Rethugs have totally flipped. They're officially INSANE.

[LynnTheDem]

Recasting Republicans as the Party of Civil Rights

"New push to "recast" their party as the party of civil rights."

A GOP-produced "2005 Republican Freedom Calendar," spotlighting key moments in the party's civil rights history, has been distributed to party officials nationwide.

"We started our party with the express intent of protecting the American people from the Democrats' pro-slavery policies that expressly made people inferior to the state," Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) wrote in a letter printed on the calendar.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-slavery29jan29,1,6647068.story

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

Just keep on telling The Big Lie. Rewriting American history now. Will rethugs embrace the ACLU and civil rights lawyers next???

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

[ProgressiveConn]

1. Not rewriting history. Just ignoring the Dixiecrat revolt.

At one time they WERE the party of civil rights. And at one time they were the party of small government too. Things change.

[illflem]

2. It's true

The Democrats were pro-slavery pre-Civil War, that's why the south remained largely demo until somewhat recently.

[davepc]

3. Its not a lie, its the truth.

The Republicans came about in the 1850's mainly due to abolitionists after the whigs self-imploded.

Hiram Revels, the 1st black man to serve in the United States Senate, was a Republican.

Republicans also pushed for suffrage before the Democratic party, and the 1st woman elected to congress, Jeannette Rankin, was a Republican. She was elected in 1917, from the state of Montana.

The parties "switched" ideologies around the mid to late 1920's and the great depression sealed the deal.

Teddy Roosevelt, one of the foremost progressive politicians in the United States left the Republican Party over progressive polices, he felt they didn't go far enough.

[LynnTheDem]

4. I'm talking about more recent rethug history. The past 8 decades

You show me anything in the past 8 decades were rethugs were civil rights advocates! They've been trying for years to destroy the ACLU, civil rights, rights lawyers, and still are today.

2 schoolteachers wearing "Civil Rights" t-shirts were arrested & dragged out of a bush campaign speech last year!

Patriot Acts, Part 1 and 2???!!

RETHUGS are the "party of CIVIL RIGHTS"?????!!

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

I don't think so!

[davepc]

9. You mean other then the Civil Rights act of 1964?

Now they shoved it down LBJ's throat to split the Democatic party, but the Democrats sure weren't chomping at the bit to push it through.

18 Democrats filbusterred to keep it from LBJ's desk.

Everett Dirksen was a major force behind getting the bill passed, he was the Senate miniority leader, and a Republican.

Vote totals:

The Original House Version: 290-130
The Senate Version: 73-27
The Senate Version, as voted on by the House: 289-126
By Party: The Original House Version:

Democratic Party: 153-96
Republican Party: 138-34
The Senate Version:

Democratic Party: 46-22
Republican Party: 27-6
The Senate Version, voted on by the House:

Democratic Party: 153-91
Republican Party: 136-35
By Party and Region:

The Original House Version:

Southern Democrats: 7-87
Southern Republicans: 0-10
Northern Democrats: 145-9
Northern Republicans: 138-24
The Senate Version:

Southern Democrats: 1-21
Southern Republicans: 0-1
Northern Democrats: 46-1
Northern Republicans: 27-5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964


so I guess thats one thing in the past 8 decades.

Then Barry Goldwater came out against it, and that was all she wrote.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. RETHUGS are the "party of CIVIL RIGHTS"?????!!

advocated civil rights to corporations than people...

http://www.pcdf.org/corprule/corporat.htm

"A searing indictment of an unjust international economic order."
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- Danny Glover

[ap0c]

5. Yeah, now thay tell us

The republipukes trying to cast themself's as the party of race relatives! Hah. It'll never happon! Blacks can see thru there actions from awhile away. My neighbor's black and hes voated for the Democrates all his live and I say good riddance! The GOP will never join the ACLU neither.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Welcome, have a seat... care for some popcorn? :)

[Hekate]

6. Beyond shame lies the Neocon Kingdom

Sure, Abe Lincoln was a Republican, but that was like a hundred and fifty years ago.

Dwight Eisenhower was a Republican, too: a brilliant general during WW II, sent troops down South to help implement Brown vs. Board of Education and integrate public schools, and before he left the Oval Office he coined the phrase "military-industrial complex" and warned us all to be on guard against it.

But ever since the Dick Nixon hatched the race-baiting Southern Strategy to bring Dixiecrats over to the Republicans, I don't think the party or its leaders have much to crow about unless you're talking Jim Crow.

The Neocons and the Bush Regime are beyond shame in this, as in everything else.

The imagination is staggered by their chutzpah, their hubris... :wow:

Hekate

[w4rma]

8. Everything is PR to those guys. (nt)

[Old Mouse]

11. The democrats have lost a lot of credibility.

They didn't stand at Ohio, and that will never be forgotten.

Although American blacks will never turn to the party of the Klan, there is a lot of lip service paid to race relations that do not match actions in the Democratic party. If there was a viable third party, the Democrats would lose the black vote overnight.

There is a lot of racial miscommunication right here on DU:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3030967&mesg_id=3030967

But the Republicans are so racist in their core base they will never understand why blacks love Clinton so much and hate Bush with twice the passion.

[ap0c]

13. Yes

I agree to that. I saw that some Republipukes are makin fun of Robert Bird cause he was in the KKK but I just wanna know "how many do you have ex-klan members in your party?

[okieinpain]

26. great post. hits all points.

[radwriter0555]

27. That allegation notwithstanding, the GOP is the New Americanazi Party.

We at least retain our integrity and ethics, no matter what lies the new GOP nazi gestapo spread about us.

[Azathoth]

12. History is written by the victors

and is often rewritten more than once.

Apparently the GOP is too impatient to wait long enough for the civil rights era to fade from memory before they attempt to start a revionist trend. There are far too many people alive today who still remember the civil rights era, and what the GOP and Dixiecrats stood for back then.

[LynnTheDem]

14. Didn't recently a pack of rightwingnut pundits call MLK a "terrorist"?

That'll sure show their "party of civil rights" bent.

[davepc]

15. The racist 'Republicans'

were exiled Dixiecrats who were unwilling to stay with the Democratic party and were actively and successfully courted by Nixon in 68 with his infamous "southern strategy".

The GOP was fighting the way for civil rights from its inception and did so right up into the 1960's.

So yes, the Republican Party actively courted votes from people who left the Democrats because their racism was the most dear thing to them, but on the whole, the Democratic party has a HEAVY cross to bear when it comes to Civil Rights while the Republican Party has in many instances led the fight from out front, at least up until Goldwater/Nixon.

Eisenhower's sending federal troops into the South to enforce Brown v. Board of Education is the singular event in the past 60 years that brought back a rebirth of the rebel flags, shades of a Republican sending troops down to the south to force the emancipation in the 1860's.

If you want to make a list of people who fought for civil rights in this country there would be a good fair number of Republican names on it, and almost no Democratic ones until you got to the mid 1960's.

Just because we're on the right side of the issue now docent excuse the past injustice done by people who proudly called themselves Democrats.

Hell the Klu Klux Klan was practically dead until Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat) came along and gave it his support AS PRESIDENT.

I don't mean to diminish the actions of Truman integrating the Army in 1950, or FDR's appointment of people like Hugo Black to the Supreme Court, but a fair survey of history shows what side the parties have historicaly come down on this issue.

[Azathoth]

18. You're playing devil's advocate

The modern GOP is no longer the party of Eisenhower, and for them to lay claim to the legacies of men like Lincoln and Eisenhower -- with whom they are similar in name only -- is both cynical and disingenuous. The conservative movement within the GOP has never been a strong proponent of civil rights, as epitomized by Goldwater's now-infamous vote against the civil rights act. By embracing the Goldwater conservative revolution and welcoming the massive absorbtion of Dixiecrats, the GOP effectively forfeited their claim to their party's previous civil rights accomplishments. As a result, many Republicans in the mold of Eisenhower now find themselves idealogically aligned with Democrats.

Understand, of course, that I'm not defending the Democrats' positions or actions prior to the 1960s.

[davepc]

22. My point is that its not so clear cut

And the Republicans do have legitimate claims to a civil rights legacy.

I feel that the Democratic party takes a large part of its black constituency for granted, and talks a good game, but comes woefully short on good substantive action. It's not enough to call them RepubliKKKans and claim a 40 odd year legacy, and scoff when Republicans evoke Lincoln.

The fact is Republicans are willing to elevate people of color to the highest levels of Government, and are working actively to make political inroads in constituencies they think will be receptive to their message.

What are the Democrats doing exactly to counter act that, other then calling the Republicans racists?

[Cooley Hurd]

19. But it was STILL a Democratic President who introduced...

...the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Just because some southern DINOs from the first half of the 20th century opposed it doesn't mean that we, as a party, opposed it.

Let's talk about the present positions of each party and how they relate to civil rights...

[davepc]

23. "Some" southern "DINOs"??

not ONE southern Democrat voted for it.

80% of Republicans in the house and senate voted for it.

It wasn't "Some DINOs" It was every southerner who called himself a Democrat.

Not one Republican was a part of the filibuster.

[xchrom]

16. to the victor goes the spoils

one thing repukes never do is go off the offensive.
important lesson to be learned.

[TomClash]

17. Republican Civil Rights

You have the right to:

1. Step and fetch it
2. Sit at the back of the bus
3. Vote if you pay
4. Enjoy the "free" market
5. Swim in the coloreds only pool
6. Defecate in the coloreds only toilet
7. Less health care
8. Less housing
9. Less life

[liberal N proud]

20. Anyone who has studied history should know the parties in 1865

were much different than they are today.
Yes it is true that a party with the name "Democrats" was pro slavery and yes it was true that the party from which Abe Lincoln was a member was called Republican, but that is the only similarity there is to the parties that exist today.

Everyone should look at his and say amen, they repukes are finally going to do something about Civil Rights, but I doubt that will really happen.

[izzie]

21. Well look how Bush ran. He used half of the Dem stuff the first run

It was what people wanted and he will say anything even when none is true. They just make a statement and make believe it is true. Works for them.

[Raised_In_The_Wild]

24. Yes, they are flipped out, and I try to do my part for them, and flip them

a byrd whenever possible.

[Cronus Protagonist]

25. Damn. Black people will be flocking to their side now

*hahahhahaa*