THE SORT-OF-NEW SOUTH

Nikki Haley was the big story, but there was also news downballot in South Carolina:

Tim Scott is on track to become the first black Republican in Congress since 2003 -- and the first from the South since Reconstruction -- after beating one of the biggest names in South Carolina politics to win a Republican congressional nomination.

... Scott, a member of the South Carolina state House, defeated Paul Thurmond, son of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond....

... Scott had national conservative support. Sarah Palin endorsed him, as did the anti-tax Club for Growth.

... In an interview with USA TODAY earlier this week, Scott said President Obama inspired him in a negative sense: the fiscally conservative lawmaker said he considers the president's health care plan "a step toward socialism." ...

I'm mildly impressed -- not too much. Does this mean Southern right-wingers have opened the door to some non-whites? Well, sure. Does it mean there's no racism left in this crowd? I doubt it.

George Carlin, talking about the attitudes of the people in his old neighborhood, famously said that in the neighborhood "a fag was a guy who wouldn't go downtown with you beating up queers."

I'd say that in the new South Carolina GOP, a n----r isn't someone who's black. It's someone who's black and won't join you in beating up Obama.