Rep. James Clyburn vs. White Southern GOP Establishment: Round 5729835

Oh, The South.

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn is super pissed that Southern GOP governors are threatening to refuse federal stimulus money. He's backtracked from his original assertion that the move is "a slap in the face of African-Americans," but only by about a fourth of an inch.

Sassy academic Joseph A. Palermo incisively compares the prattle of certain Southern GOP governors to a neo-Confederate uprising. The would-be secessionists:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal - Indian-American GOP superstar with ambition overload
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour - fattest governor in the nation, by far
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford - a literal lover of the original Confederacy
Texas Gov. Rick Perry - gets a stiffy every time a mentally retarded minority death row inmate is executed

But to be fair to the above state executives, I don't think they're consciously trying to make life more difficult for minorities in their home states, just the one who recently became President. And who's helping them along with that? Oh, it's Jim Clyburn.

Remember that one time he successfully inserted language in the stimulus bill that endowed state legislatures with the power to override their governors' refusal of federal stimulus funds? No state lawmaker would turn down even a single road project for his or her district. Sounds to me like Jindal & Co. can posture all they want, knowing in the end, they can cry separation of powers and the voters will get the funds.

Poor Rep. Clyburn. He should have spent less time simmering with hatred and paranoia and more time pondering the obvious fact that the would-be secessionists - an ambitious and practical lot - could have never raised this stink without his help.

~Slim