By Sheer Coincidence, Conservative Martyrs Keep Turning Out to Be Huge Racists
BY BRIAN BEUTLER
Earlier this month, I argued that racial resentment partially explains the political durability of the GOP's position on Medicaid expansion and voting rights, and that the debate over issues like these is hobbled by the right's unwillingness to accept the possibility that race ever helps produce an intensity gap in any policy dispute.
I received a ton of pushback from conservative readers, most of whom hold these positions based on ideological priors other than white supremacy. Unsurprisingly they were reluctant to admit that, to the extent that their views are winning the day in states across the south, it's thanks to the support of a non-negligible number of racist, or racially resentful white voters.
These policy debates have conveniently coincided with a variety of culture war flareups that place these same conservatives on the side of right-wing martyrs who then just happen to reveal themselves to be enormous racists.
There was Rand Paul's aide who had moonlighted as a pro-segregation radio personality called The Southern Avenger. Then there was Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, who placed homosexuality in the same orbit of sin as terrorism, and argued that civil rights equality had turned black people from happy subservients to bitter welfare recipients.
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http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117502/nevada-rancher-cliven-bundy-conservative-hero-and-huge-racist
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