TruTV certainly didn’t shortchange Tea Party state legislators when they published their list of the “50 Worst Politicians in America.” Their list takes plenty of shots at both parties, but when it comes to America’s 7,000+ sitting state legislators, five prominent Republicans were the only ones judged “worthy” of this dubious honor:

• Arkansas — Loy Mauch
  The newly elected state lawmaker says the Confederate flag is "a symbol of Jesus Christ above all else." He's also in the League of the South, a group that advocates for Southern secession [and is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center].

• Idaho — John McGee
  After getting drunk at a golf clubhouse, the state's Majority Caucus Chairman went on a wee-hours barefoot walk when he happened on a Ford Excursion with a travel trailer attached and the keys inside. Police alleged he hopped in and took a joy ride, only to botch a k-turn and jackknife the truck in someone's driveway. The cops were called and the politician was arrested for grand theft and driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail for DUI, but the theft charges were dropped. But it wasn't over yet: he was censured in the state legislature for blocking an investigation into his medical claims... and then sending it to die in a committee... which he also chaired.

• Oklahoma — Sally Kern
  Arguing in support of a 2011 bill to end affirmative action, the state representative said women usually don't want to work as hard as men because they want to stay at home and that prisons have a high percentage of blacks because they didn't want to study hard in school. Fortunately, she's used to the flavor of her own foot, as she first gained notoriety in 2008 for saying gay people posed a greater risk to the country than terrorism.

• South Carolina — Jake Knotts
  The state senator said this of then-candidate/now Governor Nikki Haley: "We already got one raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the Governor's Mansion." Haley immigrated to the U.S. from India as a child, while Knotts clearly immigrated up his own butt.

• South Dakota — Hal Wick
  The state representative introduced a bill that would require anyone over 21 to buy a gun. But it was just a stunt masterminded by the rascally Republican to prove the government can't force you to buy health care. (No word on his feelings about car insurance… or about the state being burdened with the costs of treating the uninsured.)

The list, appropriately categorized in the “conspiracy” section of TruTV.com, leaves out at least a few of the biggest names in right-wing craziness. Bill O’Brien is an excellent possibility – in fact, New Hampshire GOP legislators probably could have filled about a dozen spaces all by themselves. And no list like this one is complete without at least one dishonorable mention of Virginia’s Bob Marshall.

But one thing’s for sure: when it comes to cataloging the misdeeds and outrageous antics of politicians over the past year, 2011’s statehouse Republicans are providing an embarrassment of riches for political writers – and an embarrassment, period, for the voters back home.