GOP the party of Lincoln? I don't think so.

[Cyrano]

I have an acquaintance who is in his 80s and has been voting Republican his entire life. He's not stupid, but he's politically clueless. He has no idea what it is he's been voting for.

Yesterday, I was ranting about Bush and he said, "George Bush represents the party of Lincoln and that's good enough for me."

I was certain that his statement gave me an opening. I explained to him that the south was 100% Democratic until the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson signed the civil rights and voting rights acts at which point, they began switching to the Republican party. "If Lincoln was alive today, he'd be a Democrat," I said, thinking I'd made my case.

He shook his head as though I was some poor fool who had been taken in by Democratic propaganda. "Ike was a Republican and he won World War II," he responded.

I was about to remind him of Franklin Roosevelt, but I realized I was fighting a lost cause. I remember him saying more than once in the past that "Roosevelt was a traitor to his class." To the best of my knowledge, that was an accusation used by the wealthy back in that era. (My acquaintance wasn't wealthy. He had mentioned that he grew up on a farm in the midwest.)

My earlier attempts to explain to him that Bush and the Republicans were trying to destroy his medicare, his drug benefits and his social security fell on deaf ears. It beats me why I keep trying.

[bryant69]

1. I don't know -

Sometimes you can find common ground and work from there - like my libertarian friend - while he generally still supports President Bush, I have got him to see the foolishness and mismanagement of the Bush Administration.

Sometimes though it's a lost cause.

It's hard to tell though, so assuming you have the stomach for it, it might best to assume that nobdy is a lost cause.

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

[GreenArrow]

2. of course, if Andrew Jackson were alive today

he'd be a Republican. FDR'd be a "fringe leftist".

[Atman]

3. Backwash

There will always be a few drops at the bottom of the glass.

[EST]

4. It's good practice and keeps your brain lubricated.

[Hoosier Dem]

5. Picture this...

A debate between the ghosts of Abraham Lincoln and Strom Thurmond on what the Republican Party should stand for. Cn you imagine it??

Ironic that Lincoln frred the slaves and the only thing Thurmond freed was his housekeeper from her virginity.

[Cyrano]

6. Welcome to DU, Hoosier. I don't think my acquaintence is a fan of

Strom Thurmond, but who knows. It may just be because Thurmond was a Democrat at one time.

[Journeyman]

7. Abraham Lincoln was a consumate politician. . .

who earned considerable wealth in his practice as an attorney representing some of the largest commercial enterprises of his day, the railroads and shipping interests that were so vital to the economic welfare of the West. Though its interesting to speculate which party Mr Lincoln might adhere to were he alive today, there's as strong a reasons to see him still a Republican today as there are to say he would be a Democrat. All such speculation is useless, however, for Mr Lincoln fulfilled his task in the too short years he was with us, and conditions today are so different -- and the interests of the respective parties so altered -- its impossible to say where a person such as he would align himself today.

[Mir]

8. Actually Lincoln

WAS a Democrat - his entire life. He only switched to the then new "Republican" party because he didn't get the Dem nomination (he kind of pulled of Lieberman, although we'll forgive him). He was clearly a liberal man and this can bee seen by simply going through his writings on a number of issues.

[Journeyman]

9. Tell your friend Mr Lincoln did not die a Republican. . .

In 1864, Mr Lincoln ran on, and was elected President, as the candidate for the National Union Party, an alliance between the Republican Party and Northern Democrats that was created during the 1864 Presidential Election to accommodate War Democrats who wished to separate themselves from the Copperheads, those Northern Democrats who sympathized with the South. This is the main reason why War Democrat Andrew Johnson was selected to be the Vice Presidential nominee. The Republicans also hoped that the new party would stress the national character of the war. The National Union ticket won in 1864.

With the National Union victory, Abraham Lincoln became the only president to represent two political parties. Upon Mr Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson became the only National Union President.

[Atman]

10. The party of Lincoln...playing chess with a beaver and a spaceman.

IOW...in your dreams, pubbies!

[KamaAina]

11. George Lincoln Rockwell, maybe

founder of the (original) American Nazi Party.

"Illinois Nazis... I hate Illinois Nazis!" -Jake and Elwood Blues