Jackson Free Press

"We do not need a white (political) party versus a black one. We need two salt-and-pepper parties."

— Former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, speaking to an audience at Jackson State University, of all places.

Why it stinks: Barbour has at times called his own party to the mat (usually when it is expedient for him to do so)—he once called for a GOP "proctology exam"—but we can't remember too many times Barbour so loudly told fellow Republicans to embrace diversity with in its ranks, and he helped birth the divisive "southern (race) strategy" of targeting fearful white voters. Recruitment is likely going to continue to stall considering the fact that Republicans control everydamnthing in the state and still refuse to work with African Americans and Democrats. Despite conciliatory gestures over the years from black Democratic Jackson mayors, including Tony Yarber and Chokwe Lumumba, Republican leaders, including Barbour when he was there, continue to disregard black cities. With this kind of treatment, can Barbour honestly blame black people for being salty at the GOP?