Republicans vow change, but where's the proof?

For the second time in December, Republicans have changed horses in midstream.

When Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsay were sacked as President Bush's chief economic advisors, most commentators correctly argued that to fix the economy the president had to do more than dump his economic team leaders. He also had to change his economic policies.

The same logic holds true today. Trent Lott is out as Senate majority leader. Goodbye, good riddance. But to rid the party of the stain of racism, it's not enough for Republicans to change leaders. They also have to change those policies that worked against minorities in the past.

No wonder Republicans have never been accused of caring for minorities through their opposition to affirmative action, extension of the Voting Rights Act, classification of violence against minorities as hate crimes, and other issues important to the minority community. It was all part of the "Southern Strategy," devised by Richard Nixon to capture the old, racist South by appearing soft on civil rights once Democrats became their new champion.

And it continues today. There was a deliberate effort to suppress the black vote in Florida in November 2000