Celsius 233

Barnes & Noble Greenwich Village location to close at end of year.

I went into the Union Square store recently. The whole back of the first floor was a giant ad for their Nook reader.

I went upstairs, looking for the fun section where you used to find lots of big picture books at discount. It had moved, and was a minor afterthought rather than the former treasure trove.

Nothing beats looking over a range of books, even if pixels weigh a lot less.

YELLOW AND GREEN HOUSE

A house with great detail I saw while fleeing Sandy's aftermath.

REPUBLICANS URGED TO GO OUT IN DRAG

The result would be as jarring as the color scheme.

I figured Obama would win a second term, but the polls were so far off that they made me wonder if I were wrong.

I so enjoyed the Wednesday "message to Republicans" that many commenters on tv were idiotically spewing: The GOP needs to take seriously the feelings and interests of Hispanic voters, African Americans, women, gay folks, the middle class ... and on and on.

What? Come again? What's been going on for the last 45 years, since the start of Nixon's Southern Strategy? The Republicans have built their brand upon capitalizing on the fear of scared white people. They've climbed every mountain looking for the next group to hate: uppity women, out gay people, black people trying to get along and get ahead, immigrants taking the miserable work no one else would do. They have worked feverishly to secure the aborted fetus vote and chain pregnant women to hospital beds until they give birth. This has been their agenda.

Sometimes they whisper it quietly, other times they deliver a vision of an old cavalry charging in with Jesus in the lead, riding a white horse, machine-gun blazing.

Occasionally you think the leadership believes their own nonsense, and some do. The Tea Party movement caused them the most frustration. These were people who drank the Kool Aid and lived to be elected to congressional seats. The leadership never really expected this development, and now the media is urging them to purge these crazies from their ranks and adopt a moderate tone.

It's too late. Boehner can't spray-tan over the extremists. The Republicans can't suddenly embrace people they've scorned. They can't throw on pink wigs and go out in drag without being laughed at. They cannot change in any meaningful way, and that's a good thing. They are at last stuck with being who they claimed to be all along.