I'm Shocked! Shocked To Find Racism In the GOP!

So have any of you ever watched the 1942 movie Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart? Bogart portrays "Rick," a cynical and romantically embittered proprietor of a gambling den frequented by officials of Vichy France and Nazi Germany. Whether you've watched or not, this scene between Bogart and Claude Raines as Inspector Renault, a corrupt opportunist, is among the most memorable exchanges in American cinematic history:

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.

I wonder what Claude Raines character would think of Republican National Chairman, Mike Duncan. Over the weekend, Mr. Duncan issued the following statement to Politico in response to the CD "Barack the Magic Negro" being distributed by veteran GOP operative Chris Saltsman:

"The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party.

I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate, as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."

Duncan and Saltsman are rivals for the position of RNC chair. Duncan's feigned outrage about how he's "shocked" and "apalled" that his fellow Republicans could find this CD appropriate is at best disingenuous. How can any Republican be "shocked" and "appalled" to find racism in their party? The party of the southern strategy?

Do you recall Mr. Duncan when Republican hero Ronald Reagan spoke about "states rights" during a 1980 campaign stop in Philadelphia, Mississippi where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964? Have you forgotten Mr. Duncan your party's indifference as impoverished blacks literally drowned to death in New Orleans following Hurricane Kartina? Do you recall Mr. Duncan the hateful race baiting campaign ad of Republican giant Jesse Helms against Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gant in 1990? How about Willie Horton? The diabolical Republican strategist Lee Water made a living off of racism!

And let's not forget William Bennett who served as Ronald Reagan's Education Secretary and George Herbert Walker Bush's drug czar. In September 2005, Mr. Bennett actually said the following on his radio program,

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

I could go on forever. For forty years the Republican Party skillfully exploited white resentment to distract and deceive blue-collar voters and white suburbanites. Whether it was in the neighborhoods of Mississippi or the street corners of New York City under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Republicans obtained and held onto power as the party that put blacks "in their place."

Yet Mr. Duncan is "shocked" and "appalled" to find racism in his party? Somewhere, Claude Raines is smiling in appreciation.