Readers React: GOP ‘Southern strategy’ comes to fruition

To the editor: Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy is now complete. There will be no Democratic senators from the former Confederacy in the new Senate. The House shows a similar picture. (“Bill Cassidy defeats Democrat Mary Landrieu in Louisiana Senate race,” Dec. 6)

Because Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, the South was a solid Democratic bastion for 100 years. Then Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, knowing full well that doing so would give the South to the GOP. In 1968, Richard Nixon seized the opportunity to welcome the disgruntled “Dixiecrats” into the Republican Party.

The transfer is now complete, and unfortunately the political philosophy hasn’t changed.

Stephen Baird, Solana Beach

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To the editor: I am troubled by the unsourced opinions in this article stated as fact, such as Sen.-elect Bill Cassidy (R-La.) being a “lackluster” candidate who “ducked” public appearances and what amounts to a monolithic condemnation of Southern white voters as vestiges of the “old Confederacy.”

In fact, I have seen Cassidy on TV quite a bit, and his opponent’s many gaffes made her a lost cause. And there are plenty of reasons for voters to be unhappy with President Obama, none having to do with his skin color; elections north of the Mason-Dixon line established that quite convincingly.

There may be a point to be made about the Southern states and their political leanings, maybe even about vestiges of Southern racism, but that would be a separate article. This news story about the results of a Senate election was not the place.

Jeffrey C. Briggs, Hollywood

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