Every once in a while the Globe's designated contrarian Jeff Jacoby comes out with something so balls-out, brilliantly stupid it deserves a special citation.  The kid works hard to get noticed, and he deserves a little recognition every now and again.

It's not easy on the right, you know.  Not only do you have to fight for the Stupid Spotlight with the likes of Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Arizona's Jan Brewer, but with the increasingly narrow window of opportunity between Republisex scandals, it's a real challenge to say something so stupid, so deliciously self-righteous and giddily repugnant, that you can make a little splash.



But Occasionally Jeff hits the bulls-eye, like in his latest op-ed where he takes the Patrick administration to task for promising to punish unscrupulous merchants who may have taken advantage of the recent emergency to mark up bottled water.  Always fighting for the little guy, Jeff asks: "What's wrong with Price Gouging?"

And no, it's not a rhetorical question.

Like most Republican talking points it's a real brain-teaser.  But let's take a shot.  I mean, hmm, what's wrong with price gouging? Well, first of all: IT'S PRICE GOUGING.

The word "gouge", with meanings like "to force out the eye of a person with one's thumb", has lots of positive associations Republicans can get behind.  Let's see, "swindle" and "extort" are a couple.  And I didn't just make those up. 

I mean only a Republican could define gouging as that "amazingly efficient system that stimulates suppliers to speed those resources to the people who need them." 

So congrats, Jeff!  You're Wingnut of the Week!  If this catches on, maybe the GOP's 2012 slogan could be "Gouge Away!"  ("Drill, Baby, Drill" isn't testing so well in Florida these days.)