http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/06/nikki_haley_confederate_flag_speech_how_the_charleston_attacks_forced_the.html

Three days ago, Republicans were struggling to answer questions on the Confederate battle flag, which flies on the South Carolina state capitol grounds in Columbia. Even under ordinary circumstances, national Republicans have a hard time with the flag. To reject it is to rebuke the countless white Southerners who claim it as heritage, despite its historic meaning as a symbol of resistance to civil rights. But there’s no victory in embracing it either—it opens you to national criticism of taking part in the worst forms of insensitivity and pandering. And so, for decades, most Republicans muddled around the issue in a not-so-subtle nod to white Southern identity politics. (To his credit, Mitt Romney refused to pander on the flag in 2007 during his first run for the White House, while John McCain called his decision to pander on the flag during his 2000 presidential campaign one of his greatest regrets.)