How badly Haley Barbour hurt himself (and how he can come back)

Haley Barbour’s comments on race relations in his hometown during the 1960s — a relatively small part of a terrific Weekly Standard profile on him — have created a series of negative national headlines for the Mississippi governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate over the past 24 hours.

“Haley’s Comet: Could remarks on civil rights damage a campaign before it starts,” asked ABC News while The Atlantic went with: “Haley Barbour’s Macaca Moment?”. Perhaps the most damaging of the headlines came from the liberal Talking Points Memo blog, which blared: “Barbour Spokesman: Mississippi Gov. is not racist”.

Any time an aide is on record denying that you are a racist is a bad day in politics. And that goes double for a southern politician who is looking seriously at running for president.

Full story: The Fix – How badly Haley Barbour hurt himself (and how he can come back)