A History of Liberal White Racism

[fishwax]

178. The Rand Paul analogy isn't really a very good one, Joe

The Pauls, as you've pointed out, have played up a few (not insignificant) points of overlap with progressives in order to appeal to disaffected people on the left, even though the overwhelming majority of their positions are extremely right wing. If anyone were to ask what Rand Paul's extreme right wing positions are, it would not be difficult to make a list.

The same is not true of Bilbo. Paul opposes any initiative of Obama's and opposes liberal positions and policy as a matter of course. Bilbo, on the other hand, was an ardent supporter of the New Deal. As governor, he pushed for public schools and public hospitals, oversight on the banking industry, and so on. Bilbo's involvement in the 1928 presidential election provides perhaps a better anecdote to illustrate the author's point about the relationship between his liberalism and his racism: he helped liberal democrat Al Smith take Mississippi in that election. He did so by spreading unfounded rumors of Hoover dancing with an African American woman.