So… I’m going to go ahead and let this video speak for itself, for the most part, but here’s a little bit of context to get you started: This video was created by a stand-up comedian named Dave Ackerman, and the school he’s visiting is Brigham Young University.

Michigan residents watching the Super Bowl last night may have noticed an unusual political ad that aired during Sunday’s game. In it, a young Chinese woman is seen riding a bike through what appears to be a rice paddy. She stops to tell the viewer all about Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow‘s spending, as young Chinese women riding bikes through rice paddies are wont to do. As a result of spending, she informs us, the U.S. has to borrow more money from China and “your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow!”

Radio host Thaddeus Matthews recently spoke with Republican congressional candidate Charlotte Bergmann in an interview that quickly devolved into insults and accusations of “tokenism.”

The video below was posted to YouTube on January 25th by someone who isn’t a Tea Party fan, to say the least, hence the inflammatory subtitles you’ll see running across the bottom of the footage and between segments.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow lambasted Newt Gingrich’s speech in Florida tonight, criticizing him for singling out President Obama’s singing. “Newt Gingrich brought back the food stamps president thing — and then tonight, he went to ‘President Obama ought to stop singing, ought to stop being the Entertainer-in-Chief.’ Sort of caricaturing him in a way that calls out to minstrelsy!”

You know a segment is growing beyond the control of its host whenever anyone invokes the term “____ mafia.” In the case of Monday’s episode of America Live, host Megyn Kelly tried, in vain, to reign in the discussion by guests Jehmu Greene, former president of the Women’s Media Center, and radio host / Tea Party 365 co-founder David Webb.

On Thursday night’s Politics Nation, host Al Sharpton called out Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer‘s disrespectful conduct toward President Obama during their tarmac tussle, connecting it to a pattern of such contemptuous behavior by Republican leaders. Sirius XM radio host Joe Madison gave it a name, saying that there are people “who cannot stand the fact that this is an african-american who is now one of the most powerful individuals on the planet.”

On Wednesday, CNN’s Jason Carroll confronted the controversial mayor East Haven, Connecticut Joseph Maturo Jr who was under fire for saying that he would help Latinos in his town by eating tacos.

During a SOTU preview segment on Tuesday evening’s Hardball, MSNBC contributor Howard Fineman made an observation about a rankling trend among certain opponents of President Obama, the tendency not to address him by his hard-won title. Framing it in the context of those who question the President’s legitimacy, Fineman noted “I have never heard Newt Gingrich call President Obama ‘President Obama.’”

I thought I’d put Fineman’s claim to the test, using last night’s debate. The results were surprising.

During Monday night’s The Ed Show, host Ed Schultz took on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich‘s penchant for “vilifying President Obama” with the “coded language” of racism. During the panel segment, Salon’s Joan Walsh summed Gingrich up in easily-deciphered fashion, telling Schultz that “Newt is the face of the politics of resentment and racism and angry white male rage” that led voters to vote against their own economic interests.

During an ill-informed rant about SOPA on Friday night’s Real Time, host Bill Maher dropped in one of the more appallingly casual racist remarks I’ve heard in a long time. Speaking about the “moral dimension” to the online piracy debate, Maher said, “I call it ‘Caucasian looting,’ to laughs from panelist Buddy Roemer, and shocked silence from former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. It’s just the latest example of Maher’s affection for racial stereotypes.

GOP presidential Lazarus Newt Gingrich has been riding high on the strength of his Birth of Newt Nation moment at Monday’s Fox News debate. On Saturday morning’s Up with Chris Hayes, host Chris Hayes revealed yet another clip of Gingrich exploiting his knack with racially resentful conservatives, a clip that Hayes said “is so racist, it makes me want to curse on air.”

Soledad O’Brien gathered together a panel to weigh in on former president Jimmy Carter‘s analysis of Newt Gingrich‘s “coded racism” in the way he addressed GOP debate moderator Juan Williams. And to enjoy a little breakfast together.

One question that was conspicuously absent from Monday night’s Fox News South Carolina Republican Debate was whether the candidates endorse that state’s continued flying of the Confederate flag in front of their capitol. With yet another debate scheduled for tonight, on CNN, the issue may come up, as it did at 2008′s CNN South Carolina debate. Current frontrunner Mitt Romney spoke out clearly against the flag then, while challenger Newt Gingrich recently defended the flying of the Confederate flag.

Like many liberals, I have long bemoaned the use of racial politics by Republicans like Newt Gingrich, but his much-ballyhooed standing ovation moment at Monday’s Republican debate in South Carolina has opened my eyes. Newt skillfully talked directly to the straitjacketed white person imprisoned within my bleeding heart, and made me realize that he’s not race-baiting, he’s just using facts and truth to try to help black people. Why can’t the media get off his back?

In a preview of Wednesday’s Piers Morgan Tonight, former President Jimmy Carter surprised host Piers Morgan with his somewhat blunt (by mainstream media standards) assessment of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Speaking of Gingrich’s standing ovation moment at Monday night’s debate, President Carter told Morgan “I think (Gingrich) has that subtlety of racism that I know quite well, that appeals to some people in Georgia.”

Pat Buchanan is disputing reports he was suspended from MSNBC and contends that he was instead on medical leave. “Well, you know I’ve had some medical issues at the end of the year which were pretty problematic, and so I’ve sort of been out of speaking and things like that,” Buchanan told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Monday night. “I’ve started back writing the column in December, and I’ve got the column going. I’m doing ‘McLaughlin Group.’ But we haven’t gotten up on MSNBC.”

On Sunday’s CNN Newsroom, host Don Lemon spoke with political analyst Goldie Taylor about recent racially-insensitive incidents among several GOP candidates. “Let’s be clear, these are not stumbles or miscues, these are absolutely planned, seeded, on-purpose stuff,” Taylor exclaimed.

One of the biggest questions Ron Paul is facing from the media is his controversial remarks on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Namely, that he isn’t a big fan of it. Paul has been dogged by the media with this question for weeks now, and today it was Chris Wallace‘s turn to give Paul a chance to clarify or expand upon his past thoughts on the matter. The congressman, who defended himself against charges of racism at last night’s debate, continued to defend his position by insisting he was promoting liberty first.

Papa John’s is apologizing after a New York franchise handed a customer a receipt with a racial slur. Minhee Cho had ordered small pepperoni pie shortly after noon on Saturday, when she noticed the offensive missive sprawled on the receipt.

During Saturday night’s New Hampshire debate, presidential contender Ron Paul was asked about racist newsletters he had published (but, he has insisted various times, did not write) in the 90s. When asked to explain “how it was possible that those kind of comments went out under your name without you knowing about them,” Paul noted [...]

In an appearance on Fox News’s America Today, Jon Huntsman‘s daughter Abby Huntsman Livingston slammed the controversial ads put out by “New Hampshire Liberty 4 Paul” depicting the former Utah governor dressed as a Maoist soldier and featuring his adopted daughters. “It’s unfortunate the political conversation have become this vile.”

America has only experienced the first of many primary contests this week, and already a candidate for “most offensive campaign ad” has come to the fore, and with gusto. The group “New Hampshire Liberty 4 Paul”– supporting Rep. Ron Paul– has come out swinging against Jon Huntsman for his ties to China, asking whether he is the “Manchurian Candidate” and whether he lacks “American values” for having lived in Beijing.

Surging presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is under fire for a remark at a campaign event Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa, where he apparently brought up the plight of black people completely out of the blue. Or did he?

According to reports, Santorum said ”I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.”

On Sunday, The New York Times ran a profile of Eric Holder in which the attorney general responded to criticism leveled against him and President Obama. Holder told the Times that one of the reasons conservative critics were going after them was due to “the fact that we’re both African-American.” On Fox News today, Charles Krauthammer criticized Holder for not only being an “incompetent” Attorney General with a controversial track record, but for playing the race card so “cowardly” in the interview.

On Thursday, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz reported on how we’re taking a “closer look” at Ron Paul‘s past, particularly when it comes to these newsletters you’ve probably yet to hear about. Schultz’s pointed to Paul’s most recent CNN interview, during which the candidate told Gloria Borger that he did not write racist material contained in various [...]