But I'm sure he meant it in a nice way

Another contestant for the Theodore Bilbo Award 2006 (that's the original Bilbo in the photo)

Or maybe it was "just a joke".

What is it this year that is making Republicans show their real faces from behind the white hoods? From Jeb Bush's Florida: State's top lawmakers make last-minute trip to plot course for Rep. Ralph Arza by Marc Caputo and Carol Marbin Miller Miami Herald 10/28/06:

In a rare and high-stakes meeting, one of Florida's most powerful legislators and a top lieutenant flew to meet Rep. Ralph Arza at his Miami Lakes home Saturday and discussed whether he should resign for using a racial slur in mean-spirited phone calls placed to a colleague.

Neither House Speaker Allan Bense nor Rep. Dudley Goodlette could be reached to say whether they joined the bipartisan chorus calling for Arza's resignation, though numerous sources say Republican leaders want him gone to avoid shaming the chamber and embarrassing the GOP. ...

If Arza doesn't step down by Nov. 21 - the first day the post-election Legislature meets and installs his friend Marco Rubio as Florida's first Cuban-American speaker - he'll imbue the otherwise historic, flower-filled ceremony with racial animus if Democrats and black lawmakers make good on their promise to ask for a vote to remove the Republican. Democrats plan a walkout from the House chamber if Arza's not expelled.

On Monday, Goodlette, the House Rules Committee chairman from Naples, is to submit a report to Bense concerning Arza's messages last weekend, in which Arza called Miami Beach Republican Rep. Gus Barreiro a "bitch" and "my nigger." The day before, Barreiro had filed a complaint with Goodlette's committee alleging Arza had shamed the House by using repeated racial slurs to describe Miami-Dade's black schools chief, Rudy Crew.

That's the "big tent" Republican Party. Maybe he can get George Allen to come down from Virginia and vouch for his character.

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