It's one of the big lies of American politics. Whatever David Duke may believe, he's wrong. He's ~~never won an election as a Republican~~ (see edit below), he's never been endorsed by the RNC, and he's been denounced by every prominent Republican. He is not welcome in the Republican party.
And when you see someone in the media saying "You ain't black" or calling a black man "Uncle Tom", it's always a Democrat talking about a black Republican. Pretending that there are no racist Democrats is just ignoring the obvious.
And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrats. Many of the people on that list never even held office as a Democrat. If you'd care to list the people who actually won office as a Democrat supporting segregation or opposing civil rights, then switched parties, I'd be grateful. I only know of three.
Edit: In fact checking my own post, I discovered I was wrong. David Duke did win an election once, for a state House seat, running against a real Republican, despite the opposition of every major Republican leader, including President Bush and former President Reagan, and Chairman Lee Atwater, who said:
> David Duke is not a Republican. We repudiate him in his views and we are taking immediate steps to see that he is disenfranchised from our party.
> And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrat
There are more than the three “prominent Southern Democrats” you claimed on the list. Heck, there's more than that in each the early 1964-1970 phase of the Civil Rights driven realignment, and the final 1994-1995 wave, which was product of the culturally regressive wing of the party losing influence after the emerging center-right wing rose to dominance by supporting basically conservative economics while abandoning regressive culture war positions, especially on race, marginalizing both the left (who has no other major party to run to) and the solid right (whom the Republicans courted actively and welcomed with open arms).
And when you see someone in the media saying "You ain't black" or calling a black man "Uncle Tom", it's always a Democrat talking about a black Republican. Pretending that there are no racist Democrats is just ignoring the obvious.
And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrats. Many of the people on that list never even held office as a Democrat. If you'd care to list the people who actually won office as a Democrat supporting segregation or opposing civil rights, then switched parties, I'd be grateful. I only know of three.
Edit: In fact checking my own post, I discovered I was wrong. David Duke did win an election once, for a state House seat, running against a real Republican, despite the opposition of every major Republican leader, including President Bush and former President Reagan, and Chairman Lee Atwater, who said:
> David Duke is not a Republican. We repudiate him in his views and we are taking immediate steps to see that he is disenfranchised from our party.