Anyone credulous enough to honestly believe the right in America is not unreconstructedly racist deserves nothing less than the tenderest of pity.

As for decades it has become normative for Republicans at election time, the new election year brings an airburst of toxic Republican racism and xenophobia,typically and bathetically defended as unintended and misunderstood in the finest tradition of melodramatic victimhood.

At least in the case of one candidate he lets his racial paranoia flag proudly fly. Ron Paul, economic crackpot, anti-civil rights belles-lettrist and conspiracy boob currently is running an ad featuring Jon Huntsman speaking Mandarin, moving about in China where he was recently ambassador, and holding his adopted Chinese daughters accompanied by text declaiming Huntsman’s lack of “American values” (apparently neither tolerance nor rationalism are among those values according to Ronny) implication Huntsman retains more allegiance to China than to America, going so far as to question the parentage of his daughters, asking, “China Jon’s daughters: Even adopted?” insinuating Jon has committed cross-racial, anti-Western insemination.

It may be the most downright stupid expression of brazen xenophobia ever to see the light of day (I’d have to review the collected ad oeuvre of Jesse Helms to make the definitive judgment). I knew Paul’s cult of supporters were pitiable dopes, but good lord.

Newt, who has labeled President Obama “the food stamp president” (Get it? Black? Food stamps?) yesterday offered to attend the annual NAACP convention and discuss, “why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” One needn’t demean oneself explicitly parsing the innumerable falsehoods and crude racist assumptions and declarations in that gem to know how depraved and primitive it is.

Not to be outdone in the Republican competition to insult an entire race of people in comments more redolent of 1952 than 2012 Rick Santorum uttered this: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn money.” These racist smears aren’t out of keeping, they’re firmly in the prominent pattern of the Southern Strategy in Republican politics for many decades now, these latest less dog whistles than wailing sirens.

On cue, Newt and Santorum pulled out the old original Nixon trope adopted by Republicans since, along the lines of, “I’m shocked and outraged you would consider my comments to be in any way racist.” This too cutie pie by halves as always, Republicans remain dull enough to mistake what they regard as the effectiveness of a ploy with actually eluding moral accountability for their indecency and what indisputably is hatefully putrid speech. It is of course impossible to believe even they are dim enough to believe the defense, “I’m not racist just because I repeatedly exploit vicious racial stereotypes” is an actual defense and not a conspicuous WINK, the kind of wink jejune fatheads will forever consider really very sharp.

Before anyone gets all huffy and verklempt and whines that these are anomalies or outliers, I’ll remind them these are three top tier Republican candidates for president of the United States speaking during a primary campaign, and that it doesn’t get any more center stage than that in American politics.

As usual the press is more concerned with letting you know it gets the winking, but cannot bring itself to be visibly disgusted,or else is as usual too pussilanimously fretful over breaking the appearance of balance barrier to emotionally deplore what is surely deplorable.

In any case, anyone who tells you the American right isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of Racism International is blowing smoke up your diaper I’m afraid.