The GOP jokesters (is that an oxymoron?) who came up with this handy pin probably thought they were being original, not knowing that the joke is so old and tired that old and tired Southwesterners in bolo ties were getting in trouble for uttering it in public places months ago. Nevertheless, Republicanmarket.com printed up the "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" of racist political jokes on a bunch of pins and sold them at the Texas Republican Convention last weekend. Of course, after photos of the pin hit the press yesterday, the state GOP representatives were shocked and appalled, vowing to never again invite the vendor to an event.

The damage was done, though. Just like the Obama sock monkeys*, which were scrapped by the naive and racially-transcendent entrepreneurs who conceived it, and those Obama=Curious George t-shirts that were rejected and denounced from sea to shining sea. There's plenty more to come, of course — during the campaign season and after Obama is elected. And it might get a lot worse than pins and sock monkeys.

*For the record, I'm not really sure how my or anyone else's criticism of Obama sock monkeys somehow means we are simultaneously condoning Hillary Clinton nutcrackers or that the sheer presence of Clinton nutcrackers somehow make Obama sock monkeys okay.