Puttin' the Ho' in Jai Ho!

Not sure how I missed this, but apparently Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican Party, has been talking “street” in interviews. Ahhh, nothing like having an actual minstrel in your minstrel show, eh Republicans?

When Steele, an African American by the way, was first appointed I was torn. Part of me thought, “see, this is what happens when we elect someone different as President. Doors get opened that wouldn’t have before.” We all know that there’s NO WAY IN HELL Michael Steele would have been put in charge of the Cracker party unless Obama was in the White House. But that’s also my dilemma. He wasn’t picked for his qualifications (and I’m not in a position to comment about whether or not he’s qualified, but you know, how hard can it be to do better than your predecessor in that position, right?), he was picked for his race.

But I thought perhaps it would just be a great learning experience for the Republicans. They really could have a bigger tent if they just stopped using them exclusively for revivals.

Then the man starts being street. It’s like he wants to be Randy Jackson or something.

But the topper was when he was encouraged by a radio jock to give his boy Bobby Jindal a shout out. ‘Cause, ya know, Jindal’s brown, too. And really, if it’s not white, it’s all the same. Not white. At least in Republican land. Of course, Steele took the bait and proceeded to give GOVERNOR Jindal some “slum love.” As in Slumdog Millionaire.

OMG! This is soooooo fucking offensive. I don’t even like any of these people, but I feel sorry for them. They are so ignorant of anyone that doesn’t look exactly like them (your choice of two models: shellacked hair and evangelical fervor; or toothless, slump-shouldered and evangelical fervor) that they don’t even realize how demeaning, patronizing and offensive they’ve become.

In fact, I would bet you a dollar that at least one top Republican strategist, in the post-mortem conversations of Jindal’s speech last week, thought maybe they should have ended it with a big Bollywood number.