You left a snark at a post that goes into the though pattern at a little depth, for the benefit of folks who don't automatically make the assumptions I do.

"I'm suggesting they're secretively appealing to the Christian Identity movement. That's not the same thing as being supportive of it, though even that's not a stretch. We know several Republican Senators had or have connections with the Council of Conservative Citizens, about whom I shall quote from the ADL's report:

'A racist political group, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), has been making waves in the national media ever since it became known that mainstream politicians such as Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) and Representative Bob Barr (R-GA) were keynote speakers at CCC conferences. According to the CEO of the CCC, Gordon Lee Baum, Sen. Lott has addressed the group a number of times, and Rep. Barr made an appearance in front of the group in 1998. These appearances by mainstream politicians such as Sen. Lott and Rep. Barr, and by numerous elected officials at the state and local levels, such as Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice, give the CCC a false imprimatur of legitimacy.'

How far from removed is the Christian Identity movement from a group like the CCC, really? The groups are close, nearly identical in fact, in philosophy. And as they operate in the same area there's likely a lot of overlap in membership. The Christian Identity movement benefits would be side effects of the direct benefit the CCC get from the respectable aura folks like Lott and his supporters have. If I did say the Republicans had a connection with the Identity Christians it would be a supportable claim."

The national Republican party's connection with the CCC and Bob Jones University, etc. is a matter of public record. And the local parties would almost of necessity be in even closer contact with the neo-Confederates. The southern strategy calls for pitching your wares to the "disenfranchised" southerner. I'm suggesting Identity Christians are an identifiable group with charateristics that Republicans extremists are aware of, and they key their message to appeal to that group among others.

No tinfoil hat. Sorry.

The South is already in the GOP column and is also predominately Christian which is why your theory makes little sense.

It's moderate and independent voters like me that the Dems need to convince and they're not getting it done.

Do you not understand that the election will be won or lost in the middle not the lunatic fringe?

I certainly do. The fringe is unmovable, so I'm certainly not talking to them.

Yes, the south is solidly GOP. I suggest they are keeping it that way in part by appealing to the basest elements in good ol' Dixie.

Again, their association with the openly racist CCC is public knowlege. Why does it make little sense to think they may be aiming appeals a little further to the right... well, racism isn't really right-wing but the racists do align themselves with Conservatives... as I say, a little further to the right as well?

And I mention it publicly to get the attention of moderate and independant voters. In general, we avoid this part of the analysis because recognizing racism is so unpleasant we'd rather not go there. But I haven't said a single thing that's not widely known.

Please, consider what I've presented rationally. That's all I ask. Feel free to reject it, but only after checking the facts in what I write.

The Republican Party has chosen a blatently rascist approach (the Southern Strategy) to gaining and maintaining power. If it makes you uncomfortable recognizing that fact, you have the choice of accepting the rule of racist (by voting Republican) or rejecting it.

It is impossible to consider what you present rationally, because it is nonsense.

Firstly, that groups and organizations have been demonized for political and financial gain is not news. The 2000 Bob Jones fiasco provided Democrats with an opportunity to pit the Religious Right against American Catholics for their own political gain. Anti-Catholicism no doubt has some adherents in the Religious Right?including the three generations of men named Bob Jones and their eponymous university?but these days, it's primarily an enterprise of the Secular Left.

Most conservative/and moderate Protestants and Catholics, as well as traditionalist Jews, recognize that when it comes to the culture wars, they are on the same side.

The Holy See, The Illuminati, The Freemasons, The League of Nations, The New Deal, Zionists, The Tri-Lateral Commission, The Military-Industrial Complex, the UN, The Christian Coalition, The New World Order and now the Neocons. All bogeymen that have proven to be little more than bedtime stories spun by political flaks to frighten the easily lead and invigorate the party base.

Secondly, your rationale dismisses that the majority of Southerners no longer tolerate racism...that such material is aimed at a minscule portion of the population...some who no doubt also believe that alien autopsies are geniune.

Who do you think inculcated racism in the South as a political power base?

All strata of society have good and bad elements...including liberals who tolerate anti-Semitism in the black community. Why hasn't the DNC or any of the candidates denounced Al Sharpton?

BTW- I am not a Republican, I was raised in an activist Democrat family and left the party in disgust in 1969.

I have been a registered Independent since.

My rationale doesn't dismiss the reaction of the majority of southerners.

What I'm saying is the Republicans are making a specific appeal to the most racist elements of society. Can you deny that?

That is the single point I'm making. And I make the point because I'm convinced that non-extremists, whatever the particulars of their position, will not be pleased if they face it directly. And the fact that nothing you wrote actually deals with this one fact I present is a possible sign you're not facing it directly.

I'm not pushing a platform. There's no coordinated statement here. Just the single fact, the undeniable public knowledge-that the Republican extremists currently directing the party have no problem consorting with that element.

If that has no impact on your thinking, fine. But don't act as if it's not true.

Later:
What I'm saying is the Republicans are making a specific appeal to the most racist elements of society. Can you deny that?

The Left has equally repugnant idealogical baggage. Human nature is such that some hate simply because they can. Political parties who base their platform on hatred will not succeed in the long term.

You make the assumption that voters are either stupid, complicit or uncaring. That's when you lose voters such as myself.

I live in a predominatly black community and a racially diverse neighborhood. You want to speak of racism...look at what forty years of Democrat welfare handouts did to the black family and communities.

Racism is appalling, but so is anti-Semitism. When you speak out against the rampant anti-Semitism in your party then I might take you seriously...for until that time you are no better than those you decry on the right.

I think there's a specific statement I need to make, but this isn't the place. For now, though, understand that I'm not talking to you as a party member because I'm not one. I'm talking as a guy.