In September, Brad and Noam profiled the shady dealings of lobbyist–governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi. For some reason, Barbour's name is being bandied about quite a bit as a potential running mate for John McCain. Josh Barro, who's been keeping close tabs on some of the crazier entries in the McCain veepstakes, points out a few of the many reasons why Barbour would be a disastrous choice. Josh unearths a choice passage from a 1982 New York Times story on Barbour's failed U.S. Senate campaign that year:
The racial sensitivity at Barbour headquarters was suggested by an exchange between the candidate and an aide who complained that there would be 'coons' at a campaign stop at the state fair. Embarrassed that a reporter heard this, Mr. Barbour warned that if the aide persisted in racist remarks, he would be reincarnated as a watermelon and placed at the mercy of blacks.
Stay classy, Haley.
--Josh Patashnik
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Dept. of Spectacularly Bad VP Suggestions
From The New Republic:
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I've heard two versions of the "watermelons" story. One portrayed Barbour as visibly annoyed rather than merely embarrassed, and the person making the ethnic slurs as someone who had been on Barbour's nerves for a long time.
ReplyDeleteNot a shining moment for the guy, but it was 26 years ago. Two years earlier than that, Reagan began his presidential bid by essentially condemning the Civil Rights Act at the Neshoba County Fair. Context is important. If we can forgive Robert Byrd, who has said far worse things (including the N-word within the past 10 or 15 years), then it's probably not going to fly for us to make that much of a remark Barbour made in 1982.
Barbour wouldn't be a terrible choice for McCain, as his RNC chairmanship and party connections could help with funds, but as he himself has remarked, there are no geographic advantages for a Republican picking a candidate from Mississippi. I also question how effective Barbour would be as a national top-ticket candidate in 2012 or 2016. If McCain is determined to pick someone from this part of the country, he should probably go with Bobby Jindal.