Uhh...it's your party that doesn't want to vote for a Mormon. Maybe you guys should work on that. And I'm not totally convinced they are comfortable voting for a black, but at least he's a Christian!
And our friend from Brazil was joking, just in case you couldn't tell.
Outside of a Mark Twain novel, the word has few respectable uses. This statement isn't one, and the stereotypes about Republicans and Southerners that the word invokes in this context just serve to make it more offensive.
