Over at Eschaton, a reader caught this perversion from Ken Mehlman, supposedly reaching out for African-American votes:
"The NAACP unfortunately in the 2000 campaign likened the president to James Byrd, who was a racist killer in east Texas, who the president brought to justice."
As all other Americans will recall, it was James Byrd who was brutally murdered. And yes, it was candidate George W. Bush who offered the grotesquely inappropriate smirk during the second debate with Al Gore when he said this:
"The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them?" Bush said as he leaned back in his chair. "They'll be put to death. A jury found them guilty. It will be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death."
Sadly for Mehlman and the GOP, President Bush has a long, public history of nakedly cynical (and often shockingly self-defeating) efforts to court African-American voters.
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