You might have seen this on our sister site, but it'll be new to those of you who don't care about the media or the gays. The Republican National Committee's new website went live today, and one section features GOP "heroes." Among them, one Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

While it's true that Robinson campaigned for Nixon in 1960 (hence that mindblowing picture up there), claiming him for the party is as specious as claiming Abe Lincoln. To wit: Robinson was a registered independent, and appears to have changed his mind about the party just four years later.

From his autobiography, on the 1964 Republican Convention:

That convention was one of the most unforgettable and frightening experiences of my life. The hatred I saw was unique to me because it was hatred directed against a white man. It embodied a revulsion for all he stood for, including his enlightened attitude towards black people.

A new breed of Republicans had taken over the GOP. As I watched this steamroller operation in San Francisco, I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany.

It takes a lot of balls to be the first black man in pro baseball, but it takes a hell of a lot more to claim that man would be supporting today's GOP.

Patriots: American Heroes & Famous Republicans [GOP.com]
GOP Tries to Claim the Ghost of Jackie Robinson [Gawker]
New RNC Website Claims Jackie Robinson As "GOP Hero" - But He Was Indy Who Condemned GOP's Racial Tactics [The Plum Line]

You know, nothing says Honoring Jackie Robinson than making his wife pose for an incredibly awkward photo with Bud Selig. (As if there are any other kind with that guy.) Seriously, this guy is the commissioner of Major League Baseball, and every photo of him makes him look like Professor Frink.

Regardless, yesterday MLB honored Jackie Robinson, and on the whole, we thought it was rather tastefully done, though we can't quite figure how many black actors must have turned down the gig last night before they ended up with Marlon Wayans. (To be fair, he was great in Requiem For A Dream.) The soft focus MLB packages were a bit much, but it's tough to argue with the image of an entire baseball team wearing the No. 42. Even if one of them was Jeff Kent.

Major League Baseball Can't Do Anything Right [Rumors And Rants]
Jeff Kent Contemplates Whether Or Not To Wear #42 [Straight Cash, Homey]

• After his career was over, Jackie wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column, in which he criticized Martin Luther King for his stance on the Vietnam War.
• He actively campaigned for Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential Election. He later admitted regretting this decision.
• In high school, he briefly played on an All-Star team with Ted Williams, whom we have a feeling didn't like that all that much, at the time, anyway.
• He served as vice president of Chock Full O' Nuts.
• His wife, a nurse, didn't like sports.
• His last public appearance was to throw out the first pitch at the 1972 World Series in Cincinnati.

For all the public posturing from Major League Baseball — a game that knows it has lost a large segment of the black community — it's pretty impossible not to respect Jackie Robinson, as a man and as an auger of change, and salute him this Sunday.

Jackie Robinson [Gale Group]

"It wasn't my idea, and I'm not the type of person to jump on the bandwagon because someone else is doing something," Anderson said in the LA Times. "If I did it just because someone else was doing it, it would seem kind of empty to me."

Of all the times to assert one's individuality, this seems like a highly appropriate one, yes?

Garret Anderson Doesn't Care About Black People [LAist]

Okay, that's not true. But ceremonies are being held all around the league, and Robinson's widow Rachel was honored before the Mets/Brewers game. The White Sox played a video tribute to him on the center-field scoreboard. The Red Sox had a similar video, and the Dodgers are planning to honor ten Jackie Robinson scholars this evening, with Robinson's daughter Sharon and a Robinson teammate, Don Newcombe, on hand.

Of course, not everyone is celebrating. The Black Athlete Sports Network doesn't think too highly of Major League Baseball's back-patting celebrations, or the fact that the 20 most influential people in baseball are white. Agree or disagree with their points about baseball and Bud Selig, it's still a good reminder that Jackie Robinson Day shouldn't be about congratulating ourselves on any progress that's been made, but rather a reminder that there's still work to be done.

Jackie Robinson honored throughout majors [SeattlePI.com]
MLB's Once A Year Charade [Black Athlete Sports Network]