Palin Loses Black Support Over Tweets on Dr. Laura

Sarah Palin’s defense of Dr. Laura on Twitter may have badly damaged her among black Republicans. John Avlon of The Daily Beast spoke with several black conservative leaders, and they were not kind. “It says that a leading voice among conservatives has joined the ranks of the entertainers—trying to shock us,” said Michel Faulkner, the ex-NFL player running against Charles Rangel. He called Palin “unfit to lead.”

Columnist Deroy Murdock was even more biting. “Sarah Palin's tweets resemble something scribbled by a ninth-grade cheerleader,” he said. “Is it asking too much for a reputed American political leader to communicate in complete sentences?” And Timothy Johnson, head of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, which has helped recruit black GOP candidates, said the tweets will hurt Palin if she runs for president. “She is going to have to answer to black Republicans.” (More Sarah Palin stories.)