There is a lot of hand wringing and out rage over Haley Barbour’s comments supporting the activities of the white supremacist White Citizens’ Councils in the 1960s.

I think that this misses the point.

Not only does Barbour have a long tradition of appealing to bigots, but it is clear that he wants to run for president, and a not so veiled appeal to the tradition of white bigotry in the South goes a long way towards appealing to that demographic in the primaries.