God bless the GOP, they just can't help themselves. Their teeming psyches are just aching to shout the "n" word, over and over and over.
South Carolina, in particular, has been under a glare of negative publicity for a handful of racist incidents involving the Obamas. Republican officials in the state have apologized for likening an escaped gorilla to an ancestor of Michelle Obama's and for referring to the president and Nikki Haley, an Indian-American gubernatorial candidate, as a pair of "ragheads."
In the latest incident, McConnell has defended the pictures and the so-called "antebellum" event, saying they prove how far the state has advanced rather than serving as another example of racial insensitivity in South Carolina, which once boasted the country's second-largest slave port in Charleston.
"What the ladies had put together was a smorgasbord of Southern culture," McConnell told Charleston's Post and Courier. "It was reflected in the dress, the historical accuracy of the performances and even down to the food."
"If somebody is trying to be politically correct and use a tunnel vision on it and hook in the slavery issue, they're on a slippery slope toward narrow-mindedness and they should extend the charity of understanding. Receive it in the spirit that it is presented."
The black men in attendance were part of the Gullah-Geechee cultural group, descendents of the slaves who served with Union forces during the Civil War.
Sue Lynch, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, says organizers meant to honour the Gullah, not slavery.
"A look at South Carolina's history would not be complete without recognizing the rich culture, language and tradition of the Gullah, African-Americans from the state's low country region," she said in a statement.
She described the men who appeared at the party as "professionals who have devoted their lives to learning about and preserving the language, stories, music, crafts, religious folkways — the entire culture — of the Gullah people. They perform regularly throughout the Charleston area, and also have travelled extensively sharing this remarkable culture."
She added their inclusion at the party was "not to offend or show a lack of sensitivity. It was to share with others from across the nation the vital role the Gullah have played in shaping the identity of South Carolina."
Civil rights activists scoffed at the explanation, saying the photos evoked painful memories of the state's long history of oppression.
"This is just another blight," Dot Scott, the president of the Charleston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, told the Associated Press.
"They are dressing as we were — as our ancestors were at that time. We were slaves. In 2010, while we're trying to say we're in a post-racial era, South Carolina's elected officials both locally and nationally have continued to do things that are really atrocious."
The party's reputation hasn't been helped in recent days by accusations by a former leading Florida Republican that "many within the GOP have racist views."
Jim Greer, the former chairman of the Florida Republican party, who's been charged with defrauding the party, said earlier this week that he once used extreme language to assail Obama in order to "placate the extremists."
"In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation's school children, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served," he said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the president for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our party today."
The Republican party's more conservative offshoot, the Tea Party, is also under fire this week.
A Tea Party group in Washington state has been criticized for unveiling a float at a recent parade that depicted a man dressed as Obama whipping a teenaged boy.
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