I’ve seen this kind of weird thinking before, but it’s still a little amazing to encounter people who blithely give themselves permission to use racial slurs, and then deny there’s anything racist about it: Exclusive: Seller of Controversial Anti-Obama Sticker Says It’s Not Racist.

Paula Smith of Hinesville, Georgia has a company called stickatude.com. And they’re selling their own version of an anti-Obama bumper sticker that reads “Don’t Re-Nig 2012.” Ms. Smith told me in a telephone conversation on Saturday afternoon that the bumper sticker has been in their inventory since June 2010, but just in the last few days it’s started selling. The price is $3. Ms. Smith insisted that� the bumper sticker is not racist. I asked her about the “N” word, for which “nig” is the shortened version. “According to the dictionary [the N word] does not mean black. It means a low down, lazy, sorry, low down person. That’s what the N word means.” …

Ms. Smith — who has an affable disposition and a hearty laugh–said she thought the website was “dead” and up until recently none of her bumper stickers was selling at all. Another site, called Stumpy’s Stickers, was originally credited with selling the Obama sticker. Ms. Smith says however she doesn’t own that site and didn’t know anything about it. She said Stumpy’s Stickers could have linked to their site, but she didn’t sell them any that they could have re-sold. Where did Ms. Smith find the sticker in the first place? “We just found it on the internet, and thought it was cute. It’s been up there since he’s been president.” …

The Smiths own a well known paint ball field in Hinesville — a town near Savannah. Mrs. Smith said customers come from all over the world. Ms. Smith said she is not racist, she just wants Obama out of office. She tells me she doesn’t have a preferred replacement candidate. “And besides Obama is not even black. He’s got a mixture of race. It’s his choice of what his nationality is. I’m a mixed breed. I call myself a Heinz 57,” she says, referring to an ancestry that’s part of French, Scottish, and German. …

I asked her if she thought the “N” Word was a bad word? “No,” she said, ” because I don’t use it.”

“I don’t use it?” No — she just sells racist merchandise that uses it.

Good grief. This is a mental illness.