Romney hangs with both NASCAR and NFL - Diversity Plus!

Obama = Food stamps, unemployment through the roof, - race baiting, socioeconomic discord

"Too bad it's all negative" - sm

all negative - goldie

About that gas and grocery campaign ploy - sm

the ploy - goldie

First of all, why would you think gas and grocery prices are a "ploy?"  A ploy for what?  Is this one of those theories that goes like this:  The Republicans want to pay more for gas and food to get Obama out of office?  Or that Republicans don't want to work and stay on unemployment so it will make Obama look bad? 

Facts are facts, my friend.  And the fact that I'm paying more and more for gas and groceries doesn't make me happy.  I'm not alone.

Second, I don't understand the insistence of your team to demonize Mittens and his money.  He's rich.  Did he do something illegal to get it?  So what if he's rich.  Good for him. 

Can you name one presidental candidate - on either side - in the past 20 years or so who wasn't rich?  I would just guess that each of these presidental hopefuls from the 2008 election would be considered the 1%:

    Barack Obama, U.S. Senator from Illinois
    Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator from New York
    John Edwards, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
    Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico
    Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative from Ohio
    Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware
    Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator from Alaska
    Christopher Dodd, U.S. Senator from Connecticut
    Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa
    Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator from Indiana
    John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona
    Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas
    Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts
    Ron Paul, U.S. Representative from Texas
    Fred Thompson, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee
    Duncan Hunter, U.S. Representative from California
    Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City
    Alan Keyes, former U.S. ECOSOC Ambassador from Maryland
    Tom Tancredo, U.S. Representative from Colorado
    Sam Brownback, U.S. Senator from Kansas
    Tommy Thompson, former Governor of Wisconsin
    Jim Gilmore, former Governor of Virginia

So, besides the fact that presidental candidates are rich, what's the point?

HELLO. Anybody home? - It's all about policy.

Policy, policy - this has to be a joke - Obama's got worse

At the end of the Bush days I was terrified - Things are downright good now

All of OBAMA days are frightening - WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU IN?

Whatever you're smoking or whatever glue you're sniffing, I sure want some! n/m - n/m

Me too, 4.1 million private sector jobs added - in the past 25 consecutive months.

Saying it out loud doesn't make it true - NET LOSS OF approximately 1-mill

"Too bad it's all negative" - 'cause that's all Obama offers

Have to ask - mbmt

If you have to ask, you're probably one of the ones who voted for him. n/m - n/m

Laughed so hard at your answer - ROFLOL - You pegged that poster - Duhhhh Obozo who?

This is a joke, right? - Let's take a closer look

Thanks for this post. GOP so desperate to - find something, SM

joking - goldie

No, it's not a joke.  And, like you said, if we take a closer look, we'll find this from HuffPo last year.  Some things never change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/21/dnc-minority-contracting_n_851268.html

DNC's Family Feud Over Minority Contracting

Party insiders say the Democratic National Committee awards few contracts to companies controlled by racial minority groups, despite repeated pledges to increase business to such firms.

Instead, Democratic leaders claim progress by leaning on a broader definition of “minority contractors” that includes white women, the disabled and the gay community, according to internal memos and emails obtained by The Huffington Post and corroborated by those insiders.

The apparent dearth of contracts has fueled frustration and criticism, mostly from African American Democratic loyalists who accuse the party of failing to use its institutional finances to advance the cause of fair racial representation in the lucrative business of politics.

"There is no more loyal group of voters to the DNC than black people, and yet they have done nothing to ensure that that constituency is able to participate fully in the economic benefits of party business," said a DNC member who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

DNC leaders say while they take such concerns seriously, having launched a broad review of the committee’s hiring practices, they have been and remain committed to diversity, as does the broader party.

"I appreciate that some folks may think the party has some serious challenges in this regard,” said Patrick Gaspard, who was recently appointed the executive director of the DNC, “and one can, in all these kinds of instances, work hard to be more inclusive to make absolute certain and to make sure that the Democratic Party has as big a tent as possible.

"At the same time," he continued, "I say clearly, loudly and vociferously that there's a commitment that is ongoing. That commitment did not just begin today."

Democratic Party committees, including the DNC, spent about $759 million on national politics during the last election cycle. Consultants, including pollsters, fundraisers, strategists and those who send mailers and produce media advertisements, received a portion of the cash.

It’s difficult to say how much of that money went to minority-run businesses, since the party committees have repeatedly declined to release detailed breakdowns of their expenditures. But an analysis done for The Huffington Post by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that Democratic campaign spending on firms with at least one African American senior principal was about 1.5 percent of their total spending in 2010.

CRP’s analysis included a list of 15 of the top black-owned consulting firms identified by a number of black political consultants. Only five of the firms were awarded contracts, two of which collected the lion's share of that spending. By contrast, the Democratic Party hired hundreds of companies during the same period, according to CRP records, though the breakdown of contracts is more difficult to quantify, the center’s analysts say.

Gaspard said that of the $64 million in discretionary contracts the DNC awarded during the 2009-’10 election cycle, $19 million went to minority-run companies, though he and other committee officials declined to provide a further breakdown of the contracts by race or gender.

The executive director did say, however, that over the past few months, under the leadership of former chairman Tim Kaine and former executive director Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, the DNC has undertaken an "exhaustive forensic" look at its minority hiring and procurement, the most extensive in the organization's history.

"When I look at where we are today, when I compare it to what the Democratic Party has been in the past, I have to take issue that some say our performance on this issue is shameful," Gaspard said.

To Gaspard’s point, this controversy has been boiling for decades. The minority contracting issue has come up during almost every election cycle and every Democratic National Convention since the 1980s, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson was running for president and challenged the DNC to be more inclusive. But after the hue and cry from the usual band of minority leaders, the fuss generally dies down, with little resulting action.

Several months ago, however, members of the DNC's Black Caucus discovered a little-known loophole in the DNC's contracting process they claim exacerbated their concerns. And after being, they say, "ignored" and "disrespected" by DNC leadership regarding requests for specific information on staffing and contracting, the black, Hispanic and Asian caucuses took the unusual step of using the committee process to force the organization to officially acknowledge their grievances.

A KEY LOOPHOLE

According to Democratic insiders and internal DNC memos obtained by The Huffington Post, the DNC applies a loose definition of what a minority and minority business is.

Some call it the "one person rule," in which a company needs only a single minority owner to be recognized as a minority vendor, allowing the favor accorded historically disadvantaged groups.

The federal government and the U.S. Small Business Administration use a different definition to identify minority businesses than the DNC. Those institutions define such companies as those with a majority, or 51 percent, minority ownership.

The DNC also lumps together women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, the disabled and members of the LGBT community as “minorities” generally, with little disambiguation. As a result of the umbrella grouping, the share of contracts awarded to racial minorities has further diminished, while those going to white women and gay men have bolstered, according to people close to the process.

The broad designation of “minority” clouds interpretation of the data, making it difficult to gauge the true economic inclusion of the individual groups but allowing the appearance of equity.

"At its most innocent, the people putting these numbers together just aren't clear of the real definition," said a former DNC member who now works as a party operative. "But all the way over to the most nefarious, maybe they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes to hide what they don't want people to see, that there are not sufficient contracts. So, maybe they came up with this alternate definition."

DNC leaders questioned the wisdom of "pitting" women, gays and people of color against one another by comparing contracting data.

"We have taken these steps to redress issues confronting groups that had historically faced institutional obstacles in furthering opportunity. I don't think any Democrat would argue that doesn't include women," said DNC interim chair Donna Brazile, who was also the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign: Al Gore’s in 2000.

Most who challenge the committee’s policy insist they’re hardly arguing women have not been historically disadvantaged. The issue, they say, is that anecdotal evidence has led them to believe the women benefiting most are middle- and upper-class and white, not representative of a downtrodden group desperate for a helping hand.

“I have nothing against those groups,” said a DNC member who is black, “but what about us?”

Without exact figures, of course, those challenging the committee’s practices could not provide much evidence of abuse beyond anecdote. But interviews with current and former DNC members, Democratic leaders across the country and various party consultants and operatives reveal long-simmering frustrations and anger mixed with a sense of powerlessness regarding what they called a "shameful" record of minority contracting.

"A lot of the battles that took place in corporate America around issues of diversity and around large corporations that agreed to have affirmative action programs just never happened within the party," said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster and consultant on a short list of African Americans to have secured major contracts with the Democratic Party. "I'm not saying that there are a bunch of racist people in power making these decisions. They aren't, and quite frankly that's an ignorant avenue to go down and that doesn't move the ball forward. However, whether there is a racial intent or not, there is a racial outcome that is negative. I don't care about the intent."

Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the House’s assistant Democratic leader and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the core issue was less about race than economics. "Money is the mother's milk of politics," he said.

The problem, Clyburn said, is the party's reliance on favored consultants who steer business to firms that, in turn, offer them kickbacks. The same consultants therefore have an incentive to keep the money flowing to particular companies. The consultants and the companies they are in bed with, he said, happen to be overwhelmingly controlled by whites.

"Truth of the matter is, there is an old boys club that is perched inside some of these party committees," a Democratic consultant and strategist said. "They do not suit the party well. They suit the old boys network economically very well, but they do not suit the party well."

"Whether they win or lose an election," Belcher said of historically-favored companies, "they continue to win financially."

A TIGHT LID

Periodically, the DNC's Black Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus send letters to the DNC requesting numbers on minority hiring and contracting. Typically, past and present members said, leaders quickly provide the data regardless of what it reveals.

But over the past year, that changed.

On Aug. 26, following the DNC's summer meeting in St. Louis, the DNC Black Caucus, along with its Hispanic and Asian counterparts, sent a letter to the DNC's budget and finance committee requesting specific information about minority contracting and staffing at the DNC, the Democratic Properties Corporation and the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee.

The caucuses asked for the exact number of contracts that are paid by the DNC and DPC. They requested a breakdown of paid minority vendors and for a review of the policies in place to monitor the distribution and awarding of contracts. And they sought the number of exempt and non-exempt minorities employed at the DNC's headquarters.

According to several people, including DNC members and others who work at the DNC's headquarters in Washington, D.C., then-executive director O'Malley Dillon directed her staff to ignore the requests.

"She told leadership, 'we're not giving them anything,'" a DNC member said. The person said a staff member with direct knowledge of the directive told him that the instructions were specific: "Do not give out any information on this."

"It was a sign of disrespect," another DNC member said. "That was definitely a first."

Through a spokesman, O'Malley Dillon said that account was inaccurate.

The caucuses had requested that information be delivered by Dec. 31, which came and went with no such disclosure.

In mid-January, an internal report was produced by the DNC and delivered to its budget and finance committee. At some point between Jan. 18 and Feb. 2, it was delivered to the DNC Black Caucus, according to internal documents and emails.

The report did not answer the caucus's specific questions. Rather, it presented the data using the broad definitions and the amount spent collectively with the DNC-defined minority group.

But the information did shed some light on contract disbursements. Of the 195 discretionary contracts awarded during the last election cycle, 3.5 percent went to firms with LGBT principals, 3.5 percent went to Asians, 5.1 percent went to Hispanics and 6.7 percent went to African Americans. The DNC declined to disclose the total funds accounted for by those contracts.

But beyond the lack of specificity, what really stood out to members and those who caught wind down the line was the one-sentence definition of a “minority vendor.”

"For the purpose of this report, the vendors identified as minority are designated as such because they are, to the extent we are able to identify, fully or partially owned by one or more persons in an applicable minority category -- African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American and Pacific Island, Women, Disabled and LGBT," it read.

"I'm baffled by this. They're not even hiding it anymore, which is disturbing," said a DNC member, referring to the "one person rule" and the lack of distinction between the various historically disadvantaged groups. "They came to a budget and finance meeting and presented this in a power point presentation."

The member went on to say that her frustration has grown into anger, which she has yet to find a meaningful way to channel.

"There's a part of me that hasn't even begun to challenge myself as to why I even tolerate it. I almost call myself a coward for not addressing it," she said. "Not only am I baffled by what they do, I'm baffled by us not doing anything about it, particularly those of us who are African American leaders in the party."

’MORAL ISSUES’

Most of those interviewed for this article did so in hushed telephone conversations or during clandestine meetings in darkened restaurants and bar rooms around Washington, D.C. Many agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity for political reasons or because they did not have permission from the DNC to speak on DNC affairs. Others said they have been reluctant to speak out publicly about this issue because of party loyalty or fear of causing problems for President Barack Obama as he gears up for reelection.

But across Washington and throughout the country, the conversation continues among friends and allies.

Rev. Jackson, who said he is not in the best position to analyze goings-on within the DNC, nonetheless said that party loyalists and operatives are definitely concerned about what they have been hearing and have reached out to him on numerous occasions.

"I'm getting calls from all over the nation," said Jackson, adding that contracting and budget agendas are "moral issues" that reflect "values."

"The Democratic Party must represent the values of inclusive democracy, of inclusion. They must set the pace," he said. "Unless you do that you lose the moral authority to challenge Republicans."

The renewed concern has emerged as the Democrats begin to lay the groundwork for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. North Carolina is one of the least-unionized states, which means contracts and cash will be spread around to a wider variety of firms and shops.

The minority caucuses within the DNC pushed through a number of recommendations on the committee level that were approved by the full body, including the formation of an ad hoc committee to keep an eye on minority contracting and hiring, headed by Rep. Barbara Lee of California.

Lee said that while changes have been constructive, more needs to be done.

"I'm pleased we've made some progress on this issue over the last few weeks and months, but we have more work ahead of us to adequately address existing disparities," she said in a written statement. "As a member of the DNC, I believe that it is critically important that our operation reflect the diversity of our party and nation."

The DNC has also agreed to hire a chief diversity officer, a recommendation made by Lee in a recent letter to DNC leadership to "ensure that the DNC's vendors and staff reflect the face of America," she wrote.

That it has taken such a measure to assure that the "big tent" party keep an eye on diversity has some members taken aback.

"We've never needed a chief diversity officer. That tells me there was enough concern and fuss over this issue that they had to do something," a Democratic leader and DNC member said. "That's a shame. That's something you would think would be something for the Republicans to do, but for us, under an African American president, that's sad."

Other such recommendations have also made their way through the committee process, an unusual process in itself because members rarely get involved in the everyday workings of the DNC, a number of former members said.

And even among the changes agreed to by the DNC, such as the hiring of a chief diversity officer, few, if any, have been enacted.

Virgie Rollins, the chairwoman of the DNC's Black Caucus said she was hopeful, if not cautiously optimistic.

"Just like in every household, every family, people have issues, and I think we are going to continue to work with the DNC," said Rollins. "We support the DNC and I believe the DNC supports us."

Success, Rollins said, would entail at least a more transparent, open and fair vending process and a 51 percent minority ownership clause.

Failure, she said, "is if everything is being ignored."

Update: This story has been updated to reflect Jennifer O'Malley Dillon's account of the DNC's response to requests from the DNC minority caucuses.

Correction: An earlier version of this piece misidentified Donna Brazile as a leader of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. She helped lead Al Gore's campaign in 2000.

As if - sm

Here we go again - goldie

Oh, it's just so silly to perpetuate the myth that Democrats are the Civil Rights Leaders.  History says something entirely different. 

I. Acts of Bigotry by Prominent Democrats and Leftists:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Franklin Roosevelt, the long time hero and standard bearer of the Democrat Party, headed up and implemented one of the most horrible racist policies of the 20th Century – the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. Roosevelt unilaterally and knowingly enacted Japanese Internment through the use of presidential Executive Orders 9066 and 9102 during the early years of the war. These orders single-handedly led to the imprisonment of an estimated 120,000 law abiding Americans of Japanese ancestry, the overwhelming majority of them natural born second and third generation American citizens. Countless innocents lost their property, fortunes, and, in the case of an unfortunate few, even their lives as a result of Roosevelt's internment camps, camps that have been accurately described as America's concentration camps. Perhaps most telling about the racist nature of Roosevelt's order was his clearly expressed intention to apply it almost entirely to Japanese Americans, even though America was also at war with Germany and Italy. In 1943, Roosevelt wrote regarding concerns of German and Italian Americans that they t0o would share in the fate of the interned Japanese Americans, noting that "no collective evacuation of German and Italian aliens is contemplated at this time." Despite this assertion, Roosevelt did exhibit his personal fears about Italian and German Americans, and in his typical racist form he used an ethnic stereotype to make his point.  Expressing about his position on German and Italian Americans during World War II, Roosevelt stated “I don’t care so much about the Italians, they are a lot of opera singers, but the Germans are different. They may be dangerous.”

Roosevelt also appointed two notorious segregationists to the United States Supreme Court. Roosevelt appointed South Carolina segregationist Democrat Jimmy Byrnes to the court. Roosevelt later made Byrnes a top advisor, where the segregationist earned the nickname “assistant president.” Byrnes was Roosevelt’s second choice behind Harry Truman for the VP nod in his 1944 reelection bid. Roosevelt also appointed segregationist Democrat Senator Hugo Black of Alabama to the court. Black was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan with a notorious record of racism himself.

Hugo Black: A former Democrat Senator from Alabama and liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice appointed by FDR, Hugo Black had a lengthy history of hate group activism. Black was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's and gained his legal fame defending Klansmen under prosecution for racial murders. In one prominent case, Black provided legal representation to Klansman Edwin Stephenson for the hate-induced murder of a Catholic priest in Birmingham. A jury composed of several Klan members acquited Stephenson of the murder, reportedly after Black expressed Klan gestures to the jury during the trial. In 1926 Black sought and won election as a Democrat to the United States Senate after campaigning heavily to Klan membership. He is said to have told one Klan audience "I desire to impress upon you as representatives of the real Anglo-Saxon sentiment that must and will control the destinies of the stars and stripes, that I want your counsel." In the Senate Black became a stauch supporter of the liberal New Deal initiatives of FDR and a solid opponent of civil rights legislation, including a filibuster of an anti-lynching measure. Black led the push for several New Deal programs and was a key participant in FDR's court packing scandal. Roosevelt appointed Black, a loyal ally, to the U.S. Supreme Court. During the Senate confirmation of Black's nomination, the issue of his strong Klan affiliations caused a public controversy over his appointment. Following the confirmation Roosevelt claimed ignorance of Black's Klan past, though this claim was dubious at best. Black's first Senate election, which occurred with Klan support, had been covered nationally a decade earlier in 1926. Black's Klan affiliations were a well known part of his political background and recieved heavy coverage in the newspapers at the time of his appointment. On the court, Black became a liberal stalwart. He also continued his career of supporting racism by authoring the opinion in favor of FDR's Japanese internment program in the infamous Korematsu ruling.

Senator Robert Byrd, D-WV: Byrd is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and is currently the only national elected official with a history in the Klan, a well known hate group. Byrd was extremely active in the Klan and rose to the rank of “Kleagle,” an official Klan membership recruiter. Byrd once stated that he joined the Klan because it was effective in "promoting traditional American values" (Source). Byrd's choice of words speak volumes about his bigotry considering the fact that the Klan is a notorious hate group, and the racist "values" it promotes are anything but American. One of the earliest criticisms of Byrd's Klan ties came in 1952 when he was running for Congress. Byrd responded by claiming that he had left the Klan in 1943 while noting that "(d)uring the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan." Byrd was lying, however, as he engaged in correspondence with a Klan Imperial Wizard long after he claims to have ended his ties with the hate group.

In a letter to the Klan leadership (Source) dated 3 years after he purported to have ended his ties with them, Byrd wrote "I am a former kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County and the adjoining counties of the state. The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia." Byrd continued his racist diatribe "It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state of the Union" and followed with a request for assistance from the hate group's leadership in "rebuilding the Klan in the realm" of West Virginia.

Byrd's racism extends far beyond his Klan membership. In a letter he wrote on the subject of desegregating the armed forces, Byrd escalated his racist rhetoric to an appalling level. In the letter, Byrd vowed that he would never fight in an integrated armed services noting "(r)ather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds" (Source).

Byrd's racist opinions have shown their ugly face in his behavior in the Senate.  Byrd led the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, according to the United States Senate's own website, filibustered the legislation to the bitter end appearing as one of the last opponents to the act before a coalition of civil rights proponents led by Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen invoked cloture so that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could pass. At the time, Byrd was in the the midst of a 14 hour and 13 minute filibuster diatribe against the key civil rights measure (Source).  Throughout the 1960's, Byrd was was one of the staunchest opponents to civil rights in the U.S. Senate. Byrd’s racist history drew attention recently when he went on national television and repeatedly used the n-word, one of the most vicious racial slurs in existence, in an appearance on national television. Byrd uttered the slur on Fox News Sunday with Tony Snow on March 5, 2001. Despite the appalling nature of the remark, it went largely ignored by the mainstream media and the self appointed "civil rights" leadership. Whereas a similar remark by anyone other than a leading Democrat Senator would assuredly prompt the likes of Jesse Jackson to assemble protest rallies demanding resignations, the Jackson crowd was eerily quiet following Byrd's remarks, issuing only low key suggestions that Byrd should avoid making such bigoted remarks.

In a sickening recognition of Byrd's appalling political career, the national Democrat party has done nothing but embrace the West Virginia senator with leadership roles and practically every honor imaginable. To this very day the Democrats call former Klansman turned U.S. Senator Robert Byrd the "conscience of the Senate." They have embraced him as their party's central pillar in all ways possible. Byrd has been reelected more times than any other Democrat senator, has served as a Democrat in Congress, a Democrat State Senator in West Virginia, and a Democrat State Delegate in West Virginia. Democrats have made repeatedly elected Byrd into their national party leadership and into the U.S. Senate leadership. He became secretary of the Senate Democrat Caucus in 1967, and Senate Democrat Whip in 1971. The Democrats elected former Klansman Byrd as their Senate Majority Leader from 1977-1980 and as their Senate Minority Leader from 1981-1986. Byrd was again elected Democrat Majority Leader from 1987-1988. Democrats made Byrd the chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee and President Pro Tempore of the Senate from 1989 until the Republicans won control of the Senate in November 1994. Following the defection of Jim Jeffords in June 2001, the Democrats again made Byrd the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and elected him to the highest ranking office in the Senate: the President Pro Tempore, a position which also put this former Klansman 4th in line for the presidency. Byrd lost his position when Republicans retook the Senate in late 2002, but continues to serve as one of the highest ranking members of the Democrat Senate leadership today.

Senator Ernest Hollings, D-SC: Hollings is liberal Democrat Senator from South Carolina who is also notorious for his use of racial slurs. He rose out of the Democrat Party's segregationist wing in the 1960's as governor of South Carolina. While in office as governor, Hollings personally led the opposition to lunch counter integration in his state. The New York Times reported on March 17, 1960 that then-governor Hollings "warned today that South Carolina would not permit 'explosive' manifestations in connection with Negro demands for lunch-counter services." According to the article, Hollings gave a speech in which he "challenged President Eisenhower's contention that minorities had the right to engage in certain types of demonstrations" against segregation. In the speech Hollings described the Republican president as "confused" and asserted that Eisenhower had done "great damage to peace and good order" by supporting the rights of minorities to protest segregation at the lunch counters.

Governor Hollings' support for segregation continued throughout his term and included his attendance at a July 23, 1961 meeting of segregationist Democrats to organize their opposition to the civil rights movement. Hollings was one of four governors in attendence, all of them Democrats. The others included rabid segregationists Orval Faubus of Arkansas and Ross Barnett of Mississippi. The New York Times reported on the meeting, noting that among the strategies discussed were using the segregationist White Citizens Council organization to mobilize political opposition to desegregation.

In more recent years Hollings, a senior Democrat senator, has made disparaging racial remarks and slurs against minorities. Senator Hollings, who was a contender for his party's presidential nomination in 1984, blamed his defeat in the primaries by using a racial slur against Hispanics. After losing the Iowa Straw Poll, Hollings stated "You had wetbacks from California that came in here for Cranston," referring to one of his opponents, Alan Cranston. A few years later Hollings reportedly used the slur "darkies" to derogatorily refer to blacks. He also once disparagingly referred to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition as the "Blackbow Coalition," and called former Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who is Jewish, "the Senator from B'nai B'rith." Hollings gained international criticism for his remarks about the African Delegation to the 1993 Geneva GATT conference, where he crudely remarked "you'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva." Hollings was also the Governor of South Carolina who raised the confederate flag over the state capitol in the early 1960's in what was considered at the time to be an act of defiance to civil rights. The press ignored Hollings and his role in the flag issue at the same time the political correctness police were smearing George W. Bush during his campaign after Bush correctly remarked that the flag was a state issue to be decided upon by South Carolina and not the national government.

Jesse Jackson: Jackson was the featured prime time speaker at the 2000 Democrat Convention. Jackson has a history of using anti-Semitic slurs and derogatorily calling New York City “Hymietown.” Jackson, a prominent self proclaimed "civil rights leader," is himself guilty of the same bigotry he dishonestly purports to oppose.

Dan Rather: Rather,  the well known television anchor for CBS, is also a liberal Democrat who has spoken at fundraisers for the Democrat party in the past. The notoriously left wing reporter appeared on the Don Imus radio show on July 19, 2001 where he was interviewed about his long term refusal to cover the Gary Condit (D-CA) scandal involving an affair with a missing intern despite the scandal's national prominence. Rather noted on the air that CBS had basically forced him to cover the story that was on every other network and on the front page of all the major newspapers, all this after Rather avoided it for months. Rather stated on the air, refering to CBS, that "they got the Buckwheats" and made him cover the Condit scandal. The term "Buckwheat" is considered an offensive racial stereotype that stems from an easily frightened black character named "Buckwheat" on the Little Rascals comedies.  It is widely regarded as a racial epithet and has long been condemned as an offensive stereotype by several civil rights organizations. In several past incidents (see here and here) the use of the epithet "Buckwheat" has recieved condemnation by the NAACP, Al Sharpton and other left wing organizations. These left wing organizations and personalities have demanded that other media personalities be fired over using the epithet, and even staged a protest at a school over the mere allegation that the racist stereotype had been used by a teacher. Yet these same liberal groups have, to date, remained completely silent now that one of their own, Dan Rather, is guilty of using the same offensive racial stereotype they have condemned elsewhere on a national radio show. It's just more proof of how the left wingers who cry the loudest with accusations of racism against others turn a blind eye when somebody of their own left wing ideology is the undeniable culprit of a blatantly racist act or statement!

Cragg Hines: Hines is one of the most rabidly partisan DC based Democrat editorial columnists to work for a major newspaper, and he makes no attempts to hide it. To Hines, pro-lifers are "neanderthals," as is often the case with those who differ in opinion with him.  Ironically, Hines, a columnist who regularly touts himself as an enlightened progressive, is also known for racial remarks and religious intolerance. He attacked Senator Jesse Helms in an August 26, 2001 editorial with not only the usual liberal name calling, but also with a racial epithet. Hines used the racial slur "cracker" to attack Helms. He used the epithet not only within the article's text, but he even included it in the piece's title. In a sense of heavy irony, Hines' article accused Helms of bigotry for, among other things, opposing liberal policies like affirmative action. He didn't seem to object to himself for his own bigotted language in the same article. Hines has also drawn heavy criticism from Catholics including a letter to the editor from the former President of the U.S. Catholic Bishop's Conference for his seemingly agenda-driven criticisms of Catholicism and its religious leaders, often based on little or no historical evidence, which he has expressed in numerous editorial columns.

Al Sharpton: Sharpton, a perrenial Democrat candidate and one of the rumored candidates for the Democrat's 2004 presidential nomination, has a notorious racist past. Sharpton was a central figure who fanned the 1991 Crown Heights race riot, where a mob shouting anti-semetic slurs murdered an innocent Jewish man. Sharpton also incited a 1995 protest of a Jewish owned store in Harlem where protesters used several anti-semetic slurs. During the protests, a Sharpton lieutenant called the store's owner a "bloodsucker" and declared an intent to "loot the Jews." A member of the protest mob later set fire to the store, resulting in the death of seven (source).

Representative Dick Gephardt, D-MO: Gephardt, the former Democrat Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, gave several speeches to a St. Louis area hate group during his early years as a representative. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Gephardt spoke before the Metro South Citizens Council, a now defunct white supremacist organization, during his early years as a congressman. Newsmax.com further reported that Gephardt had openly asked the group for an endorsement of his candidacy during one of his many visits with the organization. Gephardt has long avoided questions about his past affiliation with this group.

Andrew Cuomo: Cuomo, Bill Clinton's former Housing Secretary and a prominent Democrat political player in New York, was tape recorded using racially inflamatory rhetoric to build opposition to a potential Democrat primary opponent while speaking to a Democrat group. Cuomo stated that voting for his rival for the New York Democrat gubernatorial nomination Carl McCall, who is black, would create a "racial contract" between Black and Hispanic Democrats  "and that can't happen." Upon initial reports, Cuomo denied the statement but later a tape recording surfaced. Cuomo later dropped out of the race for governor (source).

Lee P. Brown: Brown, Bill Clinton's former drug czar and Democrat mayor of Houston, engaged in racist campaigning designed to suppress Hispanic voter turnout during his 2001 reelection bid. Brown faced challenger Orlando Sanchez, a Hispanic Republican who drew heavy support from the Hispanic community during the general election. Two weeks prior to the runoff, Brown's campaign printed racist signs designed to intimidate Hispanic voters. The signs featured a photograph of Sanchez and the words "Anti-Hispanic." The signs drew harsh criticism from Hispanic leaders as their message was designed to intimidate and confuse Hispanic voters. Around the same time the signs were being used, Brown supporter and city councilman Carol Alvarado made a series of racially charged attacks on Sanchez, implying a desire to see the supression of Hispanic voter turnout in the runoff. Brown staffers also went on record claiming that Sanchez was not a true Hispanic. The racist anti-Hispanic undertones of Brown's reelection bid were so great that liberal Democrat city councilman John Castillo, himself Hispanic, retracted his endorsement of Brown in disgust and became a Sanchez supporter in the final week of the campaign. Following the harsh condemnation of the racist signs and tactics, Brown purported that his campaign was removing them even though many still lingered around Houston up until the election. When election day came along, Brown placed more of the racist signs at polling places, despite his claim to have stopped using them. The large campaign billboard style election day signs featured, in Spanish, the word "Danger!" on them followed by Sanchez's name with a large red circle and slash through it. The signs identified the Brown campaign as their owner on the bottom. Brown's racially charged reelection effort barely squeeked by Sanchez on election day, winning 51% to 49% following a series of racially motivated advertisements in which the Brown campaign appealed to the fear of black voters by invoking images of the gruesome lynching death of James Byrd, Jr. and by attempting to pit them against Hispanics. While Brown had the audacity to declare himself a mayor for all people and all ethnicities at his victory party, many in Houston fear the racial wounds inflicted by his campaign will take years to heal.

Mary Frances Berry: Berry is the Democrat chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR). She purports herself to be an "independent" in her political affiliation in order to hold her job on the civil rights commission where partisan membership may not exceed 4 for either party, but is in fact a dedicated liberal Democrat who openly supported Al Gore for president and has given a total of $20,000 in personal contributions to the Democrat Party, Al Gore for President, and other Democrat candidates over the last decade. Berry is an open racist who is affiliated with the far-left Pacifica radio network, a group with ties to black nationalist causes. Berry once stated "Civil rights laws were not passed to protect the rights of white men and do not apply to them," indicating that she believes the USCCR should only look out for civil rights violations against persons of certain select skin colors.

Billy McKinney: Former Democrat State Representative Billy McKinney of Georgia, who is also the father of former Democrat congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of the same state. During his daughter's failed 2002 reelection bid, McKinney appeared on television where he blamed his daughter's difficulties on a Jewish conspiracy. McKinney unleashed a string of anti-semitic sentiments, stating "This is all about the Jews" and spelling out "J-E-W-S." McKinney lost his own seat in a runoff a few weeks later.

The Democrat Party and the Ku Klux Klan: Aside from the multiple Klan members who have served in elected capacity within the high ranks of the Democrat Party, the political party itself has a lengthy but often overlooked history of involvement with the Ku Klux Klan. Though it has been all but forgotten by the media, the Democrat National Convention of 1924 was host to one of the largest Klan gatherings in American history. Dubbed the "Klanbake convention" at the time, the 1924 Democrat National Convention in New York was dominated by a platform dispute surrounding the Ku Klux Klan. A minority of the delegates to the convention attempted to condemn the hate group in the party's platform, but found their proposal shot down by Klan supporters within the party. As delegates inside the convention voted in the Klan's favor, the Klan itself mobilized a celebratory rally outside. On July 4, 1924 one of the largest Klan gatherings ever occurred outside the convention on a field in nearby New Jersey. The event was marked by speakers spewing racial hatred, celebrations of their platform victory in the Democrat Convention, and ended in a cross burning.

II. Democrat opposition to the Civil Rights Movement:

A little known fact of history involves the heavy opposition to the civil rights movement by several prominent Democrats. Similar historical neglect is given to the important role Republicans played in supporting the civil rights movement. A calculation of 26 major civil rights votes from 1933 through the 1960's civil rights era shows that Republicans favored civil rights in approximately 96% of the votes, whereas the Democrats opposed them in 80% of the votes! These facts are often intentionally overlooked by the left wing Democrats for obvious reasons. In some cases, the Democrats have told flat out lies about their shameful record during the civil rights movement.

Democrat Senators organized the record Senate filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Included among the organizers were several prominent and well known liberal Democrat standard bearers including:
- Robert Byrd, current senator from West Virginia
- J. William Fulbright, Arkansas senator and political mentor of Bill Clinton
- Albert Gore Sr., Tennessee senator, father and political mentor of Al Gore. Gore Jr. has been known to lie about his father's opposition to the Civil Rights Act.
- Sam Ervin, North Carolina senator of Watergate hearings fame
- Richard Russell, famed Georgia senator and later President Pro Tempore

The complete list of the 21 Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes Senators:

- Hill and Sparkman of Alabama
- Fulbright and McClellan of Arkansas
- Holland and Smathers of Florida
- Russell and Talmadge of Georgia
- Ellender and Long of Louisiana
- Eastland and Stennis of Mississippi
- Ervin and Jordan of North Carolina
- Johnston and Thurmond of South Carolina
- Gore Sr. and Walters of Tennessee
- H. Byrd and Robertson of Virginia
- R. Byrd of West Virginia

Democrat opposition to the Civil Rights Act was substantial enough to literally split the party in two. A whopping 40% of the House Democrats VOTED AGAINST the Civil Rights Act, while 80% of Republicans SUPPORTED it. Republican support in the Senate was even higher. Similar trends occurred with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was supported by 82% of House Republicans and 94% of Senate Republicans. The same Democrat standard bearers took their normal racists stances, this time with Senator Fulbright leading the opposition effort.

It took the hard work of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and Republican Whip Thomas Kuchel to pass the Civil Rights Act (Dirksen was presented a civil rights accomplishment award for the year by the head of the NAACP in recognition of his efforts). Upon breaking the Democrat filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Republican Dirksen took to the Senate floor and exclaimed "The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing in government, in education, and in employment. It will not be stayed or denied. It is here!" (Full text of speech). Sadly, Democrats and revisionist historians have all but forgotten (and intentionally so) that it was Republican Dirksen, not the divided Democrats, who made the Civil Rights Act a reality. Dirksen also broke the Democrat filibuster of the 1957 Civil Rights Act that was signed by Republican President Eisenhower.

Outside of Congress, the three most notorious opponents of school integration were all Democrats:
- Orval Faubus, Democrat Governor of Arkansas and one of Bill Clinton's political heroes
- George Wallace, Democrat Governor of Alabama
- Lester Maddox, Democrat Governor of Georgia

The most famous of the school desegregation standoffs involved Governor Faubus. Democrat Faubus used police and state forces to block the integration of a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. The standoff was settled and the school was integrated only after the intervention of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Even the Democrat Party organization resisted integration and refused to allow minority participation for decades. Exclusion of minorities was the general rule of the Democrat Party of many states for decades, especially in Texas. This racist policy reached its peak under the New Deal in the southern and western states, often known as the New Deal Coalition region of FDR. The Supreme Court in Nixon v. Herndon declared the practice of "white primaries" unconstitutional in 1927 after states had passed laws barring Blacks from participating in Democrat primaries. But the Democrat Parties did not yield to the Court’s order. After Nixon v. Herndon, Democrats simply made rules within the party's individual executive committees to bar minorities from participating, which were struck down in Nixon v. Condon in 1932. The Democrats, in typical racist fashion, responded by using state parties to pass rules barring blacks from participation. This decision was upheld in Grovey v. Townsend, which was not overturned until 1944 by Smith v. Allwright. The Texas Democrats responded with their usual ploys and turned to what was known as the "Jaybird system" which used private Democrat clubs to hold white-only votes on a slate of candidates, which were then transferred to the Democrat party itself and put on their primary ballot as the only choices. Terry v. Adams overturned the Jaybird system, prompting the Democrats to institute blocks of unit rule voting procedures as well as the infamous literacy tests and other Jim Crow regulations to specifically block minorities from participating in their primaries. In the end, it took 4 direct Supreme Court orders to end the Democrat's "white primary" system, and after that it took countless additional orders, several acts of Congress, and a constitutional amendment to tear down the Jim Crow codes that preserved the Democrat's white primary for decades beyond the final Supreme Court order ruling it officially unconstitutional.

Hispanics in South Texas were treated especially poorly by the Democrat Party, which relied heavily on a system of political bosses to coerce and intimidate Hispanics into voting for Democrat primary candidates of choice. Though coercion is illegal, this system, known as the Patron system, is still in use to this day by local Democrat parties in some heavy Hispanic communities of the southwest.

The next time Democrats take to the national airwaves to dishonestly accuse Republicans of racial hatred, remember who the historical record up until this very day points to as the real bigots: The Democrat Party. In all possible ways, the Democrat Party is built around the pillars of ultra leftists, many of whom are known participants in racism and/or affiliates of racist hate groups. Consider the Democrat Party of today's heroes and leaders:

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Democrat icon and orchestrator of Japanese Internment
- Ex-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, former affiliate of a St. Louis area racist group
- Ex-Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd, former Ku Klux Klansman known for making bigoted slurs on national television
- Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democrat keynote speaker and race hustler known for making anti-Semitic slurs
- Rev. Al Sharpten, Democrat activist and perennial candidate and race hustler known inciting anti-Semitic violence in New York City
- Sen. Ernest Hollings, leading Democrat Senator known for use of racial slurs against several minority groups
- Lee P. Brown, former Clinton cabinet official and Democrat mayor of Houston who won reelection using racial intimidation against Hispanic voters
- Andrew Cuomo, former Clinton cabinet official and Democrat candidate for NY Governor who made racist statements about a black opponent.
- Dan Rather, Democrat CBS news anchor and editorialist known for using anti-black racial epithets on a national radio broadcast
- Donna Brazile, former Gore campaign manager known for making anti-white racial attacks. Brazile has also worked for Jackson, Gephardt, and Michael Dukakis

The simple truth is that the Democrat Party's history during this century is one closely aligned to bigotry in a record stemming largely out of the liberal New Deal era up until the modern day. Bigots are at the center of the Democrat party's current leadership and role models. And in a striking display of hypocrisy, many of the same Democrats who dishonestly shout accusations of "bigotry" at conservatives are practicing bigots of the most disgusting and disreputable kind themselves.

Where did you cut and paste all that from? - Good grief! nm

There YOU go again. - What's this WE thing?

WE is the people who stand with her - what if

You'll be waiting til the end of time - those numbers to change

Those perceptions - what if

Obama has a 19 point lead among all women, - 14 point lead among independent women

Excllent post goldie - Thanks for posting - what if - sm

"stunning" lack - that's a marvelous