Methinks Jonathan Haidt Doth Protest Too Much: Southern Whites Edition

Lots of excellent pushback against Jonathan Haidt’s crazy assertion that Republicans have become the party of working people. A great takedown by Larry Bartells, you can follow the rest from there.

Haidt uses an awful lot of words, numbers, pictures, and general hand-waving to point out obscure the fact that white southern Democrats have gone Republican since the 60s. The “Southern Strategy” has worked.

As my teenage daughter would say, “no duh.”

Johnson predicted this when he passed civil rights legislation — the South has been lost to the Democrats “for a generation.” But Johnson may have underestimated the duration. These are the people, after all, who still haven’t accepted the fact that they lost the Civil War 147 years ago. Haidt’s apparently chosen role as an apologist for this group is…less than admirable.

Cross-posted at Angry Bear.