The Republican Party's Legacy Of Racism, page 1

Citing Trent Lott and Ronald Reagan as example, the author says that the republican party has historically behaved in a racist manner and that this is why a majority of black voters typically vote for democrats. He believes that these wounds must be healed before the republicans can make any significant inroads with black voters.

www.time.com
Here's some advice for Republicans eager to attract more African-American supporters: don't stop with Trent Lott. Blacks won't take their commitment to expanding the party seriously until they admit that the GOP's wrongheadedness about race goes way beyond Lott and infects their entire party. The sad truth is that many Republican leaders remain in a massive state of denial about the party's four-decade-long addiction to race-baiting. They won't make any headway with blacks by bashing Lott if they persist in giving Ronald Reagan a pass for his racial policies.

The same could be said, of course, about such Republican heroes as, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon or George Bush the elder, all of whom used coded racial messages to lure disaffected blue collar and Southern white voters away from the Democrats. Yet it's with Reagan, who set a standard for exploiting white anger and resentment rarely seen since George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, that the Republican's selective memory about its race-baiting habit really stands out.

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The republicans need to votes where ever they can, but is unlikely that they will make much of an attempt before the fall elections. To do so would risk alienating their christian right political base and with so much at stake this fall, it just ain't gonna happen. And who can blame them? A pinch of racism, a little gay bashing and some fire and brimstone is a strategy that has/is working quite well for them and they aren't going to stop until it doesn't work anymore.

Related News Links:
en.wikipedia.org
archives.cnn.com
www.blackcommentator.com

[edit on 3-7-2006 by df1]

[edit on 3-7-2006 by df1]

[edit on 5/7/2006 by Mirthful Me]

[edit on 5/7/2006 by Mirthful Me]