Why are you such a hater?

REPUBLICANS USED TO like black people.

Hell, their party was founded in 1854 in response to slave-crazy Southerners who wanted to keep an entire race of people in bondage just so they could keep feeding the bloody economic machine that King Cotton built.

But somewhere along the party's once-liberating journey from the Land of Lincoln through the Lone Star State, successive groups of race-baiters and moneyed interests hijacked the Grand Old Party.

Fast forward to 2008, and blacks today are faced with a president who, when he was governor of Texas, reportedly said their communities "won't see a lot of help" from him because they'd voted for his opponent in large numbers. As president, Bush declined invitations to speak to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual convention for years before finally breaking down. And a roster of Republican lawmakers continually votes against even the most basic civil rights legislation.

Need proof? Look no further than the latest NAACP Legislative Report Card, a comprehensive review and ranking of which U.S. senators and representatives have voted to move civil rights forward -- and those who seem to mourn the death of Jim Crow.

Interestingly enough, the three Republicans from Nevada -- Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Dean Heller and Rep. Jon Porter -- all earned failing grades in this latest NAACP study, with Ensign receiving among the lowest marks in the entire legislative branch. We phoned each lawmaker for his reaction to the report, but none of them called us back.

Here's a breakdown of how each of Nevada's Republicans fared.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign

Grade: F (7 percent out of a possible 100)

Highlights: This past session, Ensign voted against 15 of the 16 major bills with civil rights implications. The one measure he did support was a push to increase the minimum wage by $2.10 an hour over two years to $7.25 an hour. The minimum wage bill passed, 94-3. When it came to expanding children's health care or fighting hate crime, Ensign voted no.

Margins: In the majority of cases, Ensign was in the minority that opposed bills that would have expanded community policing, made it easier for workers to join unions or made college more affordable for millions of young adults. In many of these votes, Ensign was often one of only a handful of senators who opposed these measures.

U.S. Rep. Dean Heller

Grade: F (40 percent out of a possible 100)

Highlights: Heller garnered the lowest ranking among Nevada's three House representatives, supporting just 10 out of 25 measures with civil rights implications. While he did push to make college more affordable and voted to officially recognize the so-called African-American Spiritual as a national treasure, when it came to guarding real treasure, Heller said no. He voted against an alternative federal budget proposal, introduced by the Congressional Black Caucus, that would have balanced the budget and yielded a surplus by fiscal 2012. He also voted to allow religious discrimination in hiring and firing within Head Start programs and against more than $1 billion in economic and infrastructure investment in economically distressed and underdeveloped areas of the country.

Margins: NAACP officials say Heller's low grade is reflective of his mixed voting record. And, like Ensign, Heller was often in the minority on hot-button issues, voting against high-profile legislation that would have battled hate crimes, improved workers' chances to fight wage discrimination and expanded children's health care.

U.S. Rep. Jon Porter

Grade: F (56 percent out of a possible 100)

Highlights: While Porter fared slightly better than Heller, he still supported just 14 of 25 bills with civil rights implications this past session. While he did support delaying demolition of New Orleans public housing that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina and expanding loans for small business, Porter also voted against increasing the minimum wage and opposed efforts to clamp down on predatory lending.

Margins: Porter wasn't in the minority as often as Ensign and Heller, since he supported 56 percent of legislation championed in this latest NAACP report. However, he did not vote on making college more affordable or cutting interest rates on student loans, and, like Heller, he supported allowing Head Start programs to discriminate in their hiring and firing on the basis of religion.

The rest

How did the Democrats do? Much better. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid received a 100 percent score from the NAACP, and U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley got a 92 percent. Both are counted as "A" grades.