CNN analyst says that Southern Racism made today's GOP...

[onehandle]

Jeff Greenfield was being interviewed by one of his fellow whores this morning. He was a college student covering the March on Washington and the King speech. He basically said that these events and Johnson's Civil Rights advancements drove racists (he called them segregationists) out of the Democratic Party and into the GOP.

Well, duh! Still it's good to hear the truth now and then.

If the GOP wants to claim the racists of the country, Fine.

We'll claim Lincoln.

[Octafish]

1. Made my day, onehandle!

Thank you for the heads-up. Even CNN has to cablecast the truth once in a while.

You're absolutely spot-on regarding Lincoln. The guy wouldn't be in today's GOP.

[ewagner]

2. I caught that segment too

Interesting that Soledad O'Brien had absoultely no clue of what had transpired. He didn't bring up the quote from LBJ that he knew that pushing the Civil Rights Agenda would lose the south for the Democratic Party for a generation, and, maybe two generations.

I was in Florida at that time and as a President of a Young Republicans Club we were active in the Civil rights movement because the Dems were against it. After Johnson's push, the realaignment was dramatic and swift. That's when I knew I wasn't a Repub.

[izzie]

9. Yes in the 60's I was a Rep and turned to the DEm party.

I lived in South and it was Dem until the civil rights stuff. The people who wished things to stay the same left the party and moved to the GOP. It does not help the GOP in the North as they are not like the group coming out of the South. That is way the Right wing nuts hate Jeffers,Snowe etc. Wrong type and Bush may have come from this group but he is staying with his base, the nuts.

[TacticalPeek]

13. The olden days, when honorable Republicans were not uncommon.

Without Javits, Keating, Aiken, Dirksen, etc.: no civil rights bill.

Interesting link I just googled across:

White Supremacy alive and well in today 's G.O.P.
http://liberalslikechrist.org/about/civilrights.html

[LoneStarLiberal]

3. Dixiecrats to Republicans

We can thank Nixon for courting the unreconstructed bigots down here away from the Democratic Party (where they had been since the days of Reconstruction) and into the Republican Party.

While I'm happy my party no longer carries the stigma of these people, this is also why the South has turned from yellow dog Democrat to solidly red Republican in many places.

[RobertSeattle]

4. And just to summarize

Most Southern Republicans aren't racists, but most Southern racists are Republican.

Nowadays, they are too smart to be out in the open about it - just very subtle.

[LoneStarLiberal]

6. Very Good Point

The unreconstructed Dixiecrats that now anchor the right side of the Republican Party are, for the most part, far too slick to get caught at a Klan cross burning.

They hide their odious beliefs behind assaults on public services, support for tax cuts, extreme policies in favor of school choice, and maintaining a pro-business environment in their states. Here is translation for these beliefs:

"Public services are bad": We embrace inequality as a natural fact of life that should not be disputed. It is merely the sad coincidence of reality that many minorities are hurt by this policy (they never mention the many poor Anglos these same policies screw).

"We need tax relief": If we starve the government of tax revenue we can make it easier to achieve the deconstruction of public services in the name of fiscal responsibility.

"Our children need school vouchers": Our children need to be able to get out of urban schools where they might have to interact with minorities and get into pasty white suburban schools. Minority children do not matter (see embrace of inequality above).

"We have a pro-business state": We not only will keep corporations from paying taxes in our state but we will give them rebates as well; we allow corporations to fuck their employees and prevent the employees from organizing to protect themselves; we will fight Federal minimum wage laws and pass as much state level tort reform as possible to keep corporations safe from the consequences of their treatment of their employees.

[TacticalPeek]

10. Unfortunately, racism is so abundant it slops itself on all parties.

True, the repugnants are worser.

[David__77]

5. Isn't this a well-known fact?

I'm glad it's being said in any event. GOP is the southern white party. Hopefully, southern labor can be activated to change that. We need the unions to ally with left groups and carry out organizing drives in the south. It's the only way we can forge a Black-white labor alliance in the south that can challenge the feudal-fascist barons of the GOP.

[onehandle]

7. Well known to us...

Not so much to the general public.

[varun]

8. now GOP is exploiting the gay "wedge"

to harness votes.


GOP has been on the wrong side for the last several decades. The sooner they realize this, the better.

:smoke:

[onehandle]

11. Exactly. The "threat" of Gay Marriage is their weapon this time...

Let's just hope Middle America care more about their jobs.

[TheRedMan]

12. Excellent book on the topic

"From Wallace to Gringrich: racial politics in the new south" by Dan Carter. Title might not be exactly right, but you can find it. Explores how Nixon leaned on Wallace to make his highly racially charged run for the Democratic Presidential nomination, then courted the anger wallace raised to the republican side. Very good book.

[LoneStarLiberal]

14. For A Specific State (TX.) Explanation

See the very well-written "Race and Class in Texas Politics." Excellent explanation of how the Southern Switch played out in Texas.