Quote:
Originally Posted by Warfish
It's a basic question.
Why?
What policy or action does (D) take that so overwhelmingly wins over both these ethnic groups. Specificly.
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Nixon's Southern Strategy.
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Although the phrase "Southern strategy" is often attributed to Nixon's political strategist Kevin Phillips, he did not originate it,[9] but merely popularized it.[10] In an interview included in a 1970 New York Times article, he touched on its essence:
From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that...but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.[2]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
Republicans in the Nixon era specifically marketed themselves to racists, courting votes from "Negrophobe whites" as the way to win the White House.
The party has long since moved on from that position, but its effects are harder to move on from. A generation of minority voters grew up
knowing- because the Republican party came out and said so - that Republicans were not concerned with their interests.
There's no policy or platform, however well thought through, that can quickly overcome that. It will take generations of conspicuous non-racism to move that needle - which is why the left charges republicans with racism almost reflexively; first, because it was true (which makes it hard to trust claims that it no longer is), and second, because even if the Republican party has moved on from that shameful strategy, it's better for the Democrats if minority voters continue to associate Republicans with racism.