(Update) Richard Cohen thinks the GOP isn't racist, it just 'must repress a gag reflex' over interracial marriage

Interesting theory on the state of today's Republican Party, brought to us by Washington Postpeculiarity columnist Richard Cohen:

Credit: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.

Update: Cohen's column caught massive attention online for appearing racist. "The column is about Tea Party extremism and I was not expressing my views, I was expressing the views of what I think some people in the Tea Party held," he told the Huffington Post, responding to his critics.

Separately, Fred Hiatt, the Post's editorial page editor, told Talking Points Memo that he should have edited Cohen's line about interracial marriage "more carefully."