Haley Barbour needs to find a better press secretary, or at least someone who won't let him put his foot in his mouth at every opportunity:
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday he won't denounce a Southern heritage group's proposal for a state-issued license plate that would honor Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan. [...]
Mississippi NAACP president Derrick Johnson said it's "absurd" to honor a "racially divisive figure" such as Forrest. Johnson has also called on Barbour to denounce the license plate idea.
Asked about the NAACP's stance Tuesday, Barbour replied: "I don't go around denouncing people. That's not going to happen. I don't even denounce the news media."
Also, notice how he conflates "news media" with "Ku Klux Klan." Haley Barbour is so generous, he won't even denounce the media, much less a group of white supremacist terrorists. To be fair, his unwillingness to oppose the license plate has less to do with his personal views (I hope!) and more to do with those of his constituents and the Republican base. If Barbour runs for president, he'll almost certainly need the votes of people who see Forrest as a valiant hero against "Northern aggression," and not a violent war criminal.
