their opponents in the latest judicial debate as being "against people of faith."

But such truths don't seem to rate with the increasingly timid MSM. Much safer to play their part as an echo chamber for the hypocritical bleating rather than call anyone out on it.

(And in case anyone was curious as to how much Dean's "hateful" characterizations reflect reality, I'd refer you to this passage from The Great Divide: Retro Vs. Metro America, by John Sperling: (Thanks to John at AMERICAblog)

"Of 3,643 Republicans serving in the state legislatures, only 44 are minorities, or 1.2 percent. In the Congress, with 274 of the 535 elected senators and representatives Republican, only five are minorities - three Cuban Americans from Florida, a Mexican American from Texas and a Native American senator originally elected as a Democrat.

'President Bush's home state leads the way. Texas, with a minority population of 47 percent, has 106 Republicans in the state legislature, but there are 0 blacks and 0 Hispanics among them,' Sperling writes. 'No major corporation doing business with the government could be so white without being subject to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) action!'"