Okay, I’m going to pass on the whole “Whip” joke because a) it’s not my style, b) its way too easy. (But I will tell you that I thought of it within two nanoseconds upon hearing the news. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Expect to hear it…)

Y’know, I was thinking “that’s totally Pogue’s style to make a joke about Minority Whip.”

Okay, I’m going to pass on the whole “Whip” joke because a) it’s not my style, b) its way too easy. (But I will tell you that I thought of it within two nanoseconds upon hearing the news. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Expect to hear it…)

Heh. I guess this is the sound of the door hitting Mehlman in the arse on the way out the door.

USA TODAY – “It’s not healthy for the country for our political parties to be so racially polarized,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

“Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization,” Mehlman said at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”
Mehlman’s apology to the NAACP at the group’s convention in Milwaukee marked the first time a top Republican Party leader has denounced the so-called Southern Strategy employed by Richard Nixon and other Republicans to peel away white voters in what was then the heavily Democratic South. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Republicans encouraged disaffected Southern white voters to vote Republican by blaming pro-civil rights Democrats for racial unrest and other racial problems.
More recently, however, Republicans have been working aggressively to build the party’s support among African-Americans, who have long voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. In 2000, President Bush got just 9% of the black vote. He improved slightly to 11% in 2004.

PS While they’re at it, maybe they should make some tasteless remarks about John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and any other potential future Republican leaders. Let’s try and scare-off any hope for the party’s comeback.