I’m not saying that the Republicans prefer tokenism to equality…

…but in the series of photographs of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and his interns that shani-o linked to this afternoon, we have:

1. Steele and a white guy
2. Steele and a white guy
3. Steele and a white guy
4. Steele and a white woman
5. Steele and a white woman
6. Steele and an Asian-American guy
7. Steele and a white guy
8. Steele and a white woman
9. Steele and a white woman
10. Steele and six white guys, five white women, and one black guy
11. Steele and a white guy
12. Steele and a white guy
13. Steele and a white guy
14. Steele and a white woman
15. Steele and a white guy
16. Steele and a white woman
17. Steele and a white guy

Of the 28 interns Steele posed with, a full 93 percent of them are specularly (and most are spectacularly) white. This isn’t to say that the Republican National Committee has a racist internship program; after all, the “diversity” of his interns is also a reflection of the diversity of the applicant pool. Given the lengths to which the GOP goes to appear more inclusive than it actually is, I’m inclined to think those may have been the only non-white people who applied.