As one of her last messages to West Virginia, Sen Clinton tells West Virginia to “send them a message.”  I am not sure if this is simply a coincidence but “send them a message” was the battle cry of George Wallace in the sixties during the height of racial tensions in this country.  Bob Herbert of the New York Times seems to think that it was a little too convenient for Sen. Clinton to include such statement in her final appeal to West Virginia voters.  The slogan was originally used by Wallace in an effort to get voters to send Washington, and those in support of civil rights, a message by voting for him and his segregationist platform.  Wallace was staunchly against the civil rights movement and built his political career on segregation.   I wonder if West Virginians are familiar with the history behind the final plea.  Apparently Bob Herbert is very aware and said as much today.  In addition,  and before Clinton’s “send them a message” comment, Bob Herbert wrote the following piece regarding Clinton’s southern strategy:

There was a name for it when the Republicans were using that kind of lousy rhetoric to good effect: it was called the Southern strategy, although it was hardly limited to the South. Now the Clintons, in their desperation to find some way — any way — back to the White House, have leapt aboard that sorry train.

He can’t win! Don’t you understand? He’s black! He’s black!

The Clintons have been trying to embed that gruesomely destructive message in the brains of white voters and superdelegates for the longest time. It’s a grotesque insult to African-Americans, who have given so much support to both Bill and Hillary over the years….

But it’s an insult to white voters as well, including white working-class voters. It’s true that there are some whites who will not vote for a black candidate under any circumstance. But the United States is in a much better place now than it was when people like Richard Nixon, George Wallace and many others could make political hay by appealing to the very worst in people, using the kind of poisonous rhetoric that Senator Clinton is using now….

But it’s one thing to lack class and a sense of grace, quite another to deliberately try and wreck the presidential prospects of your party’s likely nominee — and to do it in a way that has the potential to undermine the substantial racial progress that has been made in this country over many years.The Clintons should be ashamed of themselves. But they long ago proved to the world that they have no shame.