There's one party that defends racial profiling. There's one party that's driven crazy by the fact that the current POTUS is a black man. There's one party that defends spying on Arab-Americans and insists that their religion and ethnicity makes them a threat to national security. There's one party that tries to prevent non-white people from voting. there's one party that tries to bar Hispanics from obtaining US citizenship. There's one party that actively tries to prevent immigration or a future for immigrants beyond industrial or agricultural wage slavery. There's one party that tried to shut down all air traffic to and from Africa because dirty black people carry diseases. There's one party that routinely tries to shut down government programs for the explicit reason that a large number of minority families rely on them. That party is the party of David Duke. The shoe fits. Why can't they just wear it?
You say "conservatives" in your subject but I don't know that conservatives are the problem. Its the radical, anti-American RWs who the racists. OTOH, there aren't many true Conservatives left. Or maybe the nutters just drown them out.
But yes, the GOP has become the de facto face of racism.
Brother Luddly, today's self proclaimed "conservatives" ARE the radical, anti-American RWs who are the racists.
The OP is spot on, it only applies to those that are CURRENTLY calling themselves "conservative."
If they want to reclaim a good name for the title "conservative" then they have to do their utmost to publicly denounce such behavior. The fact of the matter is, they haven't. They sit silent, meaning they agree. So the shoe fits and it fits them perfectly.