Quote of the Day

"For the last 40-plus years we had a 'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, 'Bubba' went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton."

Michael Steele, RNC Chairman.

The Chairman of the Republican National Committee admits that the GOP used racism to garner votes.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and Nixonland author Rick Perlstein discussed the possible reason for Steele's statement.

MADDOW: Did architects of the southern strategy express regret or remorse for it at all in the way that Michael Steele seemed to this week?

PERLSTEIN: Well, the fascinating thing about it is, it seems to happen at regular intervals. I mean, one of the architects of it in the Nixon years was a guy named Harry Dent. And after he retried, he became a preacher and he apologized for it right before he died.

Lee Atwater became Republican Party chair. He apologized for it kind of when he was on his death bed. You can almost say when these guys get ready to meet their maker, they tend to man up and own up to the strategy. Even Ken Mehlman was kind of out the door and, you know, kind of writing his resume for history when he said it was happening.

So you know, it says interesting things about, you know, what we can expect from Michael Steele, whether he`s, you know, heading out the door or whether he is trying to extend his tenure by, you know, basically setting up a deal where if you kick me out, maybe it`s just because I was a truth-teller on this civil rights issue.

As David Frum can attest, truth-telling is not encouraged in the Republican Party.

Nixonland

Ross Douthat interviews Nixonland author Rick Perlstein. Douthat's review of the book is online.