Gingrich seems to understand the historical weight of the view among some southern whites, many of whom have migrated to the Republican party, that blacks are lazy and addicted to handouts. He is able to give voice to those feelings without using those words. He is able to make people believe that a fundamentally flawed and prejudicial argument that demeans minorities is actually for their uplift. It is Gingrich’s gift: He is able to make ill will sound like good will.

Charles Blow on Gingrich’s subtle racism (via jonathan-cunningham)

Wouldn’t it be grand if the only proponents of the views that Gingrich has articulated were southern white republicans. It would be so convenient, to say the least, if we could pin-point and socially ostracize such bigoted adversaries of equality, but alas, nothing is ever that simple. The reality, as many blacks already know, is that holders of those views live among us… everywhere. They exist in all regions of the United States, and they carry around a silent resentment that lies dormant in the interest of political correctness and “peace.” They work with you, attend school with you, frequent places you frequent; hell, they may even call themselves your friend and break bread with you. All the while harboring foul views of your people. When confronted, they’ll offer statistics, they may label you an exception; but the moral of the story is: they buy those bullshit stereotypes in bulk. Partially because we as black people won’t stop selling them {but that’s a conversation for another day}. So, no, there is no particular, classifiable “type” of Caucasian that Newt is speaking to; he’s speaking to that tiny little racist that still, unfortunately, lives in minds of many. We’d be naïve to limit Newt’s audience to some far-away-descendant-of-plantation-owners-and-cross-burners, like some make believe boogey man who we’ll never have to really contend with; that caricature is no more valid than the image of minorities that Newt Gingrich is propagating.