'Great White Hope' Outcry an Overreaction

(NEWSER) - As if the GOP wasn't already a bit too lily white for the 21st century, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Kansas Republican, had this to say about her party at a town hall forum last week: "Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope. I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington." She didn't mean the white part, her spokeswoman told the Topeka Capital-Journal yesterday. "What she meant by it is they have a bright future. They're bright lights within the party." More»

(NEWSER) - Things aren’t going well for Michael Steele in the media, but behind the scenes he’s undertaken a sweeping restructuring of the Republican National Committee, Marc Ambinder writes in the Atlantic. “He’s become clownish. And that judgment could endure until the end of his tenure,” Ambinder writes. “But it probably won’t.” If Steele helps the GOP win elections—that’s his job—all will be forgiven. More»

Italian prime minister plunges into controversy again

(NEWSER) - Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, who raised eyebrows worldwide when he recently referred to President-elect Obama as "handsome, young and suntanned," has repeated what he apparently thinks is a good joke—this time extending it to include model Naomi Campbell. "We would all like to be tanned like Naomi Campbell and Obama," he told an audience yesterday, reports the Daily Telegraph. More»

But she does apologize for 'vulgar epithet'

(NEWSER) - Columnist Peggy Noonan has been catching flak since being caught on tape saying "It's over" during a frank assessment of John McCain's veep choice. But the Wall Street Journal writer insists she wasn't pronouncing Mac's White House hopes dead —she was simply remarking that the days of the GOP's base being connected to mainstream America are over, she writes. More»