23 November 2006

Yankee Bayonet As I've mentioned many times to my friends at Lucianne.com, modern Republicanism has trully strayed far from traditional American values... in fact the flavor is quite "Rightest" in nature with strict regimentation of Republican politicians and the "11th Commandment" adhered to by so called "conservatives" for well over a decade. Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." This was the beginning of the Republican Party's drift toward poor citizenship, and poor government... but what do you expect from a political party that doesn't believe government has a function? I much prefer Teddy Roosevelt to the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" attitude of the modern Republican Party. Rule number one is the people we elect are employees of the American People, not our Rulers... modern Republicanism seems to have forgotten that, and many Republicans speak as if they would prefer a monarchy or dictatorship of some sort... and in fact, the administration they elected has sought at every opportunity to undermine the balance of power and center power in the Executive Branch. "The government is us; we are the government, you and I." -- Theodore Roosevelt From the WIKIPEDIA: In American politics, the Southern strategy refers to the focus of the Republican party on winning U.S. Presidential elections by securing the electoral votes of the U.S. Southern states. The phrase, Southern strategy, was coined by Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips. For the years 1948 - 1984, the southern states, traditionally a stronghold for the Democratic Party became key swing states, providing the popular vote margins in the Presidential elections 1960, 1968 and 1976. During this era, several Republican candidates expressed support for states' rights, which critics have argued was intended as a signal of opposition to federal civil rights legislation for blacks. This strategy was largely a success, and the South is now considered a Republican stronghold in national elections. Recently, the term has been used in a more general sense, in which cultural themes are used in an election — primarily but not exclusively in the American South. In the past, phrases such as "busing" or "law and order" or "states' rights" were used. Today, appeals largely focus on cultural issues such as gay marriage, abortion and religion. Yet, the use of the term, and its meaning and implication, are still hotly disputed. There are many people who challenge the opinion that the Southern Strategy was responsible for large GOP political gains in the South. There are several facts that appear to support this challenge, such as: Democrat Jimmy Carter's victory in every Southern state except for Virginia in the 1976 Presidential election, years after the emergence of the Southern Strategy. The first Southern state to give the GOP control of both its governorship and its legislature was Florida, and it did not do this until 1998 [2], long after the original architects of the Southern Strategy had left the GOP. However, it should be noted that the Southern Strategy was mainly targeted at electing presidential candidates, and that Democrats on state level were much more conservative than the likes of George McGovern, Michael Dukakis or John Kerry. (One of the originators of the Southern Strategy, Kevin Phillips, had even become openly supportive of Democratic political candidates by then.) Georgia did not see its first post-Reconstruction GOP governor until 2002. Until 2005, Louisiana had been represented since Reconstruction by two Democratic US Senators. Arkansas still has an unbroken line of Democratic US Senators. However, all of these Democratic senators are routinely accused of being Democrat in name only, generally conservative-to-moderate. It is highly disputed that the Southern Strategy existed as an agreed upon strategy within the GOP after the early 1970s, when Kevin Phillips and Richard Nixon left positions of influence within the GOP. Of course, some would argue that Carter's one-time victory in the South reflected more of a temporary reaction to the Watergate scandal than an end to this long-term strategy for realigning the South with the GOP. Overall, as of the early 21st century, the South has gone overwhelmingly Republican. Opponents of the GOP point to occasional faux pas, such as that made on Dec. 5, 2002 by Mississippi Republican Trent Lott as evidence that the attitudes which spawned the Strategy are alive and well. After heavy criticism, including some criticism by prominent Republicans, Lott apologized repeatedly and was forced out of his Senate Majority Leader position. Defenders of the Republican Party suggest that this indicates that his views are not widely held within the Republican Party. Lott remains the junior Senator from Mississippi as of 2006, and the national Republican Party has not endorsed a primary challenger for his seat, which will be up for election in 2006, and he has wide approval ratings high above 60%, despite these remarks. Critics of the GOP also point out that the politics of white southerners are fiercely Republican and conservative on a national level, and that the contrast in Mississippi during the 2004 presidential election served as a reminder, when 89% of white female Mississippi voters voted for George W. Bush and 90% of black Mississippi voters voted for John Kerry. The southern strategy was used during the 1988 election, during the Willie Horton controversy. It has been used as recently as the 2000 election. During this election, George W. Bush political strategist Karl Rove was alleged to have conducted a push poll, suggesting to conservative Republican South Carolina primary voters that primary opponent John McCain had fathered an "illegitimate black child." Following the 2004 re-election of President George W. Bush and the low number of African Americans voting for him and other Republicans, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Bush's campaign manager Ken Mehlman began an extensive tour to deliver speeches at meetings with African American business leaders, community and religious leaders, church meetings and some college students meets in states like Maryland and New Jersey. Mehlman apologized[4] for the Southern strategy, declaring that the Republican Party would never be complete or a majority party without receiving the support and confidence of the African American community. Mehlman is said to be building a comprehensive effort to open the minds of African American voters to voting Republican, and working to combat stereotypes about the Republican Party that developed in the Civil Rights era and owing to the Southern strategy. Many prominent Republican and conservative commentators have denounced Mehlman for his apology, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among them. In the 2006 race for Tennessee's Senate seat a controversial political advertisement paid for by the Republican National Committee featured a series of characters facetiously offering their support for black Democratic candidate Harold Ford, Jr. One character was a partially undressed white woman who claimed to have met Ford at a Playboy party. At the end of the ad, she requested that Ford call her. Critics accused the RNC of race baiting by playing on negative views of mixed-race relationships.    5:00:29 PM    comment [] trackback []

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