Racism in the Republican Party- Not Dead Yet

For those of you who didn't get the memo during the fiasco with Trent Lott a few years ago, I've got a news flash for you: The Republican Party still has a base made up of some very racist people. The latest on this comes from Max Blumenthal, an expert journalist for The Nation whose previous column exposed the Republican's deathly hatred of judges with a quote from the Chief of Staff of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) that indicated that he wanted to brutally kill federal judges ("I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them." Haha- it's a funny joke- get it?)

Blumenthal's newest column continues to expose the dark side of Christian conservatives, demonstrating that they're still inextricably close to white supremacists.

Senate majority leader Bill Frist appeared through a telecast as a speaker at "Justice Sunday," at the invitation of the event's main sponsor, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. "Justice Sunday" was promoted as a rally to portray Democrats as being "against people of faith." Many of the speakers compared the plight of conservative Christians to the civil rights movement. But in sharing the stage with Perkins, who introduced him to the rally, Frist was associating himself with someone who has longstanding ties to racist organizations.

Four years ago, Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), America's premier white supremacist organization, the successor to the White Citizens Councils, which battled integration in the South. In 1996 Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list. At the time, Perkins was the campaign manager for a right-wing Republican candidate for the US Senate in Louisiana. The Federal Election Commission fined the campaign Perkins ran $3,000 for attempting to hide the money paid to Duke.

Read the rest of Blumenthal's terrific column, entitled "Justice Sunday Preachers," here.

Wow. So why would Tony Perkins address the CCC and want to get his hands on David Duke's mailing list?? Could it be that Perkins fully understands the racist views of many in the Republican base and is interested in using their racism for political gain??

No matter what they say, Republicans are still very much in touch with their Southern, racist base. While they try to move forward and make empty appeals for the black vote, they will always rely on gay-bashing white supremacists to carry key Southern states for them in national elections.