…and it comes from a state rep in Texas who actually used the word “coonass.”

The horror!

In the discussion, prompted toward the end of the five-hour hearing by testimony from Texas Education Agency lawyer David Anderson, Bonnen argued it would be tougher for schools to accommodate the Central American children than it was for them to temporarily take in kids who had been evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. Part of the reason, he said, would be that schools would have to obtain educational records from other countries and hire more bilingual teachers.

“I want to be clear – a Katrina child is far different,” Bonnen said. “We can make jokes and pick on Louisiana and it’s fun and all that, but it’s a hell of a lot different bringing a kid over from Louisiana than a child who’s just made a treacherous journey.”

“The Louisiana government actually gave us their records,” Anderson said. “It was very easy.”

“Correct. There’s a significant difference,” Bonnen said, before adding, “We had to have a teacher who could do coonass in English, but here we have to do Spanish and English, maybe, and there’s a higher marker.”

Cajuns are the descendants of French migrants to Louisiana from the Acadian region of Canada. The epicenter of Cajun culture lies in south Louisiana, not that far from Bonnen’s hometown, relative to the rest of Texas. Cajuns themselves are somewhat split on how offensive the term “coonass” is, but many find it inappropriate.

Among the “many” is Louisiana Rep. Karen St. Germain (D-Plaquemine), who in true Democrat fashion had to peg her outrage meter…

“It’s OK if we call each other crazy but it’s not good for someone else to insinuate that word in a conversation about children. That’s pretty low,” said St. Germain, R-Erath, adding that, “I promise you I wouldn’t say that about kids from Texas.”

Because, y’know…The Children.

And by the way, Karen St. Germain is not a Republican from Erath. If she was, her name would be Simone Champagne, and she’d be a lot smarter and more serious and not waste her time chewing on a nothingburger.

While St. Germain’s whining might be eyeroll-inducing, she doesn’t win the prize. That honor belongs to someone who is decidedly not a coonass…

The liberal advocacy group Progress Texas pounced Wednesday afternoon, sending out a news release that quoted executive director Ed Espinoza as saying, “When Republicans use slurs so casually, it proves they are still clueless as to what inclusion means. An elected official should have the judgment to know that terms like this are unacceptable, especially when directed towards kids.”

Something tells us he’s not from the Patterson Espinozas. Or even the Golden Meadow Espinozas. Certainly they appreciate his concern, we’re sure.

The proper answer, for St. Germain’s edification, when Texans call Louisiana people “coonasses” is to point out that the difference between a coonass and a jackass is the Sabine River – and then leave it at that. Say that, and the controversy is over and you win. When you start in with The Children, you make yourself an outrage troll and you become boring and unworthy of attention.

So now we’ll spend the rest of this week watching a clown show in which Louisiana Democrats will join with Texas Democrats in an attempt to make Texas Republicans into racists because some guy was making a joke about how funny cajun people talk at the end of an interminably boring five-hour hearing about having to absorb Hondurans into the Texas public schools.

As someone who is nearly one-half coonass, I’m offended. I’m offended that leftist slimeballs like Ed Espinoza presume to appropriate aggrieved status of coonasses for his own purposes. Espinoza has absolutely no right to tell coonasses what offends us and what is a slur against us, particularly when his interest in doing so is solely driven by crass, petty local politics. I demand an apology from him and his organization for using me and my kinfolk in such a way; it displays far more insensitivity and poor judgement than the bored state representative trying to make a joke.

Espinoza and Progress Texas can show proper contrition by making a donation to CODOFIL.

As for St. Germain? Leave The Children alone, for crying out loud.