Sunday, February 24, 2008

McCain Touts Code Word: States' Rights

John McCain 'assured the 22 Republican governors who gathered for their conference that he was very much in favor of 'states' rights.' Back in the 50's and 60's that phrase was a code word for Jim Crow laws and segregation in the South. Apparently McCain is following in the footsteps of that earlier radical from Arizona, Barry Goldwater.

The AP reports: "John McCain assured GOP governors Saturday that he's a staunch backer of states rights, furthering his efforts to reach out to all parts of the party.
"I'm a federalist," the Arizona senator said, emphasizing a division of power between the federal and state governments. "Only the things that the states can't do should the federal government do.

I'm quite sure that southern governors like Halie Barbour and Sonny Perdue understood the coded language as these men grew up in the segregated south. History recorded the big exit of the Dixiecrats, segregationist Democrats, to the Republican Party shortly after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.

States' rights indeed!

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