I'm really not sure how this plays out. Romney will likely have to distance himself from his state to have any chance of the 2008 GOP nomination. That might be the end of the GOP's hold of the Mass's Governorship.
Updated: 11:06 PM EST
Romney Distances Himself From KKK Joke
By ANDREW MIGA, AP
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/...
BOSTON (Nov. 10)- Republican Gov. Mitt Romney was introduced as head of a state run by the "KKK ... the Kerry, Kennedy Klan" before his speech Thursday in Washington, words that sparked criticism from Massachusetts Democrats and a rebuke from Romney himself.
"It's not appropriate to joke about the Ku Klux Klan," Romney said in a phone interview from Washington after his luncheon address to the Federalist Society.
Romney branded the remarks "ill-advised" and "inappropriate."
State Democratic Party chairman Phil Johnston, who has criticized Romney for making Massachusetts the butt of jokes as a liberal bastion during his out-of-state travel as he considers a run for president, said he was outraged by the reference to Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry invoking the KKK.
"It's very damaging to Massachusetts, which has a history of tolerance," said Johnston. "A governor is supposed to be a salesperson for his state, Romney is just the opposite. He's trying to run for president by trashing his own state."
The introductory remarks were made by New York attorney Gerald Walpin, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, according to Keith Appell, a GOP consultant working for the Federalist Society. Walpin did not immediately respond to a telephone message left for him at the Federalist Society.
"Today when most of the country thinks of who controls Massachusetts, I think the modern day KKK comes to mind - the Kennedy, Kerry Klan," Walpin said, according to Appell, who reviewed a tape recording of the event.
Johnston said Romney should have denounced the reference to the KKK on the spot.
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