Mehlman apologizes for GOP's racial polarization. . .Limbaugh blasts him

If the GOP hopes to effectively reach out to the African American community a good first step would be to formally distance the party from Rush Limbaugh. This past week party chairman Ken Mehlman attended the annual NAACP Convention (W* has blown it off since 2000) to extend an olive branch on behalf of the GOP. While I doubt the party's sincerity, they have to start somewhere so Mehlman should be given the benefit of the doubt. However according to our friends at Media Matters, bigot Rush took issue with this gesture.

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President Bush skipping this week's annual NAALCP convention for the fifth straight year, but that's not preventing the White House and the Republican Party from waging a drive to woo African-American voters. Ken Mehlman of the RNC is going to the NAALCP convention, and he is basically going to tell them how the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln lost its way with African-American voters over the years and how determined the party is to get them back. He said, "We can't call ourselves a true majority unless we reach out to African-Americans and make it the party of Lincoln. There was a time when African-American support turned Democrat, and we didn't do enough to retain it. Now we want to build on the gains we made in the last election."

Know what he's going to do? He's going to go down there and basically apologize for what has come to be known as the Southern Strategy, popularized in the Nixon administration. He's going to go down there and apologize for it. In the midst of all of this, in the midst of all that's going on, once again, Republicans are going to go bend over and grab the ankles. They're going to the NAALCP. This is like going into Hyannisport and apologizing to [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [D-MA] for whatever and expecting him to become a supporter. It's like showing up at the [Sen.] Chuck Schumer [D-NY]-Joe Wilson press conference in 20 minutes and saying, "Okay, Ambassador Wilson, we apologize. We hope you'll support us. We can't become a majority party until people like you are voting for us." It is just -- it's absolutely absurd.
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As long as W* does not condemn his "good friend" Rush for that statement its safe to assume the GOP is full of you know what when it comes to sincere efforts to reach out to the African American community.