Yeah, I know I sound like Oprah Winfrey giving out cars, but doesn't it suddenly seem as if the strangest people are claiming melanin levels they wouldn't normally boast?
First it was ex-Gov. Hairbrush, Rod Blagojevich telling Esquire that he was "blacker than Obama." Then you had John Cornyn of Texas defending fellow black men Barack Obama and Trent Lott from the racist rantings of infamous segregationist Harry Reid.
(Sorry if I got the details of that last one wrong. I'm still not sure WTF that hoo-haw was about.)
But for New Orleans pol-watchers, the funniest convert to discover his inner blackness has to be the (quite) recent Republican John Georges, Old Money Caucasian Uptown's favorite mayoral candidate and new owner of Galatoire's.
At Friday's meeting of the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee, Georges argued emphatically his newly-minted Dem cred.
Georges -- a former Republican who raised money for George W. Bush in 2004, ran for governor as an independent in 2007 and became a Democrat in September -- tried to hit a range of partisan talking points in a single fit of pique.
His voice rising with each sentence, he strung together comments on mayoral front-runner Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten and President Barack Obama.
"Mitch Landrieu is a leader but, you know I tell ya, we still have a Republican as a U.S. Attorney," he said. "I voted for Barack Obama so we'd have a new U.S. attorney. It's not a racial thing, it's a Democratic thing. Now you want someone to fight for the Democratic Party? I'm the newest member; I can fight for you."
The somewhat surreal presentation would have been a delicious rumor, a "well, I wasn't there, but I heard" sort of political moment--except that there's video.
But proving he's a real, live Democrat, no matter how wet his blue wings, may not be as difficult as overcoming the mistrust he faces in the city's majority African-American electorate. Luckily, it turns out that Georges is, despite all appearances, black enough.
"I am an African-American candidate." He added: "What I mean by that is, I am a candidate that African-Americans have voted for and will vote for."
Aside from comedic value, and offering white Uptowners a candidate they can waste their Anybody But Mitch votes on, Georges is a godsend to local ad shops and direct mail outfits, so far having sunk a million five of his own dough into the race, yielding commercials and mailers aimed primarily at sullying the image of front-runner Mitch Landrieu.
This piece dropped through the slot at Chez Vor on Friday:
Did you know that Energizer has a handy direct email link where you can let the company know about developments related to their brand and products? And did you know they're rather zealous about protecting their trademarks? Really. It's true.
I'm sure there'll be more fun news to come from candidate, restauranteur and African-American leader Georges in the future. Stay tuned.