Earlier today I linked to a
Ken Mehlman interview from the Sean Hannity show, where he claimed that Howard Dean made a "racist" comment when he said this to the black Democratic caucus.
"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."
Now, does anyone NOT get this joke? Dean is saying Republicans are a bunch of rich, champagne-sipping white dudes.
But the party of perpetual early black mortality really, really wants to make it an issue. On CNN's Inside Politics today, a black GOP spokesman demanded that Dean apologize for his comments, and Judy Woodruff said the show was "trying to reach him" for a statement. Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele and former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts have weighed in.
This is their
press release:
We are simply outraged over recent racially insensitive remarks made by Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Howard Dean. In his comments to the Democratic Black Caucus, Dean equates African-Americans who support Republicans to 'hired help.' This kind of backward thinking reminds us of a horrible time in history when blacks were only seen as servants.
Democrats wonder why they are losing electoral ground among African-Americans and other minorities. They need to look no further than the comments of their newly elected leader.
We are demanding that Howard Dean apologize for his racially, insensitive and intolerable remarks.
Notice how they
don't even quote Dean's words? Awesome!
So what's the political impact of this? Well, remember when Harry Reid said Clarence Thomas was an "embarrassment" to the Supreme Court? No? That's because only wingnut organizations and talk radio gave a damn.
Unlike that comment, this isn't even on Drudge. Indian American National Review writer Ramesh Ponnuru thinks it's BS.
Give me a break. Dean is saying, hyperbolically, that there aren't many blacks or other nonwhites in the Republican party. He's right. I've been to many, many Republican dinners where most nonwhites present have been serving the food. (Or giving the keynote.) If Republicans are bothered when people make that observation, they should try to make it less true.
On the same page, Jonah Goldberg pretty much agrees.
Still, this is an interesting example of the kind of right-wing Dean-smearing that we're going to see more and more of.
