OTTAWA, Kan. – A freshman Kansas congresswoman said Thursday that her remark about fellow Republicans seeking a “great white hope” was not a reference to someone who could challenge President Barack Obama or his political agenda.

Rep. Lynn Jenkins said she was instead making a comment about GOP leaders in the House and was trying to reassure Republicans that the party has bright leaders there. She used the phrase during an Aug. 19 forum in Hiawatha and someone in the crowd recorded it and gave the video to the Kansas Democratic Party.

Both she and an aide apologized Thursday if the comment offended anyone. But when she was asked about the remark after a town hall meeting in Ottawa, Jenkins also suggested it had been taken out of context.

“Let’s remember the context of this situation,” she said. “I don’t know how the president got injected into this debate.”

Patrick Leopold, Jenkins’ chief of staff, said her office in Pittsburgreceived a death threat Thursday, but he didn’t know whether it was connected to any specific issue. He said the matter was being turned over to police.

The phrase “great white hope” often is associated with pre-civil rights-era racism and is widely believed to have entered usage in the U.S. when boxer Jack Johnson, who was black, captured the heavyweight title in the early 20th century. Many whites reacted to Johnson’s achievement by trying to find white fighters — or a “great white hope” — who could beat him. The boxer’s story inspired a play, then a movie, with that title, both starring James Earl Jones.

The Democratic National Committee in Washington declined to comment on Jenkins’ remarks. Officials at the Washington offices of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People did not respond to a request for comment.

“I saw that report,” White House spokesman Bill Burton said at a briefing on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where Obama is vacationing. “I also saw that her spokesperson backpeddaled and said that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give congressman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.”

Look.  So, a poor choice of words?  Sure.

An incredible lack of context?  Absolutely.

But as dim as the statement was – nobody in their right mind can possibly believe that this Conservative House (of representatives) Frau was actually making a race-based statement using early 1900’s boxing history.  It’s just not possible.

It would be both too historically and culturally cognizant, and too politically dumb, to actually happen.

Yes, the Republican hope will be white in 2012, but there’s no way in hell anybody’s going to actually say that out loud.

This is nothing more than accidental stupidity.  Tip your hat nicely to it – because in a era where people are intentionally spreading bile and inciting people to violence, there’s something very Pepperidge Farm about this.