A lot has already been written about Haley Barbour’s recollections of how the Civil Rights Era was not as bad as some folks make it out to be. Most comments have focused on the Old Nit Diddler’s praise of the very racist White Citizens’ Council of his home town. As the heat was turned up, Haley made a half-hearted effort to walk back of his statement–calling out the WCC as indefensible while still maintaining that the Yazoo, Mississippi of his youth wasn’t that bad.
And as Matthew Cooper points out today, that is the point. Haley Barbour is a smart political operator. He knows that any run he makes for the White House will be hampered by his long history as an old Southern White guy with a dubious–at best–record on race relations and his history of racist comments. If this issue is decided on facts that can be checked then Haley’s run for the White House is toast. Fortunately for Haley the modern so-called ‘Conservative’ movement has found a way to get around ‘facts’. You just change the narrative by replacing facts with freshly crafted memories designed to spin myths into partisan litmus tests.
We live in a Nation where to be a ‘good conservative’ now means that you take facts and reality as suspect until you get your talking points that give you the official Republican Confederate Party line. This is how 40% of Americans believe that the Flintstones was a documentary, or think the massive scientific evidence supporting climate change is a hoax. Haley knows that the propaganda of the Wingnutopia Wurlitzer is strong enough to get their gullible followers to believe absolute bullshit as fact. Hell, they just had their “Government Takeover” talking point named “Lie of the Year” (an award Haley and his Wing-nut pals seem to win every year).
So as Cooper astutely notes, Barbour is bringing up his recovered memories of his white privileged upbringing as a way to change the narrative:
Those who had opposed the Civil Rights Act at the time—figures ranging from Democrats like the late Sen. Robert Byrd to Republicans such as former President George H.W. Bush—later recanted their previous positions and embraced the landmark statute.
Ironically, at a time when the country has its first African-American president, that consensus is showing some signs of cracking. [snip]
But whatever political damage Barbour has or hasn’t suffered, his comments are part of a larger reexamination of the period by Republicans who deviate from the traditional civil-rights consensus.
The goal here is to change the National memory of the Civil Rights struggle to have been about something other than a fight against white supremacy in America. The goal is to muddy the memory and replace it with a new narrative. In Haley’s retelling of history, all folks in the South–black and white–worked together against the KKK and Northern Agitators to prevent violence. And if it wasn’t for those two groups everything would have been fine.
Next, I imagine the idea that the Civil Right struggles were just about State’s Rights and that segregation and racism had nothing to do with it will become one of those Republican articles of faith that one must swear by to get elected to anything.
The Old Nit Diddler is leading the effort to mainstream this revisionist history. If the Wingnutopia Wurlitzer comes to his aid we can expect by next December that 40% of Americans will believe that Whites were the real victims of the Civil Rights Era, that things were better before Dr. King got all uppity and that the entire issue was really about States Rights. Hell, 20% or more already believe that crap, but Haley’s effort is to move this radical belief to a ‘Fair and Balanced’ mainstream idea that is open to reasonable debate and various interpretations of fact memory.
This is an old Confederate play. This is how they changed the narrative of the Civil War and Reconstruction into the myth of the Lost Cause and the fable of States Rights. This is why slavery as the cause of the War is still questioned by the ignorant, the foolish and the cynical.
Barbour’s run for the White House isn’t toast and if he can succeed in making our memory of the Civil Rights Era into just another fantasy-based partisan shit fight, he might just rise to the top of the field as the last White Man standing.
Cheers
dengre
Darius
I think you and Matthew Cooper are giving Barbour way too much credit here. Even if it was all part of some grand strategy, it clearly backfired in a spectacular fashion, as evidenced by Barbour’s subsequent retraction of his statement.
Personally, I don’t think there was any strategy to it; Barbour just made a dumb comment because he’s used to speaking primarily to white Southern audiences, and isn’t ready for the national stage. But hey, what do I know.
Allan
The Obama-Barbour debates would go down in history as “In the Heat of the Night II: They Call Me Mr. President.”
El Cid
THIS SOUNDS LIKE A JOB FOR THE TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION, so that they can give our children the correct version of history, not the warped one from the Outside Agitators!
AliceBlue
@Allan: I think I love you.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Darius:
Barbour for POTUS?
That’ll happen about the same time pigs learn to fly…
aimai
@Allan:
I’ve been thinking about that book–and the movie–ever since the Barbour comments. Golf Claps to you.
Also, time to finally read David Blight’s Race and Reunion. I’ve been meaning to for a while.
aimai
Dennis G.
@Darius:
One would hope that you’re correct, but given history I doubt it.
Pushing back on the Civil Rights movement has been one of the goals of the wingnuts for decades. Barbour is spinning himself into a victim and pushing a Civil Rights narrative that turns history on its head. He could be doing it because he is a dope, but I don’t buy that.
El Cruzado
Dire Straits title ref? I can dig that.
AAA Bonds
Well, it’ll be a measure of the country if he can make a serious go at the Presidency after this. There’s always been this sort of talk out of big state figures – Jesse Helms leaps to mind as the most egregious example – but Helms didn’t have a shot at the presidency once the Republicans agreed to not be openly racist anymore.
handy
Isn’t it accepted wisdom that Trent Lott basically sunk himself for making some racially questionable remarks (don’t remember the specifics)? Wouldn’t Barbour be subject to the same kind of dynamic here?
johnsmith1882
A solid third of this country has no problem voting for an open racist. This is who his dogwhistles are meant for. He can walk back whatever statements, be a hypocrite, baldly lie, it doesn’t matter to that certain segment of the population. I don’t think that his statements backfired in any way. His intention was for the racists to hear, “Hey, he’s just like us,” and that’s just what they heard.
catclub
Haley Barbour clearly has a huge blind spot, but is clearly no dummy.
He ran the RNC very well – raked in tons of money.
He was a very successful lobbyist – and even remained a lobbyist – probably illegally, while also being governor of Mississippi.
There was another southern governor, can’t remember his name – who was also misunderestimated as being out of his league when it came to running for president. The only thing he turned out to be good at was raising money and campaigning for president.
catclub
@handy: He was sunk also because Bush pointedly did NOT come to his defense, instead installed his own man as Majority leader.
Chris
Does he have a previous “history” of racist remarks in public, or was this a first for him? I don’t know much about the guy…
gene108
Please…
The South’s been reinventing history the minute Lee surrendered at Appamatox.
There have been generations of people raised on the “truths” the South’s economic problems came from carpetbaggers and scalawags, who destroyed the South during Reconstruction, that the Negroes on the farms were happy and contented slaves, and a whole host of other nonsense.
There’s nothing unusual or surprising about re-imagining the Civil Rights movement. I’m just surprised it has taken this long.
Zifnab
What continues to boggle me is the total lack of NAACP and general black community action. I mean, I understand African Americans typically vote straight party Democrat already. But the age of powerful black lawyers and influential black colleges and papers and thinkers seems to have kinda died.
That racist assholes like Barbour continue to exist surprises me not. But the fire that pushed the Civil Rights movement – the rallies and the organizing and the community – just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Barbour didn’t recant because he was afraid of his local demographic. He recanted because he was afraid of the beltway gasbags having their delicate sensibilities offended. It was like he farted at the dinner table.
Michael
We live in a sad, weird, unpleasant country.
Kind of disgusting that a jowly, shit-drawling governor of a demonstrably failed state like MS would even be mentioned as a remote possiblity for the Presidency.
The currency of shit drawling white guys from failed governments shouldn’t be as valuable as it is, but that’s the polity we’ve built.
Think about it:
Haley Barbour, MS
Rand Paul, KY
Mitch McConnell, KY
Anybody from SC
Anybody look at the poverty, ignorance, and infant mortality figures from places like that? And these are the guys that get promoted for national office? there’s nothing dynamic about them. Nobody really clamors to live there. The tale of youths brought up there is one of either “be born rich, get out, or be stuck in a dead end rut of a pathetic existence”.
We celebrate failure.
KG
@Darius: @Dennis G.: I think it’s a little of both. Barbour is use to a certain kind of audience where he can use certain cliches, dog whistles, etc. It may have been a slip up because he didn’t have the right packaging for the wider office. He’s no dolt, you don’t win statewide office (even in the deep south) by being a complete moron. I think he made a mistake and is now trying to capitalize on the limited outrage (and I’ll bet he’ll make it seem like there was much more outrage than there has been).
Linda Featheringill
@Chris:
Apparently, he has a history. I don’t know him well at all but I’ve seen a couple of quotes that were insensitive, at least.
Chris
@handy:
It’s generally accepted that that’s how Trent Lott sank himself, yes.
There’s an alternative explanation that it wasn’t because of that, but because, in his attempt to make up for his stupid remarks, he went on BET and endorsed affirmative action (http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=337), a cardinal sin in the GOP. This narrative points out that the GOP hadn’t actually turned against him until that point, and were ready to keep him on as speaker. (I read it on http://www.empirenotes.org; unfortunately I can’t give an exact link cause the site’s blocked on this computer, but it was in fall 2005, in the Katrina aftermath, and he only posted once a week).
It’s not that implausible. Republicans badly need the white racist vote. That’s why their apologies for incidents like this are always so half-assed and convoluted; they have to make it clear to everyone else that they’re not racist, and make it clear to the racists that they’re still on their side, both at the same time.
PurpleGirl
@handy: The specific incident:
]
KG
@catclub:
There’s been a recent history in this country of misunderestimating governors running for president, to varying degrees. Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush… all good and bad a various things, but depending on who you’re talking to, all four would fit your statement
catclub
@Chris:
I still say he was pushed because Bush would rather have his own guy as Majority leader than someone who was not as beholden to him.
Bush took the opportunity to say nothing in support of Lott.
PurpleGirl
@Chris: I would agree that Lott’s other sin was to try to cover his ass by advocating for affirmative action. He pissed off one set of people with the original remark and then pissed off other people with the affirmative action remark.
catclub
@KG:
Wow, I’m smarter than I thought!
Chris
@catclub:
That, I hadn’t heard, and also makes a lot of sense.
maus
Conservatives are all about gaslighting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
Cheryl from Maryland
For someone of his age and place, not being aware of civil rights is similar not serving in Vietnam. He’s trying to whitewash himself, even though his age and caste give him somewhat an excuse.
This is true of many Southerners (I was born and raised in Virginia). Rather than just accepting and admitting our section of the country did horribly, evilly, wrong and that we Southerners must step up because basic human decency requires it, many of us screw up royally by trying to justify our actions and the actions of our forebears. One of our regular mistakes is thinking that all Southern culture is damned because of slavery. And it isn’t. Bourbon, pimento cheese spread, and ham biscuits (among others) are still good. Elements of the culture of the South does not have to be discarded because of our sin. But too many Southerners think it is all interconnected.
As for Barbour, the real problem is not his actions as a youth, but his behavior as a man. Which is racist.
catclub
See the article by Rick Perlstein on Haley Bubba.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/22/perlstein_barbour_amnesia
catclub
@Chris:
Note also that Bill Frist was particularly bad at the job.
His high point was diagnosing Terri Schiavo from a video.
It resulted in JCole quitting the GOP. Unintended consequences.
evinfuilt
@maus:
That is very appropriate. It seems to slip down right to their base. I know my parents have tried to “manipulate the past” to fit their current “reality.” When photos, videos show the truth, then those must have been manipulated in their eyes.
Bubblegum Tate
@Chris:
Of course now, the wingnut narrative is that Lott was “savaged by the evil, despicable, hateful, race-card-playing liberals for saying nice things about an old man.” I’m not even making that up.
gnomedad
I missed any explanation of what this means, but it makes me think of The Old Dope Peddler.
Rick Massimo
That’s going a little far, but yeah, I agree with your earlier characterization and will predict that by next December 40% of Americans will agree that the history of the ’50s and ’60s in the South was the history of a region managing to peacefully integrate despite agitation from the evil KKK on one side and equally culpable overreacting, overreaching liberal Northerners on the other.
Zuzu's Petals
Interesting that Barbour professes to be so unaffected by the civil rights movement and integration of Yazoo City, since his older brother was mayor at the time.
The TPM article includes a few enlightening quotes from Jeppie Barbour, from Willie Morris’ 1970 book about the integration of the city.
I always liked the tone of Morris’ writing from what I could glean from the movie of his book “My Dog Skip,” but wondered if he had romanticized his 40s Yazoo City childhood a bit. Turns out that Morris had been railing against segregation as far back as his college days.
the fenian
@aimai
Read it tonight!
Brilliant, brilliant book.
LankyLoo
Love the new tag. Turns out you can get there from here.
Bubblegum Tate
@Rick Massimo:
Ugh. That is exactly the sort of horrendous bullshit we can count on our media to deliver. Sadly, you’ve probably hit the nail on the head.
The Moar You Know
More than 40% of Americans already believe this.
BC
The realignment of the Democratic Party in 1964, where they broke the good ol’ boys network and opened the party to more representative delegates with the Mississippi Freedom Party credential fight seems to have gone down the memory hole as well. This cemented the black vote to the Democrats. Fanny Harmer is responsible in many ways for the realignment of blacks from being Republican (the party of Lincoln) to being Democrats because the Democratic Party was receptive to their cause. The Republicans could have cemented the black vote by championing the civil rights cause, but they saw an opportunity to break the solid South by using civil rights as a wedge issue (law and order, remember).
ET
As far as this southerner is concerned the difference between the WCCs and the KKK is that the WCC members likely had more money and were likely under the delusion that they had more class.
Trying to change the narrative is going to be hard considering there are so many alive that remember how it was and two many videos and photographs what the events. Which won’t stop people from trying to make their history better than it was because it was so nasty. Southerners like Barbour have too much ego to think bad of their roots.
asiangrrlMN
You know, as much of a pessimist as I am (and I am a big one), I just don’t see Barbour getting elected for president. I barely see him getting out of the Republican primary. I think he just said what he thought off the top of his head, forgetting this audience, and now is trying to backpedal. Badly.
Tattoosydney
Test in oldish thread….