Via Mediaite, does anyone care? If you’re a liberal watching Touré, chances are it’s for one reason: Because he likes to pronounce on what’s racist and what isn’t, and usually “what’s racist” lines up nicely with the left’s political agenda. See, e.g., his meditation last month at Time on how Romney’s fleeting criticism of ObamaCare during his speech to the NAACP proves that — you guessed it — he’s racist. Andrew Breitbart used to have endless fun on Twitter goofing on this guy, imagining that one day he’d land his very own TV vehicle for all-purpose racial demagoguery entitled “That Broccoli Is Racist.” That’s basically what this clip is, with the role of broccoli being played by Romney’s detection of some anger in Team Obama repeatedly smearing him over his tax returns, the steelworker’s dead wife, and the alleged “chains” that he wants to put “y’all” into.

What makes this a very special episode of “That Broccoli Is Racist” is Touré’s use of the word “niggerization” to describe what Romney’s allegedly doing to O. Not sure why he felt obliged to up the ante that way. Maybe he and the MSNBC team have grown more pessimistic about O’s chances against Romney. Or maybe it’s a ratings thing. Let’s face it: As much as we all like S.E. Cupp, no one wants to watch a show in which she’s forced by three liberals into pointless daily debates over whether the latest piece of news broccoli is, perhaps, a tad on the racist side. Throw some incendiary language into the mix, though, and there’s at least an “I wonder what they’ll say next!” sensationalist hook to it. Either way, the point here is that you really shouldn’t be scandalized, as hard as Touré is trying. There’s no political benefit to saying stuff like this outside of MSNBC’s viewer base — just look how badly the “chains” thing blew up in Biden’s face — and, as I said, in substance it’s really no different from Touré’s usual shtick. It’s like watching an acoustic guitar player who knows just one song, and who plays it over and over and over, suddenly pick up an electric guitar and play it on that. New, and “edgy,” for maybe five seconds. And then you realize you’re listening to the same song again.

Exit question: Has “The Cycle” tackled the thorny subject of the missile that hit the Pentagon on 9/11 yet? I’d be curious to know how that particular broccoli is racist.