Super Committee

As Super Committee Gridlocks, Influential Conservatives Harden Their No-Tax Demands

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2011, 6:00AM

Surprise! The deficit Super Committee is gridlocked! Because Republicans don't want to raise taxes revenues at all.

And with less than a month to go before the Committee's statutory deadline, the GOP's leading lights and the stars of the conservative movement aren't relenting one bit, leaving the panel's Republicans little room to maneuver.

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Haley Barbour

Flat Tax-Mentum! Barbour Backs Flat Tax, Privatized Social Security

Brian Beutler | October 25, 2011, 11:21AM

Haley Barbour (R)

The flat tax is becoming a litmus test for Republican presidential candidates, and on Tuesday it won a key endorsement from the former chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

At an event sponsored by the American Action Forum, at the National Press Club in Washington, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour argued in favor of key elements of Rick Perry's freshly released budget plan, which includes the option of a single income and corporate tax rate, unspecified spending cuts, a spending cap, and private savings accounts for workers as an alternative to Social Security.

"Is a flat tax good tax policy? Yes. It's not the only good tax policy. But it's certainly can be very good tax policy, particularly if you eliminate a lot of deductions so that it increases the appropriate amount of revenue," Barbour said.

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Debt Ceiling

O'Malley: Eric Cantor And 'Dinosaur Wing' Of GOP Already Hurting States In Debt Limit Fight

Brian Beutler | July 20, 2011, 2:10PM

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD)

The ratings agency Moody's is threatening to reduce the rating of five states with AAA credit (along with the rating of the federal government) if Congress fails to raise the debt limit in early August. Now the governor of one of those states -- Maryland's Martin O'Malley -- is publicly singling out the Republicans in Congress who are preventing swift action on the debt limit.

"All of this brinksmanship and these threats of the dinosaur wing of the Republican party led by Eric Cantor to drive us needlessly into a default have impacted confidence I think throughout the country," O'Malley told me in a Tuesday interview. "It's impacted consumer confidence, it's impacted investor confidence, it's impacted the confidence of small businesses who are the backbone of this economy and who need to hire again. In that respect it's already had an effect. The closer we get to this deadline, and the more immediate ramifications that has for those of us that are going out into the bond market."

These concerns will become very real if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit in the next few days.

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2012

Rudy Giuliani Rips Mitt Romney On Healthcare: 'A Mandate Is A Mandate'

Benjy Sarlin | June 6, 2011, 10:37AM

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Is Rudy Giuliani running for something?

On a visit to the crucial primary state of New Hampshire, the former New York mayor took dead aim at Mitt Romney for his Massachusetts health care law, calling on him to apologize to America for inspiring President Obama's own reforms.

"[Romney] can't talk his way out of this," Giuliani told the New Hampshire Union Leader. "A mandate is a mandate is a mandate is a mandate is mandate. Let's get real."

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Faith & Freedom Conference

Haley Barbour Rejects House GOP's Disaster Relief Position

Benjy Sarlin | June 3, 2011, 12:16PM

In a rebuke to House GOP leaders, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour told reporters on Friday that Congress should authorize disaster relief funds even if they are not offset with spending cuts. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has said that the emergency funds to help Missouri residents affected by deadly tornadoes should be paid for with cuts elsewhere, a break from recent precedent.

"No," Barbour said when asked if he agreed with Cantor. "I think disaster relief is not predictable. Emergencies caused by tornadoes, hurricanes are not predictable. Even if Congress, which as far as I know they never have, set aside a pot of money, as some have proposed, and said, 'Okay, here's this money we're going to use to pay for disaster relief' -- if they were to do that and we had a gigantic disaster that cost much more than that, surely Congress would go back and appropriate the extra money. And if they didn't have a place to offset it, they should still go in and do it."

Mississippi has been hit hard in recent years by hurricanes and floods, most notably Hurricane Katrina, and was also affected by the BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast. Barbour told reporters on Friday, however, that he believed President Obama's moratorium on drilling permits was more damaging to his state than the spill.

A spokesman for Cantor noted to TPM that there were instances under the Republican Congresses of the 1990s in which disaster relief was offset elsewhere, including supplemental assistance to Oklahoma City in the wake of a terrorist attack by Timothy McVeigh.

This story has been updated.

Faith & Freedom Conference

Haley Barbour: Don't Hold GOP 2012 Candidates To Purity Test -- Even On Taxes

Benjy Sarlin | June 3, 2011, 11:23AM

Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour warned Republican voters on Friday that they could not afford to apply strict purity tests to their presidential candidates, many of whom have raised hackles in conservative circles for various departures from the party line. Wading into very dangerous waters, he told reporters that even increasing taxes -- the ultimate Republican heresy -- should not be a dealbreaker.

Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington, Barbour told the audience of social conservatives that they "can't expert [the nominee] to be pure."

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2012

How Haley Barbour's Departure Affects The 2012 Field

Benjy Sarlin | April 26, 2011, 1:36PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

While many observers were skeptical of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's ability to capture the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, his decision not to run frees up an elite group of donors and operatives to find new homes and could leave a crucial bloc of voters up for grabs.

Barbour's campaign was considered a magnet for top quality staff and the remaining candidates will undoubtedly be reaching out to stranded politicos. Some already have ties to 2012 contenders while Barbours' close relationship with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) has led to speculation that an outsize number will join Daniels' campaign -- if he decides to run.

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Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour Not Running For President: I Don't Have That 'Fire In The Belly'

Jillian Rayfield | April 25, 2011, 3:37PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) announced on Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2012, saying that his supporters "deserve no less than absolute fire in the belly from their candidate. I cannot offer that with certainty, and total certainty is required."

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Says Everyone In Mississippi Has Access To Health Care -- But 18% Are Uninsured

Jillian Rayfield | April 20, 2011, 5:21PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) says Mississippi doesn't need Washington's help with health care reform because "there's nobody in Mississippi who does not have access to health care."

"One of the great problems in the conversation is the misimpression that if you don't have insurance, you don't get health care," Barbour said.

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Hypocrisy

Republican Governors Quietly Accept Federal Dollars -- While Attacking Federal Spending

Brian Beutler | April 20, 2011, 9:17AM

Govs. Rick Perry, John Kasich (R-OH), Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Tom Corbett (R-PA)

Republican governors stormed into state houses this January after campaigning against federal spending, and various so-called state bailouts. They won in part by painting a slanted picture of fiscal mismanagement by their Democratic predecessors.

That rhetoric -- and the rhetoric of their more senior Republican peers -- continues to this day, and occasionally translates into genuinely puzzling acts of malgovernance. Florida Governor Rick Scott, for example, turned down $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high-speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa.

But in other ways, their failure to publicly embrace additional federal commitments during tough economic times has left them behind the eight ball, politically. As the costs to their states of providing needed social services has risen, and their revenue has fallen, they're looking for sub rosa ways to take the money without catching flak from their bases.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

2012 GOPers Dismiss Obama's Deficit Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 13, 2011, 6:36PM

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty

The Republicans running (or almost running) for president are less than enthused by the deficit reduction solutions offered up by the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

After President Obama's much anticipated Wednesday speech on spending, the cadre of pols vying for the Republican presidential nomination littered inboxes with their statements on the address.

They were not impressed.

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Interracial Marriage

Nearly Half Of Mississippi Republicans Think Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal

Jon Terbush | April 7, 2011, 4:18PM

Americans nationwide are evenly divided over the issue of same sex marriage. But Republicans in Mississippi are divided over a wholly different wedlock issue: interracial marriage.

In a PPP poll released Thursday, a 46% plurality of registered Republican voters said they thought interracial marriage was not just wrong, but that it should be illegal. 40% said interracial marriage should be legal.

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Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour's Wife: Presidential Bid 'Horrifies Me'

David Taintor | April 4, 2011, 12:01PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) and wife Marsha

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's (R) wife isn't crazy about her husband's potential 2012 plans.

In fact, Marsha Barbour says the idea of him running for president "horrifies me."

"It's been a lot to be first lady of the state of Mississippi and this would be 50 times bigger," she said. "It's a huge sacrifice for a family to make."

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Barack Obama

Obama On Re-Elect: Lasting Change Doesn't Come 'Quickly Or Easily'

Susan Crabtree | April 4, 2011, 10:14AM

President Obama launched his reelection campaign in an unusually low-key fashion Monday -- with the simple posting of a video featuring level-headed endorsements from a cross-section of Americans, a far-cry from the adulation and soaring rhetoric that catapulted the junior senator from Illinois into the Oval Office three years ago.

Although understated, the video, titled "It Begins With Us," signals Obama's formal shift into campaign mode and marks the official beginning of a fundraising blitz Obama and his team hopes will dwarf his staggering record in 2008.

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Haley Barbour

Barbour: I'd Reinstate DADT To Avoid Distracting 'Amorous Mindset' (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | March 25, 2011, 4:24PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Haley Barbour said today that he'd support reinstating Don't Ask Don't Tell because "when you're under fire, and people are living and dying on split-second decisions, you don't need any kind of amorous mindset that can affect saving people's lives and killing bad guys."

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Haley Barbour

Former Romney Advisor Defects To Barbour PAC

Jillian Rayfield | March 21, 2011, 10:01AM

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Sally Bradshaw, a veteran Republican strategist in Florida and an advisor to Mitt Romney during his presidential campaign in 2008, has signed on with Haley Barbour's political action committee.

"If he becomes a presidential candidate I'll work for him here," she said told the Miami Herald.

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Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour's Son Slams Bill Kristol: You're 'Assassinating' My Father's Character

Jillian Rayfield | March 18, 2011, 10:33AM

William Kristol

Haley Barbour's son Sterling Barbour has written an e-mail to Bill Kristol, attacking him for a highly critical column Kristol wrote about the elder Barbour's chances for the Republican nomination. "In these most desperate of times, you go around assassinating the character of a great conservative," Sterling Barbour wrote.

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Floats Anti-Afghan War Platform

Jillian Rayfield | March 16, 2011, 1:02PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Haley Barbour is the latest possible 2012 candidate to question America's presence in Afghanistan, asking a crowd in Iowa on Tuesday night: "What is our mission? How many Al Qaeda are in Afghanistan. ... Is that a 100,000-man Army mission?"

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John McCain

Barbour Brings On Former McCain '08 Campaign Advisor Mike Dennehy

Jillian Rayfield | March 16, 2011, 10:46AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has hired Mike Dennehy, who served as John McCain's national political director and senior adviser in 2008, to be an adviser for his presidential campaign should he choose to run.

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GOP Primary

The Shrinking GOP Field -- And What It Means For The 2012 Election

Benjy Sarlin | March 7, 2011, 9:13AM

Mitt Romney

Weeks away from the first debates of the Republican presidential primary and the pool of candidates is uncertain and getting smaller, leaving open the possibility of a much tinier and less predictable field than was widely expected.

It's more than just hesitance among potential contenders to form an exploratory committee or formally announce a campaign. Few, if any, observers doubt Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty will hop in the race, for example. But the two potential candidates with arguably the largest group of core supporters, Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, are sending mixed signals about a possible run, with major implications for the rest of the field.

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Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour's MLK Memories Thrown Into Question

Benjy Sarlin | February 28, 2011, 10:53AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

A leading historian is throwing into question recollections from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) that he watched Martin Luther King, Jr. speak in his Yazoo City hometown as a teen.

In an interview with the Weekly Standard in December, Barbour described standing on the outskirts of a rally to hear MLK.

"I remember Martin Luther King came to town, in '62. He spoke out at the old fairground and it was full of people, black and white," he said. But Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger this week that records show no signs of any such appearance.

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Mike Huckabee

Huckabee: Haley Barbour's Record On Race Issues Is "Impeccable"

Melissa Jeltsen | February 21, 2011, 4:38PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

In the past few months, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour -- a potential Republican presidential candidate -- praised the notorious pro-segregationist Citizen Councils that operated in his youth and refused to denounce efforts in his state to create a license plate honoring Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest. But according to former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), who may also be posturing for a presidential run, Barbour's record on race issues is "impeccable."

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Co-Sponsoring 'Dinner And Date' (And Creationist Movie?) Night In NH

Jillian Rayfield | February 18, 2011, 8:58AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour may be trying to woo potential New Hampshire supporters with free food, co-sponsoring an upcoming "dinner and a date night" with a conservative think tank Cornerstone in New Hampshire this month.

The dinner will be followed by a screening of "The Genesis Code," a movie about the relationship between creationism and evolution, that features Fred Thompson in a small role.

Mike Dennehy, a New Hampshire strategist and spokesman for the film's producers, says that Barbour is only paying for the dinner part of the evening, and has no connection to the screening itself. "He's sponsoring the date night dinner, which is just prior to the screening," Dennehy told TPM.

The invitation itself is more ambiguous, declaring:

Cornerstone in conjunction with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is inviting you and your loved one to join us for a FREE dinner at The Puritan on Saturday, February 26th at 7pm. Then, join us immediately following dinner at the Cinemagic Theater in Hooksett to see the movie critics are raving about, The Genesis Code - at a discounted rate!

Barbour will not be in attendance at either event.

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Pres '12

Barbour Refuses To Denounce Proposed License Plates Honoring KKK Founder

Eric Kleefeld | February 15, 2011, 10:56PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential presidential candidate, appears to have marked a line in the sand for an expected presidential run sure to be dogged by the politics of race and the legacy of the Civil Rights Era in his state. Asked by reporters today in Jackson, Mississippi, Barbour not only refused to denounce efforts by some to create a license plate honoring Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest. He said he was out of the denouncing business altogether.

"I don't go around denouncing people," said Barbour, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. "That's not going to happen. I don't even denounce the news media."

Barbour also added: "I know there's not a chance it'll become law."

Forrest was a slave trader before the Civil War, who became known during the war for his significant innovations in military strategy -- and also, the paper notes, for leading a massacre of captured black Union troops at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. He founded the Ku Klux Klan after the war, but later left the organization.

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Denies Lobbying On Behalf Of Mexico For 'Amnesty'

Jillian Rayfield | February 15, 2011, 10:12AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour has denied reports that he and his former lobbying firm worked to promote a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the U.S. on behalf of the Mexican government, saying in a statement that he "never advocated amnesty for illegal aliens."

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Haley Barbour

Report: Haley Barbour Lobbied On Behalf Of Mexico For 'Amnesty'

Jillian Rayfield | February 14, 2011, 12:21PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

If Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour decides to run for President in 2012, he may have to answer for his record on immigration.

Michael Scherer of Time's Swampland blog reports that Barbour's former lobbying firm, Griffith & Rogers, lobbied on behalf of the Embassy of Mexico in 2001 to promote a bill related to Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This provision would have provided a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States, through family connections or job skills, without a requirement that they return to their home country for the requisite 3-10 years. This is what's often referred to as "amnesty."

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CPAC

Barbour At CPAC: America Agrees WIth The GOP

Jillian Rayfield | February 12, 2011, 11:51AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MI) said at CPAC today that Republicans have to keep in mind that the "average American agrees with us on the issues," and "the main thing" Republicans have to accomplish it "electing a Republican President next year."

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2012 elections

Barbour Advisor: 'He's Running Until He Says He's Not'

Jillian Rayfield | February 7, 2011, 4:17PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, according to one advisor who told CNN: "We have definitely shifted gears, there is no question about that. He's running until he says he's not."

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2012 elections

Haley Barbour Heading To Israel This Weekend

Jillian Rayfield | February 2, 2011, 11:54AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will head to Israel this Saturday, making him the third potential GOP presidential candidate to visit the country in recent weeks.

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Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour Heading To South Carolina Tomorrow

Jillian Rayfield | January 25, 2011, 1:47PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is heading to South Carolina tomorrow to attend two private events with Republicans, reportedly to discuss a run for president.

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RNC

Steele: 'From The Very Beginning' There Were Calls For My Resignation (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | January 21, 2011, 10:10AM

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared last night on the Rachel Maddow show, offered a vociferous defense of his performance as chairman -- and said how some people had opposed his style of managing the party from the very beginning.

In her introduction, Maddow discussed the immediate scheming that occurred against Steele, and how right-wing media outlets such as the Washington Times quickly began agitating for his ouster.

"I think you nailed it pretty well," Steele said, "that, you know, from the very beginning, literally within the first 30 days of my being on the job, there were calls for my resignation. Now, I don't know how one does -- how you screw up so badly in 30 days on a job that they want to get rid of you when you don't even know where the washrooms are.

"But clearly, there was -- there was a distinctive style issue for me. I mean, I'm a very, you know, grassroots guy. I'm very oriented on being in the neighborhoods and communities," Steele said. "My first venture out of Washington was to Harlem. And I remember a member asked me, why are you going to Harlem as RNC chairman? I said, because there are votes there. Let's take our message to the people."

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RNC

Priebus's New Team Includes Ed Gillespie, Henry Barbour

Eric Kleefeld | January 19, 2011, 2:14PM

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus officially announced today the line-up for his transition team, with a clear message that the RNC wants to put the controversies of the Michael Steele years behind them -- or, in the press release's words, "implementing the plan to restore faith in Republican donors and communicate with the American public."

Notably on the team are Ed Gillespie, a former RNC chairman during President George W. Bush's first term, and Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi -- and a nephew of Gov. Haley Barbour, who for his part is also a potential presidential candidate and a former RNC chairman.

"When I ran for Chairman of the RNC, I promised to make changes and begin the outreach process with key Republican donors," Priebus said in the press release. "Today, I am honored to announce the team that will help ensure Republicans have a top-notch ground game in the 2012 election cycle. Together, we will build on our success in 2010 and take back the White House and the United States Senate."

2012 Presidential Primaries

Haley Barbour Now Pushing $50M Civil Rights Museum In Mississippi

Jillian Rayfield | January 12, 2011, 10:47AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Following a flap over his defense of a Civil Rights-era segregationist group, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour used his final state-of-the-state address to encourage lawmakers to build a $50 million civil rights museum.

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Fox News

Oops: Fox Nation Said Barbour Easily 'Fends Off Left-Wing Racial Smears'

Eric Kleefeld | December 22, 2010, 12:24PM

In the initial fallout over Gov. Haley Barbour's (R-MS) praise of the segregationist Citizens Council groups from the Civil Rights movement era, one conservative media outlet seems to have really bungled their attempts to back up the potential White House candidate: Fox Nation.

In a profile in the Weekly Standard, Barbour had recalled the group -- which was founded to oppose school desegregation, and launched economic boycotts to cut off employment and business for African-Americans who sought out civil rights (including a famous incident in Barbour's hometown) -- in positive terms:

"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK. Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."

Fox News came to the rescue, with a posting on their unabashedly right-wing Fox Nation website:

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2012 elections

Barbour: Segregationist Citizens Councils That I Praised Were 'Totally Indefensible'

Eric Kleefeld | December 21, 2010, 12:15PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), the potential presidential candidate who has come under fire for comments praising the segregationist Citizen Councils that operated during his youth in the South, has now released a statement fully condemning the organizations:

"When asked why my hometown in Mississippi did not suffer the same racial violence when I was a young man that accompanied other towns' integration efforts, I accurately said the community leadership wouldn't tolerate it and helped prevent violence there. My point was my town rejected the Ku Klux Klan, but nobody should construe that to mean I think the town leadership were saints, either. Their vehicle, called the 'Citizens Council,' is totally indefensible, as is segregation. It was a difficult and painful era for Mississippi, the rest of the country, and especially African Americans who were persecuted in that time."

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2012 elections

Historian: Segregationist Citizens Councils Were A 'Terrorist Organization'

Eric Kleefeld | December 21, 2010, 12:14PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

So what was Gov. Haley Barbour doing, exactly, when he defended the reputation of the Citizens Councils, a segregationist movement that was formed to oppose the civil rights movement after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision? Barbour released a statement this afternoon, declaring: "My point was my town rejected the Ku Klux Klan, but nobody should construe that to mean I think the town leadership were saints, either. Their vehicle, called the 'Citizens Council,' is totally indefensible, as is segregation." So let's take a look at exactly who they were.

Earlier, I asked Todd Moye, an associate professor of history at the University of North Texas, and also the author of Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945-1986, for his expertise on the matter.

He called the councils a "terrorist organization."

In a profile in the Weekly Standard, Barbour recalled the group in positive terms:

"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK. Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."

"Well he's right about the responsible business leaders part," said Moye. "At any given time in Mississippi in the 50's, the Citizens Council would have included people who led the Rotary Club and the local bank and the Boy Scout troop -- all these positions of leadership you can think of. But they were also members of this group that is, I think, a terrorist organization."

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Haley Barbour

Flashback: Citizens Councils Touted 'Racial Integrity,' 'Christian Love And Segregation'

Eric Kleefeld | December 20, 2010, 4:04PM

Let's take a further look at the Citizens Council, the Civil Rights-era segregationist group that was recently praised by potential presidential candidate Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) -- for keeping order, he said, by deterring Ku Klux Klan activity during the civil rights movement.

Here is a Council newspaper from 1956, based in Jackson, Mississippi (which is roughly 40 miles from Barbour's hometown of Yazoo City). The paper includes such headlines as: "Christian Love And Segregation"; "Council Movement Spreads As Nation Reacts to Danger"; "Negroes Taking Over"; "Baptists Rap Mixing" (note: In 1950's American English, "rap" in this context meant to harshly criticize, similar to "blast" in a headline now); "Rape In Germany," warning of alleged rapes of German women by African-American soldiers; "Lady Veteran Raps Hospital Mixology"; and "Enemy Made Large Gains In 1955."

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Spokesman: Mississippi Gov. Is Not Racist

Eric Kleefeld | December 20, 2010, 2:08PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

I just spoke with Dan Turner, the official spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), who responded in strong terms to criticism of Barbour's recent praise for the segregationist Citizens Council groups of the Civil Rights era.

"You're trying to paint the governor as a racist," he said. "And nothing could be further from the truth."

In a profile in the Weekly Standard, Barbour credited the groups -- which were founded in Mississippi in 1954, in protest of the Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared public school segregation to be unconstitutional -- with maintaining order in his hometown by deterring Ku Klux Klan activity.

The councils were dedicated to political activities opposing civil rights, notably boycotts of pro-civil rights individuals -- including a famous instance by the group in Barbour's town. It was distinguished from the Klan by the public self-identification of its members, and its image of suits and ties as opposed to white robes and nooses.

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Praises Civil Rights-Era White Supremacist Citizens Councils

Eric Kleefeld | December 20, 2010, 11:43AM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential Republican presidential candidate, has an interesting perspective on the tumults of the civil rights era that swept through his Deep South state.

As Barbour recalls it in a new profile in The Weekly Standard, things weren't so bad in his hometown of Yazoo City, which took until 1970 to integrate its schools (though the final event itself is said to have gone on peacefully). For example, Barbour says that there was no problem of Ku Klux Klan activity in the town -- thanks to the Citizens Council movement, an organization that was founded on the basis of resistance to integration and the promotion of white supremacy.

"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK," said Barbour. "Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."

The White Citizens Council movement was founded in Mississippi in 1954, shortly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregated public schools, and was dedicated to political activities opposing civil rights -- notably boycotts of pro-civil rights individuals in Barbour's hometown, as opposed to Barbour's recollection of actions against the Klan. It was distinguished from the Klan by the public self-identification of its members, and its image of suits and ties as opposed to white robes and nooses.

In 1998, American Conservative Union head David Keene barred the Citizens Council's modern incarnation, the Council of Conservative Citizens, from the annual CPAC conference: "we kicked [them] out of CPAC because they are racists."

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