Mississippi’s Republican Governor, Haley Barbour, who also in the past was Chairman of the Republican National Committee and the head of the Republican Governors Conference, has come out in defense of the White Citizens Councils that were prevalent during the 1950s and 1960s, formed to oppose integration and civil rights in the Southern states.
Barbour has every right to speak freely, but advocating support of such groups which promoted hate and bloodshed in the Southern states, and reaching its greatest level in Mississippi in the 1960s, is a reprehensible act, and should immediately disqualify Barbour as a serious Presidential candidate for the GOP in 2012 or beyond! š
There is no room in this nation in the 21st century to have an advocate of such views being the spokesman for the country on issues such as civil rights and human rights, when he has no issue with such hateful, divisive groups, who worked against the federal government and the Supreme Court on the most significant social issue of the second half of the 20th century, and advocated closing of public schools.
So, Governor Barbour, forget about running for President, as your potential candidacy would be a total disaster for the party of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln.
But then again, is it not true that the Republican Party of today is a shameful example of the principles of Abraham Lincoln? Sad, but absolutely true! š
Governor Barbour remembers an entirely different set of circumstances than I.