In a January 23 article, headlined "Party of racism," Washington Times culture writer L.A. Holmes misquoted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) January 7 comment on civil rights, which Holmes claimed “seemed to diminish the accomplishments of Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement.” Holmes wrote: " 'Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done,' Mrs. Clinton said Jan. 7 in New Hampshire." But Clinton actually said: “Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done” [emphasis added].

After misquoting Clinton, the article, which was based on a telephone interview with conservative commentator Bruce Bartlett about his new book, Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2008), quoted Bartlett as saying that it's a “revealing comment ... exactly the sort of thing that, if a Republican said it, would be viewed as racist.” The article itself claimed that Clinton's presidential campaign had made “racial gaffes,” but the only specific remark cited in the article was Clinton's comment.

The article also claimed that the recent focus on “the issue of race in the Democratic Party” has made Bartlett “seem like a prophet of sorts,” and quoted Bartlett's assertion that "[a]t least on a historical level, the Democratic Party has always been the party of racism." But the article included no mention of the Republican Party's notorious Southern Strategy, which used race as a wedge issue to appeal primarily to southern white voters starting in the 1960s. As USA Today reported on July 14, 2005, then-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 2005, “saying Republicans had not done enough to court blacks in the past and had exploited racial strife to court white voters, particularly in the South.” According to the report, Mehlman's apology “marked the first time a top Republican Party leader has denounced” the Southern Strategy.

From Holmes' January 23 Washington Times article:

Racial gaffes by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the meteoric rise of Sen. Barack Obama and the pivotal role of the South Carolina primary on Saturday have intensified the issue of race in the Democratic Party, which makes Bruce Bartlett seem like a prophet of sorts.

In his new book, “Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past,” Mr. Bartlett chronicles the party's history from slavery to the civil rights era and beyond, providing a look at such figures as South Carolina's “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman and other racist Democrats.

“At least on a historical level, the Democratic Party has always been the party of racism,” Mr. Bartlett said in a telephone interview with The Washington Times.

[...]

He noted the uproar over a comment by Mrs. Clinton this month that seemed to diminish the accomplishments of Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement.

“Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done,” Mrs. Clinton said Jan. 7 in New Hampshire.

“It's a revealing comment,” Mr. Bartlett said, “exactly the sort of thing that, if a Republican said it, would be viewed as racist.”

Mr. Bartlett said such incidents give Republicans an opportunity to find common ground with black Americans and fight for their vote.

“Republicans have to make a major effort to reach out to the black community. They have a responsibility to, even if the payoff is low, because if you're going to be a national party you have to represent everybody in the country,” he said.

The rise of Mr. Obama as a challenger to Mrs. Clinton indicates the urgency for Republicans to establish their appeal to black voters.

“If [Republicans] start to talk now about the Democratic Party's racist past, then they'll help prepare themselves for dealing with the possibility of running against a black candidate and being able to frame some of their criticism of him, that they undoubtedly will have, in terms that will not be viewed as potentially racist,” he said. “It's going to be a difficult balancing act.”