Conservatism does not equal racism. So why do many liberals assume it does?

[MrsSmith]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091002679.html?hpid=opinionsbox1&sid=ST2010091201877

  Conservatism does not equal racism. So why do many liberals assume it does?

From an immigration law in Arizona to a planned mosque near Ground Zero to Glenn Beck emoting at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the controversies roiling American politics in recent weeks and months have featured an ugly undertone, suggesting meanness, prejudice and, in the eyes of some, outright racism. And it is conservatives -- whether Republican politicians, Fox News commentators or members of the "tea party" movement -- who are invariably painted with that brush.

...

But most conservatives have been less concerned with the "hardware" of people's race or ethnicity and more concerned with the "software" of their values or culture. This is why the white Protestant core of the modern conservative movement has not merely integrated Catholic "ethnics" but also rallied behind the Irish American William F. Buckley and the Italian American Antonin Scalia. Jews, women and Hispanics have been similarly integrated into both its ranks and leadership; indeed, many white conservatives swoon when members of minority groups proudly share their values. This explains why, in the 2008 campaign, conservatives were at least as roused by Obama's ties to the white former radical William Ayers as the black Jeremiah Wright, both of whom seemed to make a living out of damning America.

Liberal interpretations that portray modern conservatism as standing athwart the "rights revolution" of the 1960s are hard pressed to explain the growing number of minority and female candidates favored by the conservative rank and file. Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval, Tim Scott, Ryan Frazier, Raul Labrador and Jaime Herrera are GOP nominees for the Senate, governorships and the House because Republican voters preferred them over their white opponents. Allen West in Florida and Jon Barela in New Mexico were the consensus GOP choices to run for competitive House seats. Many of these candidates are well-positioned to win their races and help change the public face of modern conservatism.

Long article that goes through the argument that conservatives are racists because Southern whites ended up being "forced" into the Republican party and then shows that the assumed racism is inaccurate...and why.  This history professor goes into a lot of detail to make his point that racism didn't migrate into the party of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil Rights Act.

[Delmar]

Charging racism was always an easy way for liberals to end an argument when they were losing the debate.  They repeated it enough times that they talked a lot of people into believing it, themselves included.

[DumbAss Tanker]

To misuse the English language the same way the Democrats do:  Because the Liberals are obviously racist against Conservatives!

[MrsSmith]

To misuse the English language the same way the Democrats do:  Because the Liberals are obviously racist against Conservatives!

I still sometimes am amazed at the sheer volume of hypocrites and bigots in the ranks of the "tolerant, diverse, loving" party.  They have lied about it for so long, they don't even see their own intolerance.   

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

To paraphrase Janis Joplin: "Racism is just another word for 'nothing left to win'"