What A Difference A Year Makes

...no, not for Obama, for Louisiana GOP Rep. Joseph Cao. One year ago:

"GOP Finds an Unlikely New Hero in Louisiana," stated the page 1 headline of Tuesday's Washington Post, which described how suddenly Cao "found the weight of the entire Republican Party resting on his diminutive shoulders." It quoted Republican National Chairman Mike Duncan, trumpeting Cao's victory, as proof that Republicans "still know how to win elections."

"Republicans Put New Faith in the Tao of Cao," read the front-page headline in Politico, which quoted a memo from House Republican Leader John Boehner, of Ohio, proclaiming that, "The Cao victory is a symbol of our future."

In his memo, titled "The future is Cao," Boehner wrote, "As House Republicans look ahead to the next two years, the Cao victory is a symbol of what can be achieved when we think big, present a positive alternative, and work aggressively to earn the trust of the American people."

That of course was before he voted for Obamacare.

Representative Joseph Cao is a freshman Republican who won 49.6 percent of the vote against a corrupt incumbent in a district that’s 64% black and has a median income of $25,000. I think it should come as no surprise that someone in that situation might want to break with the GOP leadership now and then. For example, he voted for the health care reform bill last night. For his trouble, he’s being treated to some interesting tweets (link NSFW, Zandar):

There’s also a whole bunch of folks who’ve decided that it’d be hilarious to start referring to Rep. Cao as “Mao” because, you see, they’re both responsible for the deaths of millions Asians. Also this.

Now you see he's just a filthy immigrant giving his immigrant buddies free stuff. He's the enemy now.

That's how Republicans roll. If you're a minority or woman for that matter and you're a Republican, you're only useful until you try to do something that actually may benefit (or fails to punish) women and minorities.

Then you're dog food.