White House claims Thomas Jefferson was a Republican.

[quaoar]

And Madison and Monroe and J.Q. Adams, too. Republicans all, according to Bush.

Atrios has a post about this:
http://atrios.blogspot.com/


http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html

Sharp political conflict developed, and two separate parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, began to form. Jefferson gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans, who sympathized with the revolutionary cause in France. Attacking Federalist policies, he opposed a strong centralized Government and championed the rights of states.

As a reluctant candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election. Through a flaw in the Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of President Adams. In 1800 the defect caused a more serious problem. Republican electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice President from their own party, cast a tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives settled the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged Jefferson's election.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. He was a democrat and started our own Democratic Party

Get over * and company.

:kick:

[DrGonzoLives]

6. Technically Jackson did

although it basically was the party that Jefferson shaped. Whatever, Jefferson would be one of us now.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. As usual, it's hard to tell whether somebody in the White House . . .

. . . just got his facts wrong or is lying.

[The Sheik]

3. Oh yeah, there is something real Republican about avoiding war...

at all costs and wanting a truely smaller gov't.

[nookiemonster]

4. OMFG!

* is truly delusional. This cinches it.

:wtf:

[LostInAnomie]

5. I guess if by Republican you mean...

... someone who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, and was opposed to an economy based on industry; then sure, why not.

[dbonds]

7. The history books say otherwise

http://www.edgate.com/elections/inactive/the_parties/ The party Jefferson was part of was what became the democratic, but he was considerred a republican by the terms at the time.

[ticapnews]

9. Oh come on!

Who are you going to believe? Your fearless leader or a silly history book?

(/sarcasm)

[quaoar]

8. Here's what the White House says about Madison

In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the first revenue legislation. Out of his leadership in opposition to Hamilton's financial proposals, which he felt would unduly bestow wealth and power upon northern financiers, came the development of the Republican, or Jeffersonian, Party.

[Senator Lamb]

11. He was a Democratic-Republican

so both parties can claim him. Though he supported states rights and limited government he was also a liberal on numerous issues.

[Arkana]

10. Not in the modern sense, TJ wasn't

First and foremost, Jefferson was a populist--he opposed a national bank, he believed the country's economy should be largely agricultural, etc.

[Worst Username Ever]

12. The white house has it correct.

There were two parties, the Federalists (Republican ideals) and the Republicans (democratic ideals).

Later, the Republicans became the Democratic-Republican Party. The Federalists became the National Republican Party.

Later, the Democratic Republican Party became the Democratic Party.

Federalists >>> National Republican Party

Republicans >>> Democratic-Republicans >>> Democratic Party

[nookiemonster]

16. Thanks!

I need to brush up my history. :headbang:

[Vickers]

13. So, the Bush-Rice connection begins to make more sense...

:eyes:

Yeah, when I think of Jefferson, I think of Bush.

[Dr Ron]

14. Why be surprised?

It's no surprise they claim Jefferson was a Republican. They've already been claiming Jesus is a Republican.

[liberalpragmatist]

15. Technically True

There were no real official parties, just informal voting blocks that were either followers of Hamilton or Jefferson. The Hamiltonians formed the Federalists. The Jeffersonians formed the Democratic-Republican Party. However, they were commonly called the Republicans b/c obviously "Democratic-Republican" is a bit of a long term.

Ironically, though the Federalists were the business elite they favored a big government perceiving it good for business. Jefferson and his Democratic-Republicans were populists but libertarian populists believing in small state government. The difference was at the time there were no large corporations (which Jefferson opposed) hence little need for regulation by a strong central authority.

When historians refer to Jefferson they do often refer to his party as "Republican" b/c the party was often called Republican. That Jeffersonian Republican Party came to be the dominant party during the Era of Good Feelings and became the only national party during that time. After Monroe's presidency, the party split into factions. Adams' faction broke off from the Democratic-Republican Party and formed the National Republican Party. Jackson led the rump Democratic-Republican Party and eventually dropped the name "Republican" so to distinguish them from Adams' National Republicans. During Jackson's tenure, the National Republicans merged with some smaller parties and anti-Jackson Democrats to form the Whig Party.

The slavery-era Republicans arose in 1856 after the collapse of the Whig Party over the slavery issue. Given they were the heirs to the Federalists and the Whigs they did favor a strong central government. There were many corporatists in the early slavery-era Republicans but the party had a populist edge in that it represented most northerners who wanted a strong central government to put in place national infrastructure and policies aimed at encouraging small-scale farming and agriculture. Small business, as opposed to the Democrats, who by this point were using the excuse of "states' rights" mainly to protect slaveowners' interest at the expense of labor. Although it is disputed whether Lincoln was pro-labor, most historians and biographers assert that for the political climate he was in, he was very pro-labor despite advocacy on the behalf of the railroads.

This new Republican Party probably took its name from the Jeffersonian party in an effort to link itself to history and to sell itself as the real party of the common man as opposed to the Democrats, who, truth be told, were really not interested in the common man at this point - more the slaveowner.

That's the full story.

[quaoar]

26. The official GOP history disagrees

http://www.gopconvention.com/contents/newsroom/general_info/gop_history/

The Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6th, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. The name "Republican" was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.

[WoodrowFan]

17. Most Historians

Most historians would say the modern Republicans came from the Whigs, who in turn came from the Federalists, the ones who OPPOSED Jefferson, Madison and Monroe (they get to keep JQ Adams). That's why for well over a century the Democratic party has celebrated Jefferson-Jackson Day dinners. it was NOT a Republican function.


f*****g clueless.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. I highly doubt from some letters of his

that he was a republican. Doesn't Bush know his history? My God.

[bozeman]

19. He was the opposite of a right wing Christian, that's for sure

He called the book of Revalations the 'ravings of a maniac'.

He was pretty hostile towards idea of organzied religion. He openly questioned the divinity of Jesus. A quick google search finds tons of interesting TJ quotes.

[Kinkistyle]

22. He wrote his own version of the Bible.

http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/

Basically cut out all the miracle and hokey junk and focused on the the ethical and moral teachings of Jesus.

[Kinkistyle]

20. T.Jefferson is doing Matrix flips in his grave

Jefferson is spinning so fast in grave he's gonna end up in China.

I imagine if Jefferson were alive today he'd be die-hard anti-Repug. Jefferson was incredibly secular, scientifically-minded and a civil libertarian.

[iwantmycountryback]

21. Technically he was a "Democratic-Republican"

And it's hard to fit his views from 200+ years ago into what party they would be today, but he sounds much more like a Democrat to me. He was certainly nothing close to a bible-thumper.

[Q]

23. Now if they would only accept his 'wall of separation between church and..

...state'.

[CindyDale]

24. He wrote the Virginia law on religious freedom

and had the Bill of Rights put in the Constitution. This was someone who would really sympathize with what we are going through right now, I believe.

Here is a page of his statements on religion:

http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm

The party was called Republican or Democratic-Republican, but it was "anti-elitist," according to Britannica. Its leaders had an elite background, however (which Jefferson played down, from what I remember hearing from my American history professor who was an expert on Jefferson):

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9063241

[Selteri]

25. wow, that's a convoluted sack of lies right there.

Guess it's easier to spout things that make it sound the way the government wants.

Flaws in the constitution? Great start there, it wasn't a flaw, that was how it was orriginally written!

[ClassWarrior]

27. What does the WH know about being a Republican?

They've done everything they could to flush what Nixon began to take down the toilet.

NGU.

[applegrove]

28. If they steal your heroes (totems) - they own you!

If they steal your heroes (totems) - they own you!:mad:

They keep using FDR & Kennedy in their 'grand' 'old' 'history’ of the new Republican Party. Like they have to have all the heroes. So that they can become the America Party.:scared: And kill not only the paleo-Repulicans (which they have already slayed) but the Democrats too (which they keep claiming to have slayed). :nuke: The USA can be a one party state and all the heroes belong to their party. Oh and all the minorities belong to their party (and like sociopaths everywhere - they cannot for the life of them understand what African Americans are doing with the democrats as witnessed by the words: "but what about Lincoln?" over and over and over again).

Lincoln, who was gay, will soon be forced to become a Democrat.

You see all the things that they like they get to keep. And historical figures who do not belong to them - that is no longer a hindrance (I guess what Richard Pearle meant by "Americans have to accept new 'norms'"). :grr:

Once this cycle is complete, America will soon take ownership of Napoleon (the French are too wishy-washy to really have any say in it anymore and lied about Napoleon’s love of wine (Napoleon liked beer)).

William Wallace, Braveheart as we all know, was an America whose father didn't want to fight the British so he took his son to Australia, but William escaped and went on to save the Patriot from British attack in the Appalachians.

It is amazing what you can do if you are not limited by 'reality' or 'decency' or 'history' or 'academia'. Amazing!!

Pretty soon they will have a political party that holds "all the important people of history on their side" and "all the unimportant or useless historical figures will be forced on to the opposition". They do the same thing with good and bad emotions - in case you have not noticed.

Because the sociopathic powers that be know that all they have to do to own you is to :nuke:

1) break your spirit by separating you from yourself (or the market, or human decency, or adulthood, or reality) so you have no soul or a soul that will follow Karl anywhere

2) steal all your totems :nuke:


Don't let them steal all your totems! :grr:

[Splinter Cell]

29. .....

Uh, I thought we all already knew Dubya was a fuckin' moron....

He couldn't even list all 42 presidents in order. Hell, he couldn't list them at all. He has no knowledge of or respect for the office which he holds.

[auburngrad82]

30. That's because the GOP has no historical leaders they can look up to

They had Lincoln but now that he's been outed as gay they don't want him any more.

[CindyDale]

31. Actually, it appears they stole the name of their party from us

Do these guys ever come up with anything good on their own?

[gottaB]

32. Perfect illustration of Bush Co's manipulation of partial truths

Their logic seems to be: 1/2 truth + 1/3 truth +1/4 truth = more than true--isn't it obvious!

This logic underlies nearly every intance of communication from Bush's White House. All the cabinet members, virtually the whole RNC, and the rightwing's "unofficial" spokespeople in the popular media: all of them follow this formula. Is it due to intellectual laziness? An absence of genuine criticism? I think the evidence for central coordination and "deception discipline" is compelling.

[Roland99]

33. Interesting since the Republican party...oh...DIDN'T EXIST!