Leftspeak

A Baltimore Sun article on lieutenant governor candidate Anthony Brown and governor candidate Martin O'Malley contains this howler:

He chose a partner who reflects some of the diversity of Maryland. Brown is the product of the marriage between a Cuban father raised in Jamaica and a Swiss mother.

"It does not hurt that he is an African-American," [Rep. Elijah] Cummings said. "African-Americans in the Democratic Party want to see somebody on that level representing them, coming from that community."

As James Taranto helpfully notes, neither Cuba, Jamaica or Switzerland are in Africa. It reminds me of the somewhat common practice of American journalists to refer to black Brits as African-Americans. It turns out you don't really need any connection to Africa or America to be an African-American!