The Great American Ironies

[Brittain33]

The conservative southern congressional district that elected a black Republican in 2010 nearly elected a lesbian Democrat in 2008.

Strom Thurmond jumping to the "Party of Lincoln" because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The prominence of Mormon Democratic politicians, particularly in the U.S. Senate, given how lopsided the Mormon vote is for Republicans.

That Arlen Specter, a Jewish Republican from Philadelphia, was born in the same heartlandier-than-thou town as Bob Dole.

[Brittain33]

Of the 11 or 13 ex-Confederate states, Virginia swung from most Republican (1976) to most Democratic (2008).

[Brittain33]

That Arlen Specter, a Jewish Republican from Philadelphia, was born in the same heartlandier-than-thou town as Bob Dole.

Arlen Specter was born in Wichita and Bob Dole was born in Russell.

The 'candidate of amnesty, abortion, and acid' whom Nixon buried in 1972 being from a Great Plains state and often coming across as some sort of Methodist preacher has got to count for something.

My bad. Specter moved to Russell as a kid and graduated from Russell H.S.

[Brittain33]

the Southern Strategy was an attempt to convince pro-civil rights Southern moderates to vote Republican as a protest against the segregationist policies of the Democrats:
 http://www.wnd.com/2002/12/16477/

Jesus H. Christ.

Look, precious few people in the last 40 years are willing to come out and state "Hey, I'm exploiting racism to advance my candidate's career!" Pat Buchanan is one of the few people in public view shameless enough to parade his racism around, and even he knows he has to pretend he doesn't mean it. The idea that the Southern Strategy was an enlightened civil rights-based approach is just... so... impossible to deal with.