This billboard reminds us of how much the Republican Party has changed during the last 40 years.

[Towlie]

... if it's true, that is.

I see now that compelling evidence exists that it's not true, but even if it was, it wouldn't say anything good about today's Republican Party. Regardless of his actual affiliation when he was alive, Dr. King would obviously have nothing to do with today's G.O.P.

[yardwork]

1. Only their marketing has changed. Republicans are still the same little shits they always were.

[Skink]

2. Addbot doesn't discrimiate...

We are all
free to be assholes.

[NMDemDist2]

3. MLK Sr was a Republican, but there is no indication the MLK Jr was

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Billboards_Claim_Rev._King_Was_Republican_0705.html

[Alexander]

4. In fact, he became a Democrat after Kennedy bailed him out of jail.

[Skink]

7. Fascist pigs like Stalin no doubt.....

[Catch22Dem]

5. Don't believe it

King voted for Kennedy and 4 years later voted for Johnson. He came out against the repuke candidate (Goldwater)

[tekisui]

6. That ain't gonna dupe nobody.

[Greyhound]

16. I wish that were true, unfortunately there are at least 40,000,000 Amerikan voters,

and likely their friends and families, that are too stupid to recognize blatant bullshit when they encounter it and will believe absolutely anything, no matter how obviously wrong, that comes out of a television.

[stevedeshazer]

8. Found an interesting article about that assertion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801754.html

<snip>

Controversial Ad Links MLK, GOP

Assertion About Civil Rights Leader Angers Liberals -- and Conservatives

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A04

When a black conservative group ran a radio ad proclaiming that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, reaction was swift. "We've gotten some e-mails and telephone calls filled with vitriol," said Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association. "They've called me Aunt Jemima, a sellout, a traitor to my race."

In the battle for the black electorate, liberals, who make up the overwhelming majority of black voters, have long disagreed with conservatives over ideology, public policy and economic strategies to better the lives of African Americans. But when conservatives placed the civil rights movement in a Republican context, black liberals said, they crossed a line.

"To suggest that Martin could identify with a party that affirms preemptive, predatory war, and whose religious partners hint that God affirms war and favors the rich at the expense of the poor, is to revile Martin," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which the slain civil rights leader helped establish.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who marched with King in the 1960s, called the ads an "insult to the legacy and the memory of Martin Luther King Jr." and "an affront to all that he stood for."

more at link.

They've been doing this for some time now.

[angrycarpenter]

9. kind of off-topic, but..

I went on a trip to Ala. this weekend. There were numerous billboards for Wallace community college. Yes that Wallace.

They showed a handsome young man with his arm over the logo for the school, Which happens to be a single, large capital W. Is this a political statement by a public institution? Probably not but I would believe anything in Alabama.

[alfredo]

21. After Wallace got shot, he befriended a black man. This friendship

changed him. He renounced his racist past.


I was raised with his nephews.

[Ian David]

10. Not to mention how much Rev. Dr. King has changed since he's been dead. n/t

[Gman]

11. This website started in April this year

From Whois:

IP Address: 75.119.144.111 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-FLORIDA-BOCA RATON
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: IIS 5
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Web Site Title: National Black Republican Association - National Black Republican Association NBRA
Meta Description: NBRA, National Black Republican Association, Frances Rice, www.NBRA.info,
Meta Keywords: NBRA, National Black Republican Association, Frances Rice, www.NBRA.info, www.nationalblackrepublicans.com
Secure: No
E-commerce: No
Traffic Ranking: Not available
Data as of: 22-Apr-2008

The domain name is registered by Forte Interactive, Inc., a web design company.

Apparently this is run by one Frances Rice, a retired female Army Lt. Colonel. After a little googling, it seems like a one person show.

[guruoo]

12. To those who may believe MLK was a Republican, I have but one question...

Why did he go to Memphis?

[angrycarpenter]

13. Fixed

[hlthe2b]

14. Geebus... At the risk of offending the OP....

(which is not my desire).... But, how in hell, could you actually believe the claim made on this billboard? How? I am sorry, but I just can NOT believe anyone would swallow this for even a moment, especially a DUer.....:shrug:


Ok, that's out of my system.... And clearly those who came up with this bizarre claim and billboard campaign obviously thought that some would be taken in. Geebus....

[Towlie]

15. How about Abraham Lincoln?

I feel so silly that I guess I'd better check on this rumor too. I've also heard that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Any truth to that?

[hlthe2b]

23. The question is whether MLK was a repub... there is NO evidence

in favor, but considerable to the opposition of that notion. As to Lincoln, sure. That is not the question. Geebus, play devil's advocate if you want, but that doesn't let you change the entire question....:shrug:

[dsc]

18. actually King might well have been a Republican if Nixon

had sided with him instead of Kennedy. As pointed out, the elder King was a Republican as were many African Americans in the era before Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which had broad GOP support and only regional (northern) Democratic support.

[hlthe2b]

22. the question is not what might have made MLK BECOME a repub

but whether or not he was. There is no evidence in favor, yet considerable to the contrary, given his published statements, Lowery's confirmation that MLK voted for Kennedy, etc., etc.

[dsc]

24. He may well have voted for Ike in 56

given the fact Stevenson was squishy (to be kind) on Civil Rights.

[AspenRose]

17. How could he have been republican when so many republicans accuse MLK of

having been a communist?!

Can't have it both ways, folks....:crazy:

[Greyhound]

19. Since you're here, I'd like to think that you are not hopelessly stupid,

so I will assume that you are genuinely, through an appalling lack of education, concerned that this might be true. Rest easy, like everything that pestilence spews, it is a lie.

Like any other venereal disease, there is no need to spread it around.

[Hoof Hearted]

20. Imagine for a moment we were all this fucking rude to newcomers and to each other

Growth, kindness, community - that shit is so done to death, right?

[Greyhound]

25. Don't know which, or how many, boards you've been on, but the fact that I even gave him

the possibility that posting this dreck was not just trolling is kind.