Excuse us as we take a short break from blogging about the 8th district to focus for a moment on state government. Secretary of State Todd Rokita caused a stir recently when he suggested that African-Americans are in a slave-like relationship with the Democratic Party. The Washington Times-Herald posted an audio clip of Rokita's speech. We tend to think Rokita's choice of words were poor, and we're not even sure the jist behind his comments are accurate.

Having said that, we also tend to think that the furor over the comments are a little one-sided and blinded. The Indiana Democratic Party Blog seems to be leading the charge. Rokita is by no means the first to suggest such things, but being a Republican, it fits into a nice pre-conceived agenda by some to portray the GOP in a racist light.

Examples of such sentiments are numerous, perhaps most notably from famed black leader and Indiana University graduate Tavis Smiley. Smiley has often argued that Black people are on a "democratic plantation," slaves to the democratic party just because one day they said they’d support Black issues. And bloggers often use the phrase as well. The Cincinnati Black Blog has argued, "...the alliance between Blacks and Democrats resembles less a partnership, and more a master-slave relationship where African Americans work like slaves..." Then there was that oft-noted time when Hillary Clinton complained House Republicans were running Congress like a "plantation."

It'd be a little easier to accept the crticism of Jen Wagner if she was an equal opportunity critic.