Here We Geaux!

Friday night brought the week’s high spirits to a head as Rachel did the show from The Big Easy.

Rachel took a look at how long the Saints have been waiting to get to the Super Bowl, a heartwarming segment for everyone but Cubs fans, who laughed bitterly and cracked another Old Style to try to dull the pain.

Super Hereaux

Rachel continued making her case for getting interested in this year’s Super Bowl whether or not you’re a fan of football. She took a moment to give a rundown of a few of the players who are doing some terrific charitable and advocacy work and then welcomed friend of the show and friend of New Orleans Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

The two talked about how progressive politics and sports really can go together and how the game was a symbol of the rebuilding of New Orleans and [SPOILER!] oh, my stars and garters, am I relieved things turned out the way they did because otherwise this would have been the most depressing recap on Earth.

But hooray! This segment is still uplifting! (Except, from Ms. Harris-Lacewell’s point of view, the mayoral election. Sorry, ma’am. You and your candidate ran a good race.)

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Flood Simple

Rachel reminisced about former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert (R – Illinois) and his remarks, during Katrina rescue efforts, that New Orleans was perhaps not worth saving and could be bulldozed.

Yikes. Denny Hastert really bleauxs.

To dig into “the problem of  protecting New Orleans from nature,” not to mention our own dumb messing around with the environment, Rachel headed outside for a very interesting walk-and-talk with levee commissioner John Barry.

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Ms. Infeaux

Rachel checked in on the controversially pricey Tea Party convention in Nashville. While several Tea Partiers showed up in Colonial garb, super-creepy former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R – Colorado) decided to save his historic nostalgia for the repellent Jim Crow era, suggesting that it might be a good idea if “civics literacy tests” were required before voting.

Just vile. And on camera! Tancredo and whoever looked over his speech apparently weren’t even aware that such a thing might upset people. Maybe instead of having to take a civics literacy test before voting next time, Mr. Tancredo should have to pass a history test.

The fact that Tancredo got actual applause after saying that is disgusting. Rachel joked that some of the cheering was muffled by the white hoods.

And here’s the thing, Tea Partiers: You absolutely deserve those jokes until you start cleaning your own house. Nobody can control which jerks will show up to your outdoor rally with horrible signs, it’s true. But when they do show up, it’s your job to speak out against them.

And when the jerk who shows up is the freaking invited opening speaker to your convention, it’s your job to at least sit on your hands when he makes racist remarks and quickly make it clear that he will not be invited back.

That’s the minimum. Ideally, Tancredo would have been shown out by someone who had a firm grip on his ear and belt loop.

While she was on the topic of political jerkery, Rachel noted that Senator Richard Shelby (R – Alabama) is personally holding up all of President Obama’s nominees – more than 70 of them. Oddly enough, rather than discussing their qualifications before releasing his holds, Shelby would like to discuss two giant earmark projects for his home state.

Which means Senator Shelby is essentially holding the smooth operation of our government for ransom. He should at least have to talk like a pirate when he does that.

Cocktail Meauxment

Rachel joined Ti Martin of Commander’s Palace and some very happy bystanders to learn how to make a sazerac. Enjoy.

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