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Southern strategy (view source)
Revision as of 14:31, September 18, 2020
, 14:31, September 18, 2020Every conservative should listen to the full tape from Atwater, he says the opposite of the conspiracy theory.
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The Southern racist vote is vital and foundational to the [[Democratic party]]. The fact white racists vote with blacks for the same Democrat candidates to receive [[entitlement]]s for whites only disguises their racism.
The Southern racist vote is vital and foundational to the [[Democratic party]]. The fact white racists vote with blacks for the same Democrat candidates to receive [[entitlement]]s for whites only disguises their racism.
==Lee Atwater==
{{main|Lee Atwater}}
A large portion of the '''Southern Strategy Conspiracy Theory''' rests on an out-of-context quote lifted from a 42-minute taped recording between Atwater and Alexander P. Lamis. In the interview, Atwater is quoted as follows:<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Between_Race_and_Reason/57lejF52wbEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA91 Between Race and Reason - Violence, Intellectual Responsibility, and the University to Come]</ref>
<blockquote>As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry Dent and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now you don't have to do that. All that you need to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues that he's campaigned on since 1964, and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.</blockquote>
He continued:
<blockquote>You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this", is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger". '''So, any way you look at it, race is coming on the back burner.'''<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/09/atwaters-strategy/46416/ Atwater's Strategy]</ref><ref>[https://www.gq.com/story/the-ultimate-fighter-before-rove-before-palin-there-was-lee-atwater The Ultimate Fighter: Before Rove, Before Palin, There Was Lee Atwater]</ref><ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/ Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy]</ref></blockquote>
Also in the interview, Atwater said:
<blockquote>'''But Reagan did not have to do a southern strategy for two reasons. Number one, race was was not a dominant issue. And number two, the mainstream issues in this campaign had been, quote, southern issues since way back in the sixties. So Reagan goes out and campaigns on the issues of economics and of national defense. The whole campaign was devoid of any kind of racism, any kind of reference. And I’ll tell you another thing you all need to think about, that even surprised me, is the lack of interest, really, the lack of knowledge right now in the South among white voters about the Voting Rights Act.'''<ref>[https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/what-did-lee-atwater-really-say.php What Did Lee Atwater Really Say?]</ref></blockquote>
The bolded items above are omitted from Wikipedia's entry for the "Southern Strategy".<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Southern strategy]</ref> In the interview Atwater makes the point that from 1954 to 1966, race is THE dominant issue and that the only way to win on the issue of race was to be registered as a Democrat. But by the 1980's, the issue of race is resolved and what most Southerners came to care about is national defense and the economy.
==See also==
==See also==