Seriously, why do right-wingers try to claim Martin Luther King Jr as one of them???

[LynneSin]

I mean I know he's got some grand niece or other distant relative that uses her relations to MLK Jr and happens to be conservative but outside of that I have no clue. Someone help me out here.

[H2O Man]

1. Because he has

been dead long enough that they think that they can fool people.

[MuseRider]

2. Didn't J Edgar Hoover

follow him all over because he was thought to be a communist?

They can't have a man of peace and non violent protest and be the way they are. Who in their right mind would ever believe this stuff? Who said this?

[begin_within]

3. They are also quick to point out that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican,

Even though he opposed slavery and would have been considered a "librul" today.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Because honest self-reflection would be horribly painful?

Much better to think of one's self as one of the good guys.

[Gman]

5. Because it irritates the left

If anyone even responds to them it worked.

see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x205379

The above link is the answer to any and all similar questions questioning the obvious contradictions of the right.

[Forkboy]

6. Insulation.

[Skittles]

7. easier than trying to claim, say, Steele, or Clarence Thomas

[laconicsax]

8. To deflect charges that they're racist assholes?

[JVS]

9. Only when not gossiping about his alleged infidelities

[Very_Boring_Name]

10. They claim george orwell as one of them too

[mwb970]

11. Because they are lying jerks whose brain-dead followers will believe anything?

Just a guess...

[ET Awful]

12. And while he was alive, they called him a communist. n/t

[SmileyRose]

13. They got him killed - I guess they think that means they own him.

But lately Republicans have been claiming a lot of dead people approve of them.