Black GOP Chairman

Let me get this straight: a party that has exactly zero African American member of Congress: that's zero out of about, I don't know, 220 U.S. senators and Congressmembers, has elected a black man (Michael Steele, former Lt. Governor of MD) as chair of their party?!!! I guess you could say that's a way of trying to change that, but I fear the more accurate interpretation is that he's some weird response to the election of Obama (kind of like the nomination of wacko blacko Alan Keyes (not even a true resident of IL) to oppose Obama for the Senate in 2004. I wonder if Steele will stick it out with the GOP longer than J.C. Watts did--he was the last black member of the U.S. COngress, and quit after just a few terms despite getting a lot more public exposure than most inexperience Congressfolk.

The other racial subtext to the story is the withdrawal, just before the vote, with no explanation offered, of another candidate: former Tennessee GOP Chairman Chip Saltsman. Saltsman drew a lot of heat after mailing a CD in December to RNC members: the CD included a song titled "Barack the Magic Negro" by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin and sung to the music of "Puff, the Magic Dragon." What--someone found that objectionable? From a party with zero black members of Congress? Duh!!!