George Allen's macaca riff may have exposed him as a racist bully. But the reason it caused such an uproar probably has less to do with Allen himself than with today's GOP. To put it bluntly, the GOP doesn't really do race-baiting any more, at least nothing like it used to. Republicans more or less stopped bashing Democrats as the party of welfare queens and violent criminals some time in the mid-'90s, just before they started attacking Democrats as the party of adulterous presidents and monogamous gays.
Obviously, most blacks still don't vote Republican. But the whites who do have more or less soured on race-baiting. That's why George W. Bush never missed a chance to pose with cute little black children during the 2000 campaign. And it's why watching an aspiring presidential candidate try to score points with a crude racist appeal is so jarring today. In addition to being offensive, Allen's comments recall a political strategy that has been out of style for nearly a decade.
Scheiber's point is a good one. His observations also represent a sign of progress in American race relations. America's racial conservatives (oftentimes but not always racists) are almost overwhelmingly Republicans. But the Republican Party is not a racist party. This is a distinction that makes an enormous difference.
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