Just because they are "conservative" doesn't not make them Democrats. You own them.
1. I don't think he claimed that they weren't Democrats - in fact he pretty clearly named them as Democrats.
2. Why does anyone "own" them? I don't understand. Are current Democrats responsible for the positions of their party a hundred years ago, or 50 years ago?
Of course, he wouldn't have inserted the word "conservative" in there unless he wanted to paint all of us southern conservatives as racist. Yea, I can see subtlety of his remark. I've seen many liberals on this board do it.
No, I don't think that's what he was doing at all. I think he was using the term "conservative" as it's defined in the dictionary, not as a pejorative.