Rudy and Racism: Again

According to Matthew Yglesias:

Giuliani's political career, by contrast, has been marked by massive hostility to African-American leaders, and a tendency to actively revel in being disliked by black people . . . He's not, at the end of the day, a very good person and much more so than with your typical politician it seems very plausible to me that he flirts with racist appeals because he's a racist.

That also might be why Rudy is ahead in the polls, because he's the kind of racist that could pass for being a non-racist. Sort of like Don Imus used to pass for a non-racist. Giuliani's trick is that he can show contempt for African-American leaders and revel in "being disliked by black people but also maintain a plausible deniability about his racial hostility.

In this sense, many of Giuliani's white supporters would want both sides of the "acceptable bigotry" equation. They want Giuliani's narrative of "toughness" toward black people at the same time that they want to avoid racial groaners like "nappy-headed hos." They want Giuliani to be "tough" but not "stupid." At the same time, the failure to play the racism card might be one reason why McCain, Romney, and Gingrich haven't started to catch on with Republican voters. Thus, Giuliani might be ahead because other candidates can't match his anti-black narrative.

It's a great thing that Rudy Giuliani appears to be the only major candidate of white racism in either party. Unfortunately, there's a possibility that Rudy's racism will give him his winning edge.