Jesse Helms used to be a Democrat

[ck4829]

In their spree to paint Democrats as racists, why do RW'ers ALWAYS forget that GOP Hero/Racist/Clinton Death Threat Maker Jesse Helms was also a Democrat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat#Subsequent_elections

Nobody in today's Democratic Party associates with the likes of Helms, so why don't they just give it up?

[KingFlorez]

1. And look what he ended up being

They try to pull this number all the time and ignore that all the racists switched to GOP a long time ago.

[zbdent]

2. And didn't Bush's grandpappy fund the Nazis?

Gee, if they want to throw stones, they shouldn't be living in glass houses ...

[Totally Committed]

3. Strom Thurman was also a Democrat at one time...

Zell Miller is still (nominally, at least) a Democrat.

They used to call 'em "Dixiecrats"... most are Republicans now, but as with Zell, some are still in our Party.

That having been said, I'm pretty sure the KKK is non-partisan. The only thing you need to join is a missing brain and a shriveled soul.

TC

[yellowcanine]

10. only thing you need to join (KKK) is a missing brain and a shriveled soul.

* is qualified then, no? He is used to having the bar set low.

[bowens43]

4. Sevral openly racist Democrats were

welcomed into the Republican party with open arms.

[demnan]

5. And they left the Democratic Party

Roosevelt was not a racist and really pissed them off.

[Lex]

6. The racist Democrats left the party to be Repukes precisely because

they were racists, and the Republican Party became the party of choice for racists.

[ngant17]

7. this originates from the Civil War days

and lasted more than a century, into the civil rights movement in the 1960's. The most reactionary class of politicians were by and large Democrats in those days. The more forward-thinking group, you could count them in the Republican camp.

It was just a historical twist of fate that Abe Lincoln was a Republican. He was assassinated for being too far advanced in his day, just like Kennedy was killed for much the same reasons.

[laylah]

8. Self-delete

[yellowcanine]

9. The word is Dixiecrat. Almost all southern Republicans were Dixiecrats.

At least any southern Republican born before about 1960. They moved over to the Republican Party as the Democrats began to push civil rights legislation. The movement began soon after Strom Thurmond and the Dixicrats bolted from the Democratic Party in 1948. Barry Goldwater's emphasis on state's rights secured enough Dixiecrat support in 1964 to allow him to carry five states from the Deep South, the only states he carried other than his own. Incidentially 1964 was also the year that Strom Thurmond switched to the Republican Party. Jesse Helms waited until 1970 to make the switch. What happened in the 1960s that caused this party switching? Well there was the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That is probably as far as one needs to look. Richard Nixon cemented the deal with his "Southern Strategy" designed specifically to appeal to "State's Rights" and "Law and Order" Southern Democrats in 1968. The independent candidacy of George Wallace almost foiled his strategy but not quite. The grand realignment of Dixiecrats into the Republican Party suffered a brief setback in 1976 with the Watergate inspired election of Jimmy Carter but that all changed in 1980 with Ronald Reagan's election. Reagan was an even more skilled practicioner of the Southern Strategy than Nixon with his thinly disguised racial appeals such as the "Cadillac Driving Welfare Queen" anecdote and states' rights speech opening his presidential campaign in of all places, Philadelphia Mississippi, supposedly at the suggestion of Trent Lott, a Dixiecrat Republican. Philadelphia ("brotherly love" in Greek) MS was the site of the murder of three young civil rights workers in 1964. Reagan supporters claimed that he was referring to the right of Western states to manage their own land use affairs given the large amount of federally owned land in the West (a somewhat dubious proposition in its own right, since federally owned means owned by everyone in the United States - not just the citizens of said Western states). And no doubt that was a major theme of Reagan - one has to look no further than the appointment of one James Watt as Interior Secretary - who thought it was ok to pave over national parks reasoning that we should make it possible for people to enjoy them now since they would be gone after "The Apocalypse" (AKA "The Rapture") anyway. However, one has to wonder than why Reagan did not choose to make his states' right speech in Bozeman, Montana or Casper, Wyoming? At best, Reagan was hoping for a "twofer" - talk about state's rights and appeal to the sagebrush rebellion crowd and the Dixiecrats - at worst, it was just a raw racially based appeal. The choice of Philadelphia, MS. suggests the latter. And "states' rights" has been a stalking horse for racial politics since the great slavery debates led by John Calhoun. Reagan had to have advisors who knew the significance of that location and the sordid history of states' rights even if he didn't.