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November 04, 2003

Dean and Confederate Flag

I've avoided blogging on the Dean and Confederate flag comment-- Body & Soul and Max seemed to get it right.

But here is a key comment Dean made in response to the whole flap:

"I want people with Confederate flags on their trucks to put down those flags and vote Democratic -- because the need for quality health care, jobs and a good education knows no racial boundaries."

This is not an argument for pandering to racism; it's an argument that if poor white voters aren't given a real economic alternative, they'll retreat to frustrated scapegoating.

Dean says explicitly he wants to use the campaign to get people to reject the racialism associated with the Confederate flag, but to do that you need a positive alternative.

Posted by Nathan at November 4, 2003 07:02 PM