The Democrats’ own website, to this day, attempts to take fraudulently credit for the civil rights movement and legislation, and when called on it, the recitation is the same: “we’ve grown” and “don’t forget about the Dixiecrats”.

Defensive liberals claim the Dixiecrats, as a whole, defected from the Democrat Party when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (no thanks to Democrats), and became Republicans which they claimed were more accepting of segregationist policies.

Well, I decided to get some opinions on the matter from some historians.

I contacted Professor Larry Schweikart of the University of Dayton for advice. Larry and I worked on a documentary based on a chapter on Ronald Reagan from his best-selling book, A Patriot’s History of the United States.

The idea that “the Dixiecrats joined the Republicans” is not quite true, as you note. But because of Strom Thurmond it is accepted as a fact. What happened is that the **next** generation (post 1965) of white southern politicians — Newt, Trent Lott, Ashcroft, Cochran, Alexander, etc — joined the GOP.

So it was really a passing of the torch as the old segregationists retired and were replaced by new young GOP guys. One particularly galling aspect to generalizations about “segregationists became GOP” is that the new GOP South was INTEGRATED for crying out loud, they accepted the Civil Rights revolution. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter led a group of what would become “New” Democrats like Clinton and Al Gore.

Larry also suggested I contact Mike Allen, Professor of History at the University of Washington, Tacoma (who also appeared in the Reagan documentary) for input.

There weren’t many Republicans in the South prior to 1964, but that doesn’t mean the birth of the souther GOP was tied to “white racism.” That said, I am sure there were and are white racist southern GOP. No one would deny that. But it was the southern Democrats who were the party of slavery and, later, segregation. It was George Wallace, not John Tower, who stood in the southern schoolhouse door to block desegregation! The vast majority of Congressional GOP voted FOR the Civil Rights of 1964-65. The vast majority of those opposed to those acts were southern Democratss. Southern Democratss led to infamous filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The confusion arises from GOP Barry Goldwater’s vote against the ‘64 act. He had voted in favor or all earlier bills and had led the integration of the Arizonal Air National Guard, but he didn’t like the “private property” aspects of the ‘64 law. In other words, Goldwater believed people’s private businesses and private clubs were subject only to market forces, not government mandates (“We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”) His vote against the Civil Rights Act was because of that one provision was, to my mind, a principled mistake.

This stance is what won Goldwater the South in 1964, and no doubt many racists voted for Goldwater in the mistaken belief that he opposed Negro Civil Rights. But Goldwater was not a racist; he was a libertarian who favored both civil rights and property rights.

Switch to 1968.

Richard Nixon was also a proponent of Civil Rights; he was a CA colleague Earl Warren who urged Ike to appoint Warren to the Supreme Court; he was a supporter of  Brown v. Board, and favored sending troops to integrate Little Rock High). Nixon saw he could develop a “Southern strategy” based on Goldwater’s inroads. He did, but Independent Democrat George Wallace carried most of the deep south in 68. By 1972, however, Wallace was shot and paralyzed, and Nixon began to tilt the south to the GOP. The old guard Democrats began to fade away while a new generation of Southern politicians became Republicans. True, Strom Thurmond switched to GOP, but most of the old timers (Fulbright, Gore, Wallace, Byrd etc etc) retired as Dems.

Why did a new generation white Southerners join the GOP.? Not because they thought Republicans were racists who would return the South to segregation, but because the GOP was a “local government, small government” party in the old Jeffersonian tradition. Southerners wanted less government and the GOP was their natural home.

Jimmy Carter, a Civil Rights Democrat, briefly returned some states to the Democrat fold, but in 1980, Goldwater’s heir, Ronald Reagan, sealed this deal for the GOP. The new ”Solid South” was solid GOP.

BUT, and we must stress this, the new southern Republicans were *integrationist* Republicans who accepted the Civil Rights revolution and full integration while retaining their love of Jeffersonian limited government principles.

I’m sure the more learned Democrats will have issues with these explanations.

Oh well.

Buying Votes With Water
In Health Vote, Democrats Weigh Success vs. Survival
Democrat Says Health Care Reform Made His Life a ‘Living Hell’
Democrats Say Health Bill Will Pay for Itself in the Long Run
FACT CHECK: Obama plan only slows premiums rise
CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion
Hispanic Dems will vote yes on healthcare
Coburn: GOP on High Alert for Sweetheart Deals in Health Bill
Bet’cha they won’t be hard to find with this arrogant bunch

R.I.P.

Fess Parker
1924-2010

ABC News paid $200,000 to Florida mother accused of killing toddler
I thought the professional media with editors and filters never resort to checkbook journalism?
Romney, Huckabee Beat Obama Among Independents
(shudder…)
GOP Insiders: Steele Is A Liability
Who told you this last year, fool?
Scott Brown effect: Could Senator Barbara Boxer lose California?
Boxer’s loss is California’s gain
Polanski is petitioning for freedom
Think about the little girl he raped and sodomized, begging for her freedom. Her request was denied
DWP board imposes first of four electricity rate hikes
Enjoy that push for “renewable” energy, Los Angeles
Cuomo Probes Pension ‘Spiking’
What would happen to workers who tried that at a private company with private dollars…?
Gas Prices Hit Highest Level Since 2008
If memory serves, Bush got hammered when gas prices when up. You think the media may be a tad distracted?
Carter derides Obama’s Middle East policy
That’s cold to be chewed out about foreign policy by Jimmy Carter
Porn star releases ‘Tiger Woods texts’
What do you say when a porn star screams “Look at ME, look at ME!
Senators draft plan to rework U.S. immigration policy
While falling off the cliff, a last few middle fingers won’t hurt
Virginia executes inmate by electrocution
Don’t come back now, hear!
Obama, Clinton fundraiser admits $292 million fraud
Hmmm… didn’t catch this fraud, waste and abuse in a timely manner, Mr. President
Retired General: Gays Weakened Dutch Army
Gay Dutch soldiers responsible for Srebrenica massacre says US general
Get ready for a screech
Feds: brakes weren’t applied on crashed NY Prius
It’s truly sad when copycats go viral
MSNBC’s Shuster Claims Fox More Conservative Than MSNBC Liberal
Whatever
Census 2010 Plagued By Technical Difficulties
Kinda sucks when you can’t count the count

BTW — Cory and I will be shooting stills and video during the noon rally at The Capitol, Saturday. Ya gotta love local news stories.

How about a perspective from the ground….

“I was afraid of what we had already been getting in Massachusetts, and at that point in 2008, I was aware that it wasn’t working,” he said. Separately yesterday, Cahill accused Obama of “propping up” the Bay State’s health plan with federal aid in order to help push the Democrats’ plan through Congress.

“The real problem is that this… sucking sound of money has been going into this health-care reform. And I would argue that it’s being propped up so that the federal government and the Obama administration can drive it through.”
— Tim Cahill, Massachusetts State Treasurer

So, whenever you hear a Democrat say how well things are going in Massachusetts with their mandatory health care system, don’t take the word of a clueless politician. The Commonwealth would be bankrupt if not for our federal tax dollars keeping the Bay State above water.

Listen to the person who keeps the books.

Over the past year, the media have served as cheerleaders for ObamaCare, praising the proposed legislation, while continuing slamming its critics. Here is just a sampling of some of the slanted coverage from the past 12 months.

Written by NewsBusters’ Kyle Drennen, edited by Bob

Wal-Mart Paging Victims: “It Was Disgusting”
If a store asks all black people to leave, I do and don’t come back. Done. Next…?

Puzzling Statement: Obama Says ‘Louisiana Purchase’ Will Help With the Earthquake in Hawaii
Biden and booze don’t mix

Senator Smiley: Al Franken pulls no punches, but adds a few punch lines
An asshole with power is nothing to laugh at
Israel’s New Enemy: America?
“Obama’s Recklessness is Endangering Israeli and Palestinian Lives”
As he sympathizes with Muslims, do you think he really cares about Israel?
Will The Media Run With “John Edwards Is The New Tiger Woods” Story?
Edwards may make Bill Clinton look like a second-stringer
Medicare Fraud Costs Taxpayers More Than $60 Billion Each Year
That’s okay. ObamaCare will end that
Deal nearing on Senate climate bill: lawmaker
More to punish in November and beyond
Texan accused of disabling 100 cars over Internet
I guess we now see why this guy was fired from a dealership
A Memorial to the Victims of Communism
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
‘Jihad Jane’ due in federal court in Philadelphia
Stupid woman
Trial opens in Portland, with Boy Scouts accused of hiding pedophiles
Now, don’t-ask-don’t-tell is bad
£1,000 fine for using wrong bin: Families face new crackdown over household waste
Environmentalists sharing misery everywhere you find them
Man Accused of Urinating on Women in Jersey City
He just whips it out and pisses on strange women at bus stops, and he’s still alive? Hint: a man is most vulnerable when he’s ‘exposed’
Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow
We’re being fucked and don’t expect the kiss
States give inmates access to personal data of others
Criminals having access to Social Security numbers. That somehow reeks of ACLU
Illinois GOP borrows Brown’s strategy in bid to grab Obama seat
Hopefully Kirk will be more loyal to those who’ll elect him than Scott Brown
Man held on suspicion of poisoning soup at public school
I dislike most kids and none are worth a jail term
Madoff Beaten in Prison
But no one can or will confirm this. It’s too late for the sympathy card, Bernie
‘Don’t count on Jewish Obama voters’
I’d trade real Jews for wannabes anyday. That’s right, I said it
Malibu library to close for $5.7-million ‘green’ makeover
The worst suckas are those with access to taxpayer money
Obama to campaign for Sen. Barbara Boxer in April
When was the last time a person he campaigned for won…?
Jerry Brown urges unions to go on the offensive
Moonbeam shows what kind of a wimp he really is
Fox closer to landing Conan O’Brien in late night
Couldn’t they find someone who was funny?
Meeks de-files his pledge to reveal all
If you’re a Democrat, you get reelected lying to the people to hide fraud
Intruder gets cold, crawls into bed with homeowner
This is just wrong
Kucinich Flips on Health Care Bill
Mary Landrieu got $300 million for her vote. Obama had Dennis at ‘Come fly with me’
Planned Switch to G.O.P. Stirs Governor’s Race
Opportunism, self-preservation, or good politics?
Mississippi ends segregation of HIV inmates
It’ll now be safer to drop-the-soap
Obama’s plans to travel overseas as health vote nears draw criticism
Like he cares…
$5m Lottery win — day after divorce
Timing is everything

Arrogant approach to health care
House Democrats’ tactic for health-care bill is debated
Premiums would rise under Obama
The Associated Press just cracked the case

Hoyer: Americans don’t care about process of health care legislation
Republicans blast House Democrats’ idea to use ’self-executing rule’ to pass health-care bill
‘Slaughter Solution’ could face legal challenge
Ya think…?
Obama Not Meeting Americans’ Lofty Expectations on Issues
Lumping us all in with the suckas
Sony chairman Michael Lynton calls for healthy alternative to popcorn in cinemas
“… granola bars, fruit salad, yogurt and vegetable crudités with dips”…? Lynton is flirting with bonehead status
Barack Obama threatens to withdraw support from wavering Democrats
And that’s supposed to be a bad thing
Tim Cahill slams Barack Obama, Dems on health care
Obama’s infusing Massachusetts Care with cash to keep the state from going broke, just so he can say how wonderful forced health care is
House Dems want trip delayed again
Misery loves company

How AP Helped Cover for a Female “Captain Bligh”
Remember what feminists said about men and the size of their toys. Well, what’s long and hard and full of seamen…?
Hawaii considering law to ignore Obama ‘birthers’
Ban Truther conventions as well, you know, to be fair
Poll: Worries about environment hit low
The Warmers Strike Back
As Climate Change debate wages on, scientists turn to Hollywood for help
Smoke and mirrors… by professionals
Ga. magician pleads guilty to child porn charges
Couldn’t make those charges disappear
Obama team takes heat over high unemployment
After Massachusetts and the voters sending a message: “jobs”, what happened to his focused laser beam?
Jim DeMint on mission to install “rock-solid” conservatives in Senate
RINOs are on notice
W. Bank street named after Corrie
Both academia liberals and now the Palestinians used that little girl
Obama’s New Partner: Al Sharpton
Like my father said, You gotta kiss ass before you can kick it.”
Holder Still Supports Criminal Trials for Alleged 9/11 Plotters
What about “no” don’t these people understand?
Kucinich’s Wednesday announcement could be defining moment for health reform
Yes, and did he come cheap?
Buy Hummer, get free shotgun
A car with an anti-carjacking device
Iran ‘falls behind’ in bid to build nuclear bomb
So much for that “punch in the mouth”, Mahmoud
French boss kidnaps herself to keep her job
It probably made sense during the planning phase
FCC Sends National Broadband Plan to Congress
These people are screwing with everything
Obama’s health-care reform speech in Ohio convinces a few skeptics
3000% of them
U.S. Chamber of Commerce sets sights on Democrats ahead of midterm elections
Pissing in the river upstream of where people bathe started wars
New Jersey Governor Proposes Deep Spending Cuts
Adults are back in charge
Napolitano halts funding for ‘virtual fence’
No shock here
FBI: No evidence Mexico hit men targeted Americans
No, they always shoot indiscriminate  pregnant women and businessman types
Congressional Phone Lines Maxing Out on Capitol Hill
The Limbaugh Effect

Borders bookstore forced to defend sale of ‘control a woman’ remote
Like these people don’t know the rules. If it were “Control a Man”, THAT would have been considered funny

Is it all that simple, or does the president not know what he’s talking about…?

Tiger Woods’ sex scandal is now getting the “South Park” treatment. The popular animated series on Comedy Central opens its 14th season Wednesday at 10 p.m. with an episode starring an animated version of Woods.

The setup for the episode is that scientific testing revealed some of the boys on “South Park” have a sex addiction problem.

Just when Elle was starting to get over this whole thing….

Gore Attaches Global Warming as Cause to Last Weekend’s Storm in Northeast
If there’s a drought – it’s global warming. When there’s a hurricane – it’s global warming. If there are heavy snows or even blizzards – it’s somehow global warming. And amazingly, the latest round of rainy and windy weather in the Northeast, well that’s consistent with this phenomenon as well, so says former Vice President Al Gore.

Gore, the self-anointed climate change alarmist-in-chief, told supporters on a March 15 conference call that severe weather in certain regions of the country could be attributed to carbon in the atmosphere – including the recent rash of rainy weather.

At some point, Gore should be reminded that the Fifth Amendment is there for a reason.

I don’t know about you, but I think this year I’ll turn everything on, leave for an hour and drive around aimlessly (burning up some good ol’ fossil fuel), while those environmental hypocrites turn off the lights and try to carry on their activities appropriately in the dark.

Obama calls for courage
NBC’s Williams Trumpets New ‘Catch Phrase’ from Obama: ‘We Need Courage!’
But the right are the ones receiving and reciting talking points…
Report: Amanpour offered ‘This Week’ job
And who cares…?
Huge Student Loan Overhaul Set To Be Tacked Onto Health Care Reform
Student lenders protest nationalization’ effort
Wouldn’t that kill jobs, Mr. President?
Specter Opens Door on White House Felonies
Make mental notes as nothing is going to happen here until November… maybe
Meeks passes the bucks on scandal
Do you ever really trust someone who doesn’t know where money went?
Outrageous outrage: Washington anger at Israeli gaffe was way over the top
Sorry, but this administration seems always pissed off at someone while blowing off how many people are pissed off at them
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations, Blackboard Jungle Edition
Blacks are always they victims (look the other way when THEY terrorize others)
Firm Tied to Murtha Earmarks Goes Dark
No one’s around to funnel them money
How going green may make you mean
Too late…
Jim Inhofe slams Al Gore on climate ‘hoax’
Cowards make easy piñatas
Obama to Israel: ‘Drop Dead’
Israel doesn’t need to grovel for U.S. forgiveness
Rove: Obama Not Doing ‘Homework in Advance’ on Foreign Trips
So, that miscommunication between Netanyahu and Biden may just be more administration incompetence
New HIV infections increasing among homosexuals
We feel their pain. A lot of butt-fuckin’ goin’ on since hope and change kicked in and we’re all getting sick
The Coffee Party Con
The Tea Party got hammered by the media and the Coffee Party is praised for doing squat. Typical
Hugo Chavez Orders Venezuelan Army to Change Country’s Light Bulbs
I’m sure Sean Penn would comply
Obama nominee’s sympathy for sexual sadists
Should we be surprised?
E-mails suggested Fort Hood suspect subpar for Army
More evidence of political correctness protecting Hasan
Taiwan launches million-dollar-baby slogan search
Keep ‘em clean, people
Students avoiding Mexico for spring break
When gangs kill American women, now it all becomes real
AP Source: Jackson in $200M-plus recording deal
There was a reason Michael didn’t release some of those songs, not that will stop the family leaches

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

Obama Administration Files Brief Supporting Racial Preferences in University Admissions
On Friday, the Obama administration filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, supporting the use of racial preferences by the University of Texas in its undergraduate admissions. The brief is a full-throated endorsement of such discrimination, and it goes out of its way to say that the administration will support it at the K-12 level, too, as well as throughout university admissions.

So, minorities who don’t do well in school are off the hook. Teachers who don’t teach are off the hook. Politicians who won’t let kids opt out of failing schools are off the hook. Unions who won’t let teachers and administrators be held accountable are off the hook. Parents who don’t motivate their children are off the hook, and all this in post-racial America.

BTW — The Obama Administration is buying off our kids.

City employees with a strong aroma of perfume, cologne or any scented products will soon be in for a warning.

The employee, Susan McBride, was awarded $100,000 in the federal case because of her breathing sensitivity to chemical products — but she has yet to receive her money.

I hope Ms. McBride likes how it will smell, citywide, from now on.

Rielle Hunter seems to be having some regrets about her GQ spread.

On The View today, Barbara Walters said she had talked to Rielle Hunter this morning. “She was in tears when she called,” said Walters, “and said that when she saw the pictures in GQ she screamed for two hours. She said she found the photographs repulsive.”

Fair enough. One thing…

You wore the man shirt, on a bed, with no visible panties, when you POSED!

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz, in his introduction of part-owner of the basketball team, unknowingly referred to Jay-Z’s drug dealing past when he introduced him as “the man, who as he famously said, went from bricks to billboards.”

Let’s wish the Brooklyn Nets well (as they can’t help who their owners are) and hope their games aren’t as eventful as a rap music awards ceremony.

Oh, and the locals have voiced opposition to this new stadium in futility.

In theory, it should be everything that a progressive urban policy analyst like me would want from a new development. Atlantic Yards would create lots of new housing immediately adjacent to mass transit lines. It would be a mix of residential, commercial, retail, and entertainment space. And it would create new affordable housing and green space.

But, somehow, Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner got it all wrong. The project required two things to make it feasible: the use of eminent domain to acquire the property and hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies. Public officials justified both by proclaiming that the project would also create public benefits. But these public benefits were always dubious. And as the project has progressed, they have all but disappeared completely. Now it seems that the project will be a money loser for the city and will scar the face of Brooklyn for decades.

Jay-Z’s prior bad behavior paid off.

He’ll get to exploit his hood again, and liberals accomplished a land grab that would never occur in a white, middle class neighborhood. Unions and their workers will make out like bandits and the City and State of New York will have a temporary new source of revenue so they won’t have to make those tough decisions right away.

And one last question: A Marketing Quandary: How Do You Sell a 4-40 Team?

Another great day in New York.

If that seems familiar, we covered this topic last summer in greater detail: “Playboy’s Conservative Women “Hate Fuck” Fantasy” and “Justifying The ‘Hate Fuck‘”.

Happy Women’s History Month!

Hello, America, My Name Is Rielle Hunter
Rielle Hunter speaks for the first time in GQ interview about John and Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, and the big-money donors
Image rehab aside, it was the removal of pants and that ‘come hither’ look that got Rielle into this mess in the first place
The worldwide war on baby girls
Again… where’s NOW?
Vermont Schools to Celebrate Islamic Feast
Will Muslims say ‘thanks’ or soon demand local recognition of Ramadan, and then?
Jihad Jane’s allies in the courts
Note to Jihadists: find intelligent women
Two Drug Slayings in Mexico Rock U.S. Consulate
And what exactly do we get out Mexico’s parasitic relationship?
Activist Cindy Sheehan revives anti-war efforts
Like roaches, some people keep coming back
As ACORN Agrees to Leave Ohio, AP Writer Despicably Plays the Race Card
Liberals will be liberals
“Alice” leads box office, as “Green Zone” flops
Hollywood drives away from green cars over recalls
They talk all tough, but in the end are a bunch of pussies
Newsweek’s Howard Fineman to Obama: ‘Stop Caring What We All Write and Say’
No sense in gettin’ all wee wee’d up about it
N.J. taxpayers owe pension fund $45.8 billion
Yes, unions have been very good for America
Fill out the form, get free stuff
More intrusive and a bigger ‘or else’
Government rebuked over global warming nursery rhyme adverts
I remember us all being told kids were off limits…?