fair criticism when you consider that, you know, the attorney general has been criticized because we filed a lawsuit or the justice department filed a lawsuit against arizona which is an american staten we say we -- we should sit down and talk to -- to iran. so i think those are fair criticisms. >> right. so you as the first black republican voted into office in the south in over 120 years, you may know something about this topic, and i guess what some people do when they see a quote like that, congressman, is that they wonder, is that the easy out for him to use that? what do you think? >> well, gretchen, i honestly think that both sides, republicans and democrats jump to race and i think it cheapens and it weakens the legitimate claims of racism and i think that the fact -- and i think racism is obviously alive and well. but i think it cheapens it when we so quickly and such cavalier ways often jump to that. i'm not saying that the attorney general is being cavalier. i can't see his heart as well and he probably honestly feels like that but be that as it may, i would caution both sides and i would caution all of us to be very careful in jumping to those conclusions because we ofte