A Star Is Made...

They sure aren't born—not among the GOP's material. First, there's Tom Cotton's creepy resemblance to Anthony Perkins in "Psycho." More significant is the repellant ideology contained in the dog whistle—

Common sense ... has never been the forte of race-hustling charlatans like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Unfortunately, it also seems lost on supposedly educated people like Roger Wilkins, Lani Guinier, and Derek Bell.

Nope, GOP stars have to be created: Steve M. observes the process at work, in the latest media crush.

Never mind the object of their affection's race-baiting, war-mongering history. Or that expert and leader on furrin affairs Cotton has been in Congress a mere few weeks. Or that even—fergawdsakes—the NY Daily News attacked the GOP stunt.

The swoon is all in a day's work for the insider media. Birchite delusions once considered beyond the pale of respectable journalism are embraced, now that the GOP serves them as Tea.

Unsurprisingly, some foreigners patronized by Cotton are light years' savvier than our media—

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said late Monday that the letter drafted by Republican lawmakers addressed to Iranian leaders cautioning against a nuclear deal with the US was "mostly a propaganda ploy."

...

"I wish to enlighten the authors that if the next administration revokes any agreement with "the stroke of a pen," as they boast, it will have simply committed a blatant violation of international law"...

This, too, would be more credible than Tea Party worldview—

TEHRAN (The Borowitz Report)—Stating that "their continuing hostilities are a threat to world peace," Iran has offered to mediate talks between congressional Republicans and President Obama.

...

"Tensions between these two historic enemies have been high in recent years, but we believe they are now at a boiling point," Khamenei said. "As a result, Iran feels it must offer itself as a peacemaker."

He said that his nation was the "logical choice" to jumpstart negotiations between Obama and the Republicans because "it has become clear that both sides currently talk more to Iran than to each other."
He invited Obama and the Republicans to meet in Tehran to hash out their differences and called on world powers to force the two bitter foes to the bargaining table, adding, "It is time to stop the madness."

Speaking of racist Arkansans: it's a good time to look at some background, and to listen to a version.