As if former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney didn’t have enough problems already, a story that connects him to the Ku Klux Klan has now entered the cable news bloodstream. AmericaBlog noticed that a phrase Romney has used, “Keep America American,” was also a rallying cry of the Klan in the 1920s. Now, MSNBC has reported on the story, which may prove hard for the cable news punditocracy to resist.

Doesn’t it feel like forever since that witch lady ran for Senate? Well rest easy, folks, we’ve got some classic candidate crazy thanks to our friend in Florida. John Paul Rogers is running for mayor of Lake Wales, and he’s pretty ticked off at his opponent’s dirty tricks. What’d the other guy do? Well, for starters, he mentioned Rogers’ past membership in the Ku Klux Klan. C’mon! How’s that even relevant? “It’s a shame that in a small city like Lake Wales where most everyone knows one another you have this kind of muckraking and character assassination,” Rogers complained to Tampa station WTSP.

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential Republican presidential candidate, has an interesting perspective on the tumults of the civil rights era that swept through his Deep South state.

Mark Eliseuson is already known in his town of Hayden, Idaho for flying controversial flags that espouse white power. But his latest approach to getting the wrong type of attention might be the most passive aggressive racist ploy ever. He and a friend allegedly built a snowman that clearly and specifically looks like a member of the Ku Klux Klan…complete with noose. Come on people. What’s the matter with you?

When Senator Robert Byrd died last week, many wondered how eulogizers might treat his role as a leader/recruiter in a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Former President Bill Clinton answered those questions during the memorial service, ostensibly defending Byrd’s part in the Klan by saying “he was a country boy from the hills and hollows of West Virginia,” adding “he was trying to get elected.” Fox News’ Media Analyst Bernard Goldberg took exception to what he saw as a cavalier excuse of Byrd’s racist past.

Rachel Maddow was not pleased with the National Tea Party Convention’s opening speech from Rep. Tom Tancredo — a “big, loud racist bang,” she called Tancredo’s advocacy for a literacy test for voters. “People who could not even spell the word vote, or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House,” Tancredo said, leading Maddow to compare the crowd to the Ku Klux Klan.