Republicans Seek a Few Good African Americans

Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten feels "sorry for African American Republicans. They've never had it real good ... So I was heartened when I happened on a Web site last month run by a group called the African American Republican Leadership Council. ... The honorary chairman of the panel is listed as former U.S. senator Edward W. Brooke III, a Republican from Massachusetts. So I called up Brooke, who confirmed the important fact that he is black. Alas, he is not in any way associated with the group. He said he'd never heard of it and had no idea why his name was on the site. However, he was only 'honorary.' Beneath his name were the names of the group's official 15-person Advisory Panel. It includes noted conservatives Paul Weyrich, Sean Hannity, Grover Norquist and Gary Bauer, all of whom are as white as a mashed potato and marshmallow sandwich on Wonder Bread. In fact, all but two of the 15 members of the Advisory Panel of the African American Republican Leadership Council are white." The mission and purpose of the AARLC, says its website, "is to break the liberal Democrat stranglehold over Black America."