The GOP's Revisionist History on Civil Rights

Earlier this week, the LA Times described Republican efforts to recast themselves as the "party of civil rights" in a cynical attempt to court minority voters. Today, on the first day of Black History Month, we have a good example of how futile that effort really is.

Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) is introducing a bill essentially condemning the Senate for filibustering anti-lynching laws earlier in the 20th century. It's a laudable bill – but its author has anything but a laudable record on civil rights and racial issues. According to the Associated Press in 2000, Allen was discovered to have been displaying a hangman's noose and the confederate flag in his law office. As governor, Allen "signed a Confederate Heritage Month proclamation without denouncing slavery." Allen also "opposed a state holiday honoring Martin Luther King" and referred to the NAACP as an "extremist group."

According to reporters, Allen did not apologize, but instead "defended the flag and noose as mere decorations." What sensitivity.