Mississippi Politics and the Dean Flag Gaffe

Hey, somebody agrees with me on this! Actually, since David Neiwert is an authority on far-right fringe issues, it's more that I'm happy to see that I'm agreeing with him on this one.

In a Friday post on the Dean flag dispute, he talks about the Mississippi Governor's race:

And what's really remarkable is that the Republican Party --
particularly because of the way it the election in Mississippi played out -- had
just provided these same Democrats with a big fat target, one certain to give
them significant impetus in exposing the GOP's congenital racism, what Dean
referred to as the way "the Republicans have been dividing us by race since 1968
with their Southern race strategy."

The results from Tuesday's election
were even more grist for the mill. While the incumbent Democratic governor,
Ronnie Musgrove, ran a spectacularly dumb campaign (running away from your party
cuts you off from your base), more than a few Mississipians observed that the
way Haley Barbour and the Republicans manipulated the issue of the Confederate
flag, and his dalliances with white supremacists, throughout the campaign
contributed to the outcome elsewhere. Of particular note were the outcomes in
the races for lieutenant governor and state treasurer ...

Noting that President Bush had personally campaigned for Barbour, he continues:

Meanwhile, did any of the Democratic presidential candidates who
were eager to talk about the Confederate flag say a word about what was
happening in Mississippi?

Well, no. They found it more convenient to
beat up on their party's front-runner by distorting, and ignoring, the thrust of
his remarks. And thereby losing another opportunity.

The GOP is ripe to
be exploited for its behavior in Mississippi, though the issue could backfire if
Democrats continue to behave as they have. What's more important is that the
Democratic Party is long overdue to do the right thing and stand up for its
base, including the African Americans who are the target of this brand of
politics. It will be interesting to see which of the candidates is the first to
figure this out.

Neiwert is good. Check out some of the other entries on his blog.