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Was Reagan a Bigot?

From the Corner:

I\’m getting a lot of emails pointing out that of course people believe Reagan was a bigot. Let me clarify what I meant — nobody who has seriously examined the man and his political career believes that Reagan is a bigot.

OK, and Paul Krugman responds:

That is, of course, not the question. Reagan’s personal attitude is of no consequence. The question is whether he deliberately appealed to bigots, as a political tactic. And he did.

OK, fair enough all round I\’d say. Reagan appealed to bigots in the same way that Jesse Jackson did (Hymietown) and Al Sharpton did (Tamara Brawley).

Or is it that only southern whites are bigots who politicians should not attempt to attract while other kinds of bigots are good clean voters?

4 thoughts on “Was Reagan a Bigot?”

  1. May I request, Lord Tim, that when you refer to Leading American Economists, you give us a little extra clue as to which is which? Thus for one you might append “(formerly employed by Enron)”, for another “(took part in the looting of Russia)”, for a third “(big spoiled baby)” and for a fourth “(too arrogant even for Harvard)”. Wotcha fink?

  2. I believe the matter is that the Southern Rural White vote was assumed to be theirs by the Democrats. When Reagan attracted their votes, it must be because of evil influences not a failing of the Democratic party.

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