A Dead Heat

OK -- which of these is sillier: Republicans trying to paint Maryland Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer as racist for using the word "slavishly" (GOP House candidate Michael Steele, is African American) or Republicans trying to claim Martin Luther King Jr. as a Republican? I see it as a dead heat, with the accusations from the Steele camp winning the idiot race by just a hair. Is this what the GOP in 2006 is reduced to, patent semantic foolishness and utterly ahistorical vacuity?

Edit: As Ralph Luker points out, Steele is not running against Steny Hoyer. Hoyer used the remarks in an introduction of Steele's opponent, Democratic Representative Ben Cardin. (Not Hardin, as I hastily typed earlier -- thanks again to Ralph. I'm clearly off my game.) Apologies for the error(s). The point, however, still stands even if I am almost enough of an idiot to run a Republican campaign.