During last night's debate, Fox News took two questions from twitter.
First one from "MissinDixie".
Second one from "Mr_Whiteman"
If you go by Brett Baeir, that's apparently pronounced "eh, uh, Mr Whitman"
In all fairness, "Mr_Whiteman" tweeted that this is his last name. Fair enough.
And "MissinDixie" apparently lives in Wisconsin... (so he could in fact be missing his home, if he actually comes from the South).
But the problem in terms of public perception is that Dixie is "most often associated with those parts of the Southern United States where traditions and legacies of the Antebellum South live most strongly". Therefore that handle, whether intended or not, implies nostalgia for a culture in which racist traditions persist.
And well, Whiteman kind of sounds like white man... well, exactly like white man.
This happened in a debate in South Carolina where the all white audience booed (Senior Black Correspondent) Juan Williams for asking Gingrich if he understands why his comments--about black kids working as janitors to break their dependency on food stamps--are racially insensitive. Then Newt Gingrich's response received the only standing ovation that any GOP candidate has received in 22 debates.