WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? I know some people might think Im harping on this and to some it is the harping on this issue that comes in for more criticism than the issue about which some of us are harping. But that is the state of the Republican party these days. Its members dont take speaking at a racist rally a cause for concern and those of us who dont identify as Republicans have become so inured to such political behavior by them that after initially being outraged - or feigning outrage - we tend to shrug it off and let them get away with it because weve come to expect such antics from them. Indeed, even referring to them as antics puts a harmless kind of spin on it all. But this is not harmless. When David Duke is defending the Republican House Majority Whip and has his back then we have entered dangerous territory for the Republican party. Ever since Nixon instigated his southern strategy to entice Dixiecrats into the GOP tent and Reagan opened his presidential campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi with the coded cry of States rights!, the Republican party has been on a steady march to this day when David Duke can defend one of its congressional leaders as a compatriot and the party not only stands by and lets it happen but stands with Duke as he does it. And now the media, as in this story, is coming up with new euphemisms - restive right flank and ultraconservative wing - to make it all seem less dangerous. But lets call it what it dangerously is: the racist GOP base.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:47:35 +0000