One of the knee-jerk Republican responses to the frequent criticism that their electoral successes have been built around a strategy of racism is to shout loudly about how Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in his youth. It's true, he was. He's admitted it, apologized for it, and called it his greatest regret in life. But that's not going to stop the right from trumpeting the association, presumably on the theory that having one reformed racist on the other side completely balances out a legacy of barely coded appeals to the innate disgust some voters feel when confronted with the fact that black people are citizens too. Anyway, Karl Rove was discussing the West Virginia primary on Fox News last night. After first declaiming his great love for the Mountaineer State, he then sadly acknowledged the fact that race was still a factor for voters there. Guess whose name he brought up?

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