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No, in that very interview, Lee Atwater says quite clearly that there *used* to be a racist southern strategy in the 1960s but then claims they didn't use it in the 1980 campaign.
Let's take a look.
Let's take a look.
Now, as always, D'Souza doesn't provide any links to the actual evidence.
You can listen to the full interview in this piece at @thenation:
thenation.com/article/exclus…
And @delong has helpfully transcribed it all here, if you'd rather read it:
bradford-delong.com/2017/03/lee-at…
You can listen to the full interview in this piece at @thenation:
thenation.com/article/exclus…
And @delong has helpfully transcribed it all here, if you'd rather read it:
bradford-delong.com/2017/03/lee-at…
Here's the key passage.
(Harry Dent, an aide to Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, chaired the South Carolina GOP from 1965-1968 and served in the Nixon White House as a political strategist for the South. He's recognized, even by Atwater, as a key architect of the southern strategy.)
(Harry Dent, an aide to Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, chaired the South Carolina GOP from 1965-1968 and served in the Nixon White House as a political strategist for the South. He's recognized, even by Atwater, as a key architect of the southern strategy.)
As Atwater notes frankly here, "the Harry Dent-style southern strategy" of the Nixon-era Republican Party definitely existed.
And it was, in Atwater's own words, "based on coded racism."
The "old southern strategy" was not "hypothetical." It was, as he states clearly, a fact.
And it was, in Atwater's own words, "based on coded racism."
The "old southern strategy" was not "hypothetical." It was, as he states clearly, a fact.
Later in the interview, Atwater argues that the Reagan campaign didn't use this "old southern strategy."
That's a separate issue from whether the GOP *used* to have a southern strategy -- again, which Atwater frankly admits -- but historians have taken issue with that claim.
That's a separate issue from whether the GOP *used* to have a southern strategy -- again, which Atwater frankly admits -- but historians have taken issue with that claim.
For instance, Reagan launched his 1980 general election campaign with a "states rights" speech in Neshoba County, Mississippi, which was infamous as the place where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964.
From @CrespinoJoe's In Search of Another Country:
From @CrespinoJoe's In Search of Another Country:
Reagan took heat for that appearance and others, so in that interview Atwater tried to draw a stark line between what Reagan did there to reach out to what a GOP official called "George Wallace inclined voters" and the "old southern strategy" that was "based on coded racism."
Scholars, of course, have long disagreed.
Just this week, political scientists @AngieMaxwell1 and Todd Shields published a terrific new book that makes a convincing case for a "Long Southern Strategy" that linked the old and new strategies of the GOP. amazon.com/dp/B07RWP3D3V
Just this week, political scientists @AngieMaxwell1 and Todd Shields published a terrific new book that makes a convincing case for a "Long Southern Strategy" that linked the old and new strategies of the GOP. amazon.com/dp/B07RWP3D3V
But again, that's a separate matter.
Even if you're inclined to trust Lee Atwater that the Reagan strategy was wholly unconnected to the "old southern strategy," @DineshDSouza, then you should also trust Lee Atwater when he says the "old southern strategy" was quite real.
Even if you're inclined to trust Lee Atwater that the Reagan strategy was wholly unconnected to the "old southern strategy," @DineshDSouza, then you should also trust Lee Atwater when he says the "old southern strategy" was quite real.
