From a man who’s no stranger to abject disgrace comes one of the purest examples of racial demagoguery we’ve seen from either side during this very long campaign, duly laughed at and applauded by the same group that worked so hard last week to get Palin disinvited from the anti-Iran rally. His party will love him for it, I assure you.

Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday. Hastings, who is African-American, was explaining what he intended to tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through,” Hastings added as the room erupted in laughter and applause.

Also on the panel: Steve Cohen, who was himself viciously demagogued by a fellow “progressive” not long ago yet who apparently couldn’t open his mouth to say anything here except to muse very stupidly about Jesus’s political leanings. Which isn’t even the stupidest thing he’s had to say about Jesus this month.