INSULTING CONSERVATIVES ... ATTACKING CHILDREN WITH FIREHOSES AND VICIOUS DOGS -- WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

It's Martin Luther King Day, and you know what that means at Fox News: someone has to stick a thumb in the eye of Dr. King and his admirers by saying something racially tasteless. Take it away, Fox News Radio commentator Todd Starnes:

Governor Andrew "Bull Connor" Cuomo

Get out of New York!

That's the message Empire State Governor Andrew Cuomo is sending to pro-life, pro-gun, pro-traditional marriage conservatives.

The Albany Times-Union first highlighted remarks the governor made during an interview with Susan Arbetter on "The Capitol Pressroom." He was talking about a division within the state’s Republican Party and compared it to what’s happening in Washington, D.C.

"It's a mirror of what's going on in Washington," he said. "The gridlock in Washington is less about Democrats and Republicans. It's more about extreme Republicans versus moderate Republicans."

And then he told "extreme" Republicans where to go.

"Who are they?" the governor asked. "Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that's who they are and they're the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that's not who New Yorkers are."

... When did Governor Cuomo become Bull Connor -- trying to politically segregate the state?

Yes, Starnes really wrote that:

When did Governor Cuomo become Bull Connor -- trying to politically segregate the state?

First of all, as Starnes notes, Cuomo is saying that Republican candidates who aren't moderate "have no place in the state of New York," because (in his opinion) New York is a state where even the Republican voters are moderate, and where gridlock is avoided because moderate Republicans work with Democrats. (You can also see fuller versions of the quote at the Times Union and at National Review.)

Is that still insulting? Fine -- if you're right-wing, I understand that you might feel offended.

Still, Cuomo isn't forcing anyone to leave the state, or preventing anyone from running for office here. More to the point, Cuomo isn't doing this to people he disagrees with, or to their children:





Or this:

In Birmingham, an FBI informant in the Klan learned of a detailed plan in which Police Chief Bull Conner had agreed to give the Klan 15 minutes after the bus arrived to beat the [Freedom Riders seeking to desegregate interstate bus travel] before local police would arrive. The plan was reported to the FBI headquarters, but no action was taken..... When the Freedom Riders exited the bus, they [were] beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains, and then, battered and bleeding, they were arrested.... Two riders were hospitalized, including white Freedom Rider Jim Peck with 52 stitches in his head....

Saying this is a slap in the face to every victim of the violence Bull Connor and his ideological allies fomented. Or, in other words, it's business as usual for the right on Martin Luther King Day.