Leonard Pitts: Is the GOP a hate group?

Here's how The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group.It is, they say, “an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” That definition is offered preparatory to an explosive question:Is the Republican Party a hate group?Granted, in its "official statements or principle