Via TPM:

In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner’s response was, “Mary Frances Berry style – black and bitter.” Berry is an African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to several Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not Acosta, with the comment, “Y’all will appreciate Tanner’s response.” (emphasis added)

Wow.  John Tanner was cheif of the voting rights division at DOJ, the more important job of which is to ensure that minorities, especially African Americans, are actually able to vote and not discriminated against.  And apparently, he really hated uppity black women who wanted him to do his job.

I might be reading too much into that, though.  Tanner’s apologized.  And the term, bitter, of course, “meant no sugar in the coffee, and was not meant as a reflection on [Berry] or [Berry's] attitude towards a challenging situation.”

Right.  ‘Cause the comment makes perfect sense that way.