Now this is strange. What compels a Speaker of the House, as he's (supposed to be) trying to reach a deal to preserve various expiring government goodies before Congress recesses for the year, to move a resolution that would "commission the placement of a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Capitol"? Here he is, talking about it, softly crying, of course, but not in full Boehner Bawl mode. Winston Churchill, he was one helluva a guy. Anyway, this is all about race.

The reason Boehner and Co. are doing this is not merely because they admire Winston Churchill's speech before Congress 70 years ago. It's more the climax of a nearly three-year right-wing crusade against Barack Obama, whom they believe got rid of a White House bust of Winston Churchill upon assuming office in a fit of uppity anti-colonial rage. It all goes back to this Telegraph article from February 2009, which your creepy survivalist uncle almost certainly has bookmarked:

A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.

The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.

But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks." [...]

Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather.

A White House spokesperson, though, had a less hysterical account, noting that "the Churchill bust was removed before Obama's inauguration as part of the usual changeover operations, adding that every president puts his own stamp on the Oval Office." But the legend of Obama angrily tossing out Sir Winston as his first act of revenge against whitey's colonial crimes has persisted, and it's finally slinked its way into a resolution on the House floor.

Now we'll have to move on to, say, the resolution demanding Obama stop putting his filthy feet on Queen Victoria's desk. Anything that reminds him that he is a guest in this office, in more ways than most.