The first Vietnamese-American has been elected to Congress. Although, it’s doubtful you’ll be hearing much about it since he’s a republican.

Anh “Joseph” Cao defeated William “Cold Cash” Jefferson in Louisiana. If you recall, Jefferson was the democrat who had $100,000 in bribe money in his freezer when the feds raided his home. Jefferson represented one of the last great vestiges of institutionalized corruption in Louisiana politics.

Don’t expect to hear much in the media about Cao’s victory. Even though he’s the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to congress — it doesn’t actually count since he’s a republican. Racial firsts only matter if you’re a democrat.

President Bush hired the first African-American national security adviser and the first African-American secretary of state, but neither the media or the black community took much notice. I didn’t see Jesse Jackson on TV with tears streaming down his face at the appointment of Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell — because being black and being republican means you’re an “Uncle Tom.”

The only African-American to get officially recognized by the mainstream media as having accomplished anything was of course The One AKA The Messiah AKA Hope&Change AKA Barry AKA Barack Obama.

So you can expect similar treatment by the media of Mr. Cao. He should have run as a democrat if he wanted to be offically recognized. After watching Mr. Cao Rep. Cao campaign however, I really don’t think he’s very concerned about all that.

-Chris Jones

(hat tip NewsBusters)