So do you think Republicans will ever make the mistake of ignoring black voters again?

Historically, whenever a party or organization is in retreat, they tend to become more extremist and less inclusive. In a sense, when cornered, their worst traits become apparent. For example, the Catholic Church became most particularly cruel and very un-Christian like when its authority was being seriously challenged for the first time during the Reformation movement. For yet another example, Islamic fanaticism, which we don't even need to dwell on the details of how or why this is happening. The Republican party is losing many of their moderate conservatives (like me) who are appalled by the unthinking jingoism that has come to characterize the party today. It has become openly clear that the far religious right of the Republican party do not care for the blacks---and in their desperation, instead of moving towards the center, becoming a party of inclusion, are now moving away, becoming a party of exclusion. Palin's words about small towns being places where you find pro-Americans exposes this attitude, no matter how much her words have been whitewashed by the McCain people. Blacks, apparently, are not "pro-Americans", which can include pretty much like the rest of us, if those "pro-Americans" are to be believed.