Monday, December 13, 2004
The Discreet Racism of the GOP
This was the first paragraph from the headline article in today's paper edition of the Strib:
As the Electoral College meets today, here's something to ponder: The states carried by Democrat John Kerry in 2004 were almost the same as those carried in 1860 by Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president. The 2004 election practically completes the parties' swap of their geographical bases. And while President Bush won the popular vote this time, it was the smallest margin of victory of any president winning a second term.The StarTribune is pussyfooting around this for fear of raising the ire of the local Republican party hordes. Pity -- they're going to get flak over this no matter how gingerly they treat the subject, so they might as well go balls out on it. And the subject is this: How the Republican party, by the deliberate jettisoning of its heritage as The Party of Lincoln, sold its soul to appeal to racists both northern (such as the "white flighters" that swell suburbia's ranks) and southern. Go Google the phrase "Southern Strategy" and you'll see what I mean. That is, if the history of the past forty years hasn't been proof enough.
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The attack on gays was just practice, testing the waters to see how far they could push the envelope. When Lott went too far, not coding his racism discreetly, enough they were shocked when it brought him down. Now that they've gained ground they're going to start nudging in that direction again to see just how far they can push it.
# posted by 
: 12/14/2004 06:18:00 AM
: 12/14/2004 06:18:00 AM
It's even worse than that, Anonymous. If it hadn't been for Atrios plugging away on his Eschaton blog, Lott's remarks about Thurmond never would have much more than mentioned in passing in the GOP-friendly "mainstream" corporate media.
Remember, this was barely a month after the GOP and their media buddies were busy lying about and misrepresenting the Wellstone memorial event at Williams Arena even as it was still going on. Among other things, they claimed that the closed-captioned TVs inside the arena were actually "applause signs".
Then in December, Thurmond kicks, Trent Lott does his NeoConfederate eulogy, televised on C-Span -- and nobody says "boo" except for a lonely blogger and his readers. It took us a full freaking WEEK to get the first mainstream press people to notice. And they would have dropped it if we hadn't kept up the pressure.
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Remember, this was barely a month after the GOP and their media buddies were busy lying about and misrepresenting the Wellstone memorial event at Williams Arena even as it was still going on. Among other things, they claimed that the closed-captioned TVs inside the arena were actually "applause signs".
Then in December, Thurmond kicks, Trent Lott does his NeoConfederate eulogy, televised on C-Span -- and nobody says "boo" except for a lonely blogger and his readers. It took us a full freaking WEEK to get the first mainstream press people to notice. And they would have dropped it if we hadn't kept up the pressure.
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