On Humour, or Lack Thereof

Anyone who thinks Southwest Florida is any less prone to the bigoted outbursts common elsewhere in the south better think again.

Hillsborough County GOP committeeperson Carol Carter, who recently resigned over a racially-tinged email, now wants her job back.

The spark to this whole brouhaha was choice:

Carter's e-mail, sent Friday, was a joke saying black people were able to travel to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, but unable to evacuate New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

You know, because all those folks had plenty of warning, and could easily get out of town in their cars, and all. So if they can get to something planned months in advance you know they could get out of the way of something about which they had a whole 30 hours' notice.

Apparently all the local GOP bigwigs are busy passing the buck on this one:

[State Republican Party Chairman Jim] Greer said that in her e-mail [rescinding her resignation], Carter contended the resignation she submitted to him and local party officials last week isn't official until she sends a letter to the county supervisor of elections, which she hasn't done. Greer said he is "taking her position into consideration" and will consult with the party's lawyers, but for the time being, "It's our current position that [Carter's contention] isn't accurate because it's a party office.

...County party Chairman Debbie Cox-Roush accepted Carter's resignation last week.

Cox-Roush said today it's up to the state Republican Party whether Carter can rescind her resignation. "We don't have the authority to accept or reject Ms. Carter's resign," Cox-Roush said. "It's out of our hands and we are waiting for direction from the Republican Party of Florida." Asked whether she would recommend that the state party uphold Carter's resignation or allow her to rescind it, Cox-Roush said, "I have no authority over it," but added, "The party still stands on a zero tolerance level for racial insensitivity."

Personally I find any attempts at humour regarding the whole Katrina fiasco in pretty poor taste. This, however, strikes me as worse than most, mostly because Ms. Carter, after resigning in shame over the whole thing, apparently decided it wasn't so bad after all, and is using technicalities to insist that she didn't really officially resign rather than ask to rescind the resignation she admits she sent.

Humph.