The Protocols of the Elders of the South

This past week Max Heller died. He was 92 years old.
Max and Trude Heller

Heller was mayor of Greenville in the 1970s. He turned downtown Greenville from the slum it was into the public amenity is now is.

Out of the chaos of Nazi-occupied Austria Heller made his way to Greenville, and out of the chaos of World War II he managed to reconnect with, and marry, his childhood sweetheart- one of the most charming people I ever met.

Heller ran for governor and lost to Republican legend Carroll Campbell, who piously declared he knew nothing about those ads asking voters whether they wanted a native South Carolinian or a Jewish immigrant from Austria to lead the state. Campbell won.

The Campbell family burped up a message of condolence, but the campaign they countenanced should lie heavy on their consciences for generations. Max Heller has a statue in downtown Greenville. Carroll Campbell is just dead.



And now the same sort of bullshit has surfaced in Kentucky:

Lexington attorney Larry Forgy, a Republican who lost the 1995 governor's race against Democrat Paul Patton, said the only reason Beshear picked Abramson to be his running mate was "to attract New York and Hollywood Jewish money" for the campaign.

"There's no other reason why to pick a big-city, liberal mayor to run for lieutenant governor in a rural, conservative state like this," Forgy said.

I can't decide whether to cry or vomit. And we haven't even begun to consider Mrs. Palin's "blood libel" comments.

Sorry, but as I type, crying wins. Damn these people. How long must we remain chained to a past defined by hate and piety? Do we learn nothing?