Bad mgoblog Twitter post is bad

I studied poli sci and mom was a librarian. I understand sourcing and attribution – neither of which you’ve done whatsoever. I’m not going to footnote a blog post. 

Regarding Sirhan, your statement contradicts itself. RFK was a leftie who acted against his political viewpoint to support Israel, but Sirhan must have been a leftie in every way because of his opposition to support of Israel. Did I get that right?

Sirhan was born in then-Palestine, was a Jordanian citizen, and moved to the US when he was 12.

It’s not surprising that someone born in Palestine would be opposed to US support of Israel in the 6-day War. In itself, it offers absolutely no indication of his overall political viewpoint.

Many sources say he was born, raised, and devoutly Christian – he didn’t “allegedly explore” Christianity. You’re right, his religious affiliation doesn’t indicate his political leanings any more than does his opposition to the US support for Israel in the 6-Day War.  If you have reliable sources that affirm his “leftie” beliefs, I'll accept it. 

“doesn’t make him a repub.” – as Reagan said, “There you go again”. I responded to your argument about “lefties”, and mentioned nothing about political parties. 

Re: Nixon’s “Southern Strategy”

Kevin Phillips was a Nixon strategist, widely acknowledged as the primary architect of his “southern strategy”.  From a NYT profile:

“Kevin Phillips plots the emerging Republican majority, its common denominator is hostility to blacks and browns among slipping Democrats and abandonment of the Democratic party because of its identification with the colored minorities.”

“Phillips had one conspicuous campaign success—the urging of an Outer South Strategy aimed at capturing Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, as opposed to the Deep South Strategy that had carried Wallace territory for Goldwater in 1964, but at the cost of frightening away millions of potential voters elsewhere.”

Phillips' own words:

“Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.”

“My argument was this: Your outer Southerners who live in the Ozark and Appalachian mountain ranges and in the Piedmont upcountry—and now in urban‐suburban Florida and Texas—have always had different interests than the Negrophobe plantation owners of the Black Belt. This is a less extreme conservative group. It adheres with other Republican constituencies across the country and can be appealed to without fragmenting the coalition. When you are after political converts, start with the less extreme and wait for the extremists to come into line when their alternatives collapse.”

Ken Mehlman – GOP Chairman in 2005

"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

Finally, Giffords' shooter. Yes, he did drugs. No, his political affiliation isn’t clear.

“He’s an independent who didn’t vote in the 2010 election.”

I already provided one attributed quote; here are more:

“Democrats paint him as "an anti-government, Tea Party conservative; "Republicans say his reading list suggests he's a "left-wing wacko." “

“Though the evidence seems to indicate Loughner lacks a fixed ideology (outside of anti-government sentiment) and may be mentally unstable, many have drawn conclusions about his political leanings. Some have cast him as a conservative and blamed Sarah Palin and Tea Party influences for his actions, while others have cast him as a "lunatic liberal."”

I’m done with this.