Michelle Boardman of the Volokh Conspiracy (permalinks aren’t working now, but the post is from this morning) objects to Bill Clinton’s blast at what he calls “Republican hypocrisy.” Michelle says,
…if one of our two national political parties is founded on and driven by racism, we are in a much worse state than I thought.
Well, “founded on and driven by” is certainly too strong, but would you believe “deeply and persistently entangled with”?
Remember, Lott’s record was no secret, though the media hadn’t played it up until now. His colleagues knew perfectly well what they were voting for when they chose him Majority Leader.
And it’s not just Lott. (See “Cadence Count,” below). No Republican since Eisenhower has won the White House without playing footsie with the sheetheads.
Latest example: John McCain’s campaign was paying a $20,000 a month consulting fee to the editor of Southern Partisan magazine, which runs articles praising slavery and ads for t-shirts with Lincoln’s picture and the words “Sic Semper Tyrannus.”
That’s John McCain. He knew that to win the nomination he needed to win South Carolina, where the editor, Richard Quinn, served as his campaign chair, and that to win a South Carolina Republican primary he needed a share of the unreconstructed vote. So he did what he thought he had to do. In the end, it wasn’t enough: Bush’s buddies out-race-baited him by, among other things, spreading the word that his Sri Lankan adopted daughter was his natural child by a black woman.
Has anyone checked the Memorial to see if Lincoln’s statue is weeping?