Dog-whistle
They just can't help themselves:
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s big rally Monday in Denver turned out thousands of cheering, pumped up fans at the Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum — an event that provided a last very dramatic public stand before Wednesday’s debate at the University of Denver.
There was a “huh?” moment: country singer Laurie Morgan serenading the crowd with “Dixie” — those “I wish I were in the land of cotton” lyrics not too often heard at modern day presidential campaign events.
Which is about as cautious and tame a description as is possible. A more honest description would be that the song first attained popularity in blackface minstrelsy. That it was the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy. That it was a favorite among opponents of the 1960s Civil Rights movement. That it is the unofficial theme song of
Civil War revisionists.
Romney, of course, said nothing. Nor, apparently, did anyone from his campaign. No doubt they will describe Morgan's serenade as but innocent fun. Like Romney's charming birther joke. The question being what exactly the song "Dixie" has to do with Romney, who is not a Southerner, or with Denver or Colorado, which are not in the South. What is the context? What is the rationale? What could it possibly be?