I really don’t understand what would possess Republican presidential contenders to sign a pledge saying that slavery was a good thing for black families. I understand the need to dogwhistle to reactionaries if you are a Republican. That’s sort of a requirement if you’re doing that thing. But this isn’t a dogwhistle, it’s a full-on screech that anybody listening can hear. I have no doubt that a lot of Tea Party types do believe this “fact”, but not all Republicans do and even some that do will blanch after having it spelled out in just that way. Which is saying something, but I won’t get sidetracked here. On the other hand, it is sort of refreshing to actually hear them say it without all the winks and nudges.

So the thing has turned into a huge debacle that will probably wind up hurting the campaigns of Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. Santorum doesn’t have a chance and is basically just running to stay noticed for FOX gigs and the like, which are likely going to become fewer and farther between as the time when he was a relevant political figure shrinks ever farther into the past. Bachmann, though, actually does stand a decent chance of going somewhere, though that somewhere is not 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. She could get the nomination, though. Bachmann will probably only experience modest fallout for this among the primary electorate, but establishmentarians who see her as an extremist who’s out of her depth are going to find another point to back them up as they go shopping for an anti-Romney candidate. I know Bachmann is a nutty extremist who is out of her depth, but honestly, is she that bad when it comes to hiding it? I guess we knew that already, but I suppose theoretically she could have learned a little something since the good old days of her McCarthyist wannabe act over on Hardball.