She is visiting Miami on Tuesday, and will be recruiting campaign volunteers at Miami Lakes' Barbara Goleman Senior High. However, though the school is empty for the summer, some Republican members of the Miami-Dade school board don't want her there.

The Miami Herald reported that board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, a Republican candidate for the Florida State House, has called for cancellation of the event. Similarly, another board member, Carlos Curbelo, has sent a letter to the board attorney, asking that he reconsider allowing the first lady to use the school "to benefit the president's re-election campaign."

Curbelo, who the paper said worked as a Republican strategist, wrote in the letter that allowing Obama to use the school is "inappropriate and sends the wrong message to our students, employees, and to taxpayers -- even if the president's campaign is willing to pay for all costs resulting from the event."

It's hard to view this through any other lens than racial, quite frankly, particularly Diaz de la Portilla's remarks:

"Don't these liberals have boundaries?" Diaz de la Portilla said. "Our schools are places for learning, not places for politicking."

Really? Boundaries? Keep in mind, school is closed for the summer, and the campaign pays to use it.

Beyond the obvious partisan nonsense, there's an ugly thread of disrespect, as Erin Kotecki Vest notes:

Disrespect. A party that tolerates outbursts of ‘YOU LIE’ during our country’s most honored traditions. A party that tolerates actual questioning of just how ‘American’ this sitting President really is…and if he truly loves his country. A party that encourages the First Lady not be allowed to speak on behalf of her husband…as EVERY FIRST LADY HAS DONE, simply because the other side…well, why is it then…because the other side didn’t want her to speak? Because they were afraid of what a strong, black woman would have to say to hundreds of supporters?

Or because they couldn’t stand the thought of this happening in ‘their’ school? In ‘their’ district? Heaven forbid the Obamas campaign, legally, on ‘their’ turf?

This is the woman who intimidates them simply by eating right and wearing a sleeveless shirt, obviously they can’t handle her on stage in their territory.

So we have this general disrespect aspect, and the race card aspect, and then how much of this is about the fact that Michelle Obama is a highly regarded woman? After all, women aren't really favorites of the Republican party, unless they're submissive, pregnant, and/or severely conservative.

My only consolation in this is that these petty little idiots made themselves look awful to anyone who thinks. Those who don't think will vote for the authoritarian conservatives anyway.

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Fox & Friends Weekend used the manhunt for alleged cop-killer Christopher Dorner as an excuse to play a thinly-veiled race card against Rep. Maxine Waters and other African Americans. The pretext was a discussion about how Dorner has garnered some fans on Facebook and Twitter as a result of his manifesto alleging racism and corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department, his former employer. But instead of doing any real work and reporting any real facts about the state of community relations with the LAPD or even relaying what the fans are saying, the three hosts dismissed any concerns about police brutality and racism and suggested that race-crazed African Americans are using the case to justify violence. For good measure, host Tucker Carlson baselessly suggested that Congresswoman Maxine Waters is part of Dorner’s fan base.

Huffington Post also reported on Dorner’s fans but – unlike Fox – also noted that there’s a sort of “Dark Knight Complex” that gives a kind of appeal to high-profile killers among certain people:

The vast majority of Americans are horrified that Dorner declared "war" on the LAPD and has allegedly killed three individuals so far. But the public disgust seems to add fuel to the fire for his followers, as it does with skeptics of 9/11, the Aurora massacre and the Newtown massacre.

However, it is clear that Dorner's fans have a more issue-driven focus than, for example, the fans, or "Holmies," of alleged Aurora shooter James Holmes.

Dorner's supporters say the media should be focusing on police brutality and officer-involved deaths as much as they are on this alleged killer.

In other words, Dorner is obviously not the only public villain to gain fans and it is clear that the case has brought to the forefront a range of concerns about the LAPD. But Fox ignored the “Holmies” just as it disregarded the Dorner supporters' issues - in order to paint them as racial demagogues.

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