Opinion: Republicans “spooked” by Obama. Get it? Spooked?

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Russ DePass, a South Carolina GOP activist who found himself in hot water after a basically calling Michelle Obama a gorilla, is probably thanking his lucky stars today for Sherri Goforth. Goforth, a legislative aide for Republican state senator Diane Black in Tennessee, has taken a wide lead in the party’s exciting racial insensitivity sweepstakes.

She did it by sending out an e-mail with images of all the presidents of the United States, with Barack Obama depicted below in the bottom right hand corner only as a pair of bright white eyes on a black background. Sort of like a ghost. But between just us, probably more like a spook. And for those not steeped in quaint Southern terminology for blacks, ‘spook’ was once (an apparently still is) a popular slur.

Her boss, who reprimanded her, is emphasizing that she had nothing to do with it. The senator says she has always been a friend to ‘people with black skin.’

And Goforth? At first she explained that she sent it ‘to the wrong list of people.’ Which begged the question, what was the ‘right list’ of people? So she tried again and issued this statement:

‘I want to offer my deepest apology regarding the offensive nature of the email forwarded to several of my colleagues.’

And to think it’s only Tuesday. I wonder what the GOP has in store for the rest of the week?