In my Wednesday Huffington Post column, I mentioned the famous Lee Atwater quote about race-baiting and the Southern Strategy and noted that Atwater would probably have loved the use of ACORN as a dog-whistle for “nigger.” Here’s the Atwater quote again:
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.
Now watch this video courtesy of Dave Neiwert:
As Neiwert writes, there’s no reason for this group of white wingnuts to believe that an African American young lady selling the flags was from ACORN. But that doesn’t matter because ACORN is just a substitute word for what the guy clearly wants to be shouting.
Adding… Some Colbert genius:
