|
Ever since its inception in 1856, it has always been the Party of Big Money, made up originally of moneyed Whigs who had become so unpopular that they needed a name change to hide their identity. So they seized upon the growing popularity of the Abolitionist movement, found their man in Abraham Lincoln, got him to do what they wanted him to do (defeat the South), then bumped him off and made life miserable for his successor, Andrew Johnson, even going so far as to impeach Johnson when he dared to try to fire one of the most egregious of Lincoln's Cabinet members, Edwin Stanton. Once Johnson was out of the way, he was replaced by the most corrupt administration up to that time-- that of Republican U.S.Grant.
Once Grant had finished his two terms, the Republicans stole the next presidential election (1876) from the real winner, Samuel Tilden (in basically the same way they stole the 2000 election from Al Gore, and with Florida figuring prominently in the Republican shenanigans as well). When that Republican president, Rutherford B. Hayes, dared to show some autonomy, he was replaced with James Garfield. But Garfield showed some backbone, so he was bumped off and replaced by Chester Arthur, who had been expected to be little more than a Republican sock puppet. But when Arthur began to question his masters, he was dumped unceremoniously for James G. Blaine, in 1884. Blaine lost the election (even the Republicans couldn't steal that one), so the Republicans then got Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of "Old Tippecanoe" to run, and win, in 1888. And when I say "win", that means he got fewer popular votes than his Democratic opponent, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland came back to win outright in the next election, but in the election of 1896, the Republican, this time William McKinley, won and did the bidding for the Republicans. But he was assassinated and replaced by Theodore Roosevelt, who had been considered to be a loose cannon within the Republican Party. Although Roosevelt embraced the Republican doctrine of imperialism, he went after the trusts (robber barons) and made a lot of enemies in the process.
Although Roosevelt was elected in his own right in 1904, he decided to sit out the 1908 election, preferring instead to hand over the reins to his friend, William Howard Taft. But Taft was too easily manipulated by the moneyed elite, which irritated Roosevelt, so Roosevelt challenged Taft in the 1912 Republican primary. Even though Roosevelt might have actually won, the moneyed elites made sure that their man Taft got the nomination. Roosevelt became so annoyed that he decided to run as a 3rd party candidate, and was shot and almost killed during the campaign.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
