In 2005, The GOP Apologized For Exploiting Racial Polarization

Hillary Clinton tied Donald Trump to the “alt-right,” a white people’s movement that isn’t racist, it just thinks white people are better. The National Parks Service is commemorating its 100th birthday, and you should celebrate by going to the Grand Canyon before Trump covers it in 14K gold. And Maine Gov. Paul LePage said he keeps a binder full of mugshots of black and Hispanic drug dealing suspects, showing that the Republican party has come a long way from the days of Mitt Romney’s binders full of women. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, August 25th, 2016:

WAYBACK MACHINE: THAT TIME THE HEAD OF THE GOP APOLOGIZED FOR EXPLOITING RACIAL POLARIZATION - Mike Allen on July 14, 2005: “It was called ‘the southern strategy,’ started under Richard M. Nixon in 1968, and described Republican efforts to use race as a wedge issue ― on matters such as desegregation and busing ― to appeal to white southern voters. Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman, this morning will tell the NAACP national convention in Milwaukee that it was ‘wrong.’ ‘By the ‘70s and into the ‘80s and ‘90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out,’ Mehlman says in his prepared text. “Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.’” So vintage. [WaPo]