Pennsylvania Rep. Thomas Yewcic of Cambria County in SW PA was speaking in PA's house in favor of a bill that would allow members of homeowner's associations to fly American flags even if the covenants prohibited it:

"I don't think we should be embarrassed or ashamed to support the American flag or what it represents," Yewcic said. "If any ethnic group wants to fly ... a flag, and they're embarrassed to fly an American flag, they should go back to their ethnic origins and fly it there."

Yewcic is white, and that prompted Philadelphia's Rep. John Myers, who's black, to utter the following:

"I think that those type of remarks would come from a cracker"

Not only that, he followed it up with an "apology":

"I'm hearing my colleague. I appreciate him standing up and being a man, and I'd like to do the same thing. I'm sorry for referring to him as a cracker..."

According to the AP, the last prompted "hoots of laughter mixed with boos." The same or a similar AP report is in the S.F. Chronical, but note that they edited out the full explanation of the "apology." And, you can see "liberals" supporting this use of the word "cracker" here.

In previous reports, you can see a very similar reaction to the use of that racial epithet from the DUmmies here. And, you can read about Al Franken's "liberal" racism here.