Etch A Sketch or Stand Your Ground? You decide

A liberal , a conservative and a moderate walk into a bar, 
The bartender says "Hi Mitt!"


I can't take credit for that joke. It belongs to "ranewton," who posted it after a Joe Klein essay at The Huffington Post taking Mitt Romney's campaign to task for its latest gaffe, "Etch a Sketch."


Klein thinks this phrase, which means wiping the Etch a Sketch clean of nasty extremist positions doodled during the primary season and start the fall campaign with a clean, moderate slate, could doom his presidential chances.


If that's what it takes, let's hope so. 


The irony is that Mittens and his minions end up blunting whatever momentum was gained from a primary victory, this time in Illinois, the very next day with some crazy comment.


Can you imagine if something great happened on Mitt's watch if he were president?

Let's say that the jobless rate fell to 5 percent. The next day, or even that afternoon, Mitt would announce that, in order to reduce the deficit, we're going to outsource our defense contracts to the Chinese.

On one hand, Mitt Romney may be the perfect candidate to always compromise his own positions.


On the other, maybe he should put his mitts on a BB gun, don a coonskin cap and stand his ground.


Which leads us to the killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. 


No charges have been filed even though the killer, George Zimmerman, admitted to the crime inside a gated community. 


Zimmerman's defense is Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which lets anyone kill anyone else if they feel threatened. And yes, this pathetic law was pushed by the NRA.


"Stand Your Ground" is now the phrase of our times.

But, what if an African-American stood his ground in front of Zimmerman and shot him?

Well, obviously, that African-American would be immediately arrested and eventually tried by a jury of his peers. All white, of course. 

With no justice being served in Sanford, the African-American community in Florida, and around the country, is rightfully angry. 

Much of white America shrugs. And, unfortunately, many Americans say the 17-year-old had it coming and consider Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, a hero for taking a stand "against all that is wrong with society."

In that sense, Zimmerman represents the teabagging anger of the crowd that is irrationally hostile to President Obama. 

Teabaggers would love to see Obama gone, by whatever means necessary. Yes, teabaggers long for someone to stand his ground in front of Obama and "liberate" the country.

When you stand your ground, though, there is no Etch a Sketch to shake to make the chalk outline of a dead body disappear.

It's permanent.

And the damage lasts a lifetime.