From "Banana Republicans," an MSNBC essay by Democratic strategist Paul Begala, November 13, 2000. Mr. Begala refers to a map showing the disproportionate number of counties won by Gore (blue) and Bush (red) across the nation: 677 and 2,434, respectively.

If you look closely at that map you see a more complex picture. You see the state where James Byrd was lynched—dragged behind a pickup truck until his body came apart—it's red. You see the state where Matthew Shepard was crucified on a split-rail fence for the crime of being gay—it's red. You see the state where right-wing extremists blew up a federal office building and murdered scores of federal employees: red. The state where an Army private who was thought to be gay was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, and the state where neo-Nazi skinheads murdered two African Americans because of their skin color, and the state where Bob Jones University spews its anti-Catholic bigotry: they're all red too.

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