Philippe DeCroy of the Volokh Conspiracy is so offended by a comment from Paul Krugman that he refuses to link to it. [I wonder if Eugene’s criticism of public inter-blog delinking ceremonies extends to ostentatious non-linking to other media?]
Here’s the comment:
“The media were shocked, shocked to discover that prominent Republicans have a soft spot for segregation — something that was obvious long before Mr. Lott inserted his foot in his mouth.”
And here’s the link. (The segregation comment is actually a throwaway in a story about the new policy permitting religious discrimination in hiring for publicly-funded positions under the faith-based initiative.)
I’m not sure what the pseudonymous Monsieur DeCroy’s objection is. Perhaps Krugman would have been wiser to insert “some” before “prominent Republicans” and to substitute “segregationists” for “segregation.” Otherwise, it’s a statement of sober fact, reflecting Nixon’s Southern strategy, Reagan at the Neshoba County Fair, the elder Bush awarding Thurmond the Medal of Freedom (!), the younger Bush pandering to the seggie vote in the crucial South Carolina primary, and so on and so on.
It’s not just the leadership, either: only a third of Republican voters think that Lott should step down as Majority Leader, according to the ABC News poll. (Of course, the view they express is a reasonable one if they think the issue is simply Lott’s boneheaded comment, which has been the main spin on the story, rather than the careerful of evidence that the comment reflected Lott’s genuine feelings. A quarter of Democrats, and a quarter of African-Americans, also think that Lott shouldn’t step down. This suggests to me a role for Democratic politicians, and anti-segregationist bloggers of all political persuasions: Help make it clear to the country that this isn’t about a speech, but about a career and a political strategy.)
Anyway, I wouldn’t advise M. DeCroy to read Chris Andersen’s post on Interesting Times ; it would just raise his blood pressure. Andersen talks about the GOP’s racial strategy and its need to get out of that box:
“The Southern Strategy, first formulated in Nixon’s time, was a deliberate attempt to win electoral advantage by giving aid and comfort to racists and bigots…The problem for the Republicans is that, once let into the living room, it has become increasingly difficult to keep these embarrassing relatives from lounging on the front-porch making obnoxious comments to others passing by.”
Andersen, whose blog joins the blogroll, also relays Gene Lyons’s one-word description of segregationist-leaning voters: “sheetheads.” Perfect!