RNC head apologizes for race-baiting. Limbaugh outraged.

This week has been a real exercise in watching the right-wing media machine tripping all over themselves. And even as RNC head Ken Mehlman has been making the rounds sticking up for Karl Rove, he's managed to tick off the right's favorite Oxycontin addict Rush Limbaugh. By suggesting that it wasn't a great idea for Bush to have avoided addressing the NAACP for the last six years. From the fine folks at Media Matters:

Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman's plans to apologize for his party's notorious Southern Strategy at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Responding to Mehlman's planned renunciation of the race-based electoral strategy, Limbaugh accused Republicans of planning "to go bend over and grab the ankles."

Though President Bush has refused to speak to the NAACP throughout his presidency, Mehlman's July 14 speech to the NAACP renounced Republican efforts to capitalize politically on white Southerners' backlash against civil rights-era legislation. In his prepared remarks, Mehlman said, "Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

Not a good week for the right. Not at all. Let's hope it keeps up. Write a letter to your local paper or Congressman, and sign those petitions.