Paula Deen

It's hard to figure what to make of the whole Paula Dean fiasco. Of course we're horrified if she said or did any racist things. And I'm sure we'll all pop our hamstrings to out-do each other re: being the least-racist person in human history. But let's remember we're talking about a virtual Foghorn Leghorn deep-fried Southern cartoon character, shot up the flagpole on day one as some way of clinging to old, Southern values (accent + unlocked screendoors + butter + lots more butter)...are we all REALLY supposed to be surprised? At all? And shouldn't we all feel a little guilty for being cheerleaders of hers for as long as we were? Didn't we already know this?