Mississippi politics: Mugwumping on the Citizens Council

Here's a classic piece of Mississippi Mugwump tap-dancing on the racist White Citizens Council group, which goes by "Council of Conservative Citizens" (CCC) these days.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Republican gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour's photo has been appearing prominently on the CCC's Web site with a favorable caption. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger has editorialized, "Barbour should repudiate the CCC." It professes surprise about the Barbour/CCC association, with the imaginative observation that "Barbour's career-long views and actions on race have been moderate, even progressive."

But the editorial makes a phony equation of Barbour's position on the CCC with that of his opponent, incumbent Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove:

Don't expect a torrent of condemnation of Barbour on this issue from Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's campaign. Just as Barbour and a host of other politicians continue to play political footsie with the CCC through the Black Hawk political rally in Carroll County, Musgrove has also attended the controversial rally and has also not publicly distanced himself from the CCC.

Now, I'll admit there are some nuances here I'm not entirely clear about. The annual Black Hawk rally they refer to is one that may or may not be sponsored by the CCC; I think it is, but I'm not clear about that. The CCC does sponsor a barbecue in connection with the rally.

But the White Citizens Council crowd would be more likely to recruit African-American husbands for their daughters than to endorse a Democrat. So Musgrove's showing up at that rally may be more of an "up yours" gesture than any expression of common ground.

Anyone familiar with the kind of power the White Citizens Council wielded in the 1950s and 1960s would also get a cynical snicker out of this solemn moral declaration in the editorial: "Separatist groups - whether predominantly white or black - have no place in modern Mississippi." That's even-handedness for you.

Musgrove is a conservative Democrat. But anyone who imagines that the two parties in Mississippi somehow equally reflect the views of the Citizens Council has probably gotten into Rush Limbaugh's stash.

Tags: authoritarianism, council of conservative citizens, haley barbour, mississippi politics, racism, ronnie musgrove, white citizens council