Who’s wrong on race?

[ProSense]

Who’s wrong on race?

Posted December 26th, 2007

In one of the more transparently ridiculous campaign ads of the 2006 cycle, the National Black Republican Association ran radio ads in Baltimore insisting that Democrats were responsible for Jim Crow laws, the KKK, and releasing vicious dogs and fire hoses on civil-rights activists. The ad told its African-American audience, “Republicans freed us from slavery and put our right to vote in the Constitution.”

The ad was almost comically inane, and was quickly rejected by voters. Regrettably, Bruce Bartlett, a conservative pundit and frequent Bush critic, has decided to devote an entire book to the same idea.

In a WSJ op-ed earlier this week, Bartlett pointed to “the 200-year record of prominent Democrats” who were “openly and explicitly for slavery before the Civil War, supported lynching and ‘Jim Crow’ laws after the war, and regularly defended segregation and white supremacy throughout most of the 20th century.” The piece included dozens of ugly quotes on race from “prominent Democrats,” drawn from Bartlett’s new book, “Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past.”

According to promotional materials, “Wrong on Race” will “set the record straight” on the Democrats’ “hidden past,” which includes being the “party of the Ku Klux Klan” and the “disenfranchisement of black voters.”

Ironically, Bartlett’s criticism of the Bush White House’s economic policies elevated his stature as a credible political commentator. The premise of his upcoming book seems intent on throwing that standing away with an argument that is both cheap and silly.

One need not have a doctorate in American history to know that the nation’s two major political parties have shifted significantly for the better part of nearly two centuries. The Democratic Party, in the first half of the 20th century, was home to two competing constituencies — southern whites with abhorrent views on race, and African Americans in the north, who sought to advance the cause of civil rights. The party struggled, ultimately siding with a progressive, inclusive agenda. Racists left the party, and joined the GOP.

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[BushOut06]

1. To be a black republican nowadays is to turn one's back on their own race

I will never understand the mentality of a black (or gay) republican. Regardless of what each party may have done in the past, we have to look at recent history (the past few decades) as a more accurate representation of today's political parties. The fact is, today's rethug party has done everything it can to hinder African-Americans in this country. After Hurricane Katrina exposed the rethugs for the racist party they are, I can't understand how ANY black person would still identify them as a member of that party. It's almost as if they're saying "I've made it, now fuck the rest of you".

[no name no slogan]

2. Nat'l Black Republican Association? Is that what they're both up to?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. some people will sell their dignity for tax rebates

gay republican and black republicans are great examples of such people

[blogslut]

4. I know the perfect companion book to Bartlett's

Anybody wanna guess? I'll give you a hint: Doughy Pantload

[Jim__]

5. Does Bartlett's book address the GOP "southern strategy"?

Does it address reagan opening his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi and talking about "states rights"? Does it talk about the Willie Horton ad?

If the book doesn't address these things, it's pure horseshit and I doubt that it will fool many people.

[bryant69]

8. I'm pretty sure it's pure horseshit - Republicans deny the existence of a

southern strategy.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[treestar]

6. Repukes will always use a shallow argument and bet that

people can't take time to investigate if more thoroughly and see it for the hogwash that it is.

What they say it true, except for it is not 1965 at this time. If it still was, they might have some sort of a point. The idea dismissed the past 42 years as if they didn't occur. Do the idiots realize they are thus dismissing their beloved Reagan?

[galileo3000]

7. I'm Sorry...

I'm sorry if anyone in my heritage supported such pernicious views. I'm not sure about the history, but I suspect it is accurate. We all have lots to apologize for, and from my meager viewpoint, it seems that so does everyone else. But if we just focus on that, we will be too busy apologizing (even if it just to the rightiously indignant). According to Randy Pausch, a good apology should include three things: 1) I'm sorry, 2) I was wrong, 3) How can I make things right (or as close as possible)? Everything else added, from shifting blame or focus, falls short. So if my friends, family, associates, neighbors, fellow denizens of my region, or any representative of any metric which you may associate with me has wronged you, I am sorry. And if I have contributed in any way (even by omission), I was wrong. And if you have suggestions about how I can make things right, I will listen and try my best to fulfill. In the meantime, I wish you peace, whomever you may be.

- Galileo