Can we please stop with the sterotypes? I've lived in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado and now Texas. I've spent a good deal of time in South Carolina as well. My family is from Georgia, all my dad's family is from Alabama. I've got lots of relatives in Mississippi. Etc... There is no more racist bull$hit in the South than there is anywhere else in the country. Things are not at all like they were 50 years ago, but people don't care. The people are nice and friendly; they aren't racist. Sure there are still plenty of racist people, but don't all live in the South.
You're just as likely to find a racist person in upstate New York or western Colorado or southern Arizona as you are in Georgia, Alabama, or South Carolina.
That being said, clearly the SC AG has his head up his a$s, but I'm guessing its one of those 'too late to turn back now without being humiliated' things.