Dem
51
GOP
49
That is not our headline; we copied it lock, stock and barrel from this item in The Guardian (U.K.). And when you see a headline like that, it could really only be describing one of, what, five or six senators at most?
We'll tell you who it was at the end of this item, while you decide who your guess is (we had two guesses when we saw the headline, and one of them was correct). The remarks in question came during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing at which the budget of the DEA was being discussed. The "profoundly ignorant" senator (and, really, "profoundly racist" is more precise) said that if it wasn't for the presence of the United States, "[Mexicans] would be eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent behind an Outback [Steakhouse]." We don't even know what that means; are there countries too poor to feed their citizens, but wealthy enough to have fast-casual restaurant chains? This slur, incidentally, was pretext for the senator to opine that Mexico really ought to be invaded by the DEA.
And that is really why we share this news item, because apparently this whole "invade Mexico" thing is becoming a real, honest-to-goodness plank in the Republican platform. They're not even being subtle about it, or about their view that it's entirely apropos because Mexico is a nation full of backwards, brown people who cannot govern themselves. The White Man's Burden, 21st century edition? Whatever it is, it's scary, scary stuff. And note that it was actually Mexico's foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, who made the "profoundly ignorant man" remark.
And who was the senator who issued forth with this stuff? John Kennedy (R-LA). Like many readers, we would imagine, we thought it was almost certainly either him or Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). The other possibilities, the dark horses (white horses?), are Mike Lee (R-UT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). There are very few members of the upper chamber, regardless of their politics, who would openly say something that would lead them to be described as "profoundly ignorant." But for Kennedy and Tuberville, it's just another day at the office. (Z)