I wound up watching Candy Crowley’s show, State of the Union, this morning, which is somewhat unusual for me. I normally wouldn’t see it, but long time friend of Hot Air Liz Mair was one of the guests. But before the panel with Liz came on, Crowley talked to the respective chairs of the NRCC and the DCCC. The latter, Steve Israel, was hit with a question which was nearly, though not quite in the same league of offensiveness as the answer.

Candy: Do you think your Republican colleagues are racist?

Israel: Not all of them, no. Of course not. But to a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism.

Apparently Nancy Pelosi is more influential than we imagined.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday blamed racial issues for the GOP’s failure to act on comprehensive immigration legislation.

“I think race has something to do with the fact that they’re not bringing up an immigration bill,” the California Democrat told reporters at her regular weekly press conference. “I’ve heard them say to the Irish, ‘If it were just you, this would be easy.’”

I’m old enough to remember when the Democrats had to resort to at least somewhat oblique references and dog whistles to pretend that everyone who doesn’t agree with them on policy were racists. (Of course, if you’re old enough to read this, you probably remember that too.) No more, sports fans. It’s now fair game to just strut out on stage on national TV and start tossing out the race card like candy at Halloween. And on a related note, what’s up with the Irish references lately? Ed needs to get on that.

This one rather stands on its own, I think, and fortunately the NRCC snagged the video for us. Take it away.