Of course no one in power gave the Dixiecrats too much grief in the FDR years, particularly the war years. But the national Dems were generally worse than the GOP in accommodating the racists under our tent back in the 40s. I think calling Dewey defeatist was a bum rap--Tom Dewey was a committed internationalist and a supporter of the UN. Of course the GOPers had a few cheap shots of their own, like saying FDR was helping communism along (that sure as hell hasn't changed!).

The dream sequence was creepy and sounded very much like today's Republicans. They have always opposed helping ordinary working Americans from having a better standard of living--even though that's historically been the basis for American prosperity. They're a little bit better at marketing their anti-egalitarianism as "freedom" and the by-the-bootstraps malarkey, but it seems like their successes in the 80s and 90s have started making their rhetoric a little more naked lately.