Republicans Invented the Race Card 
Once more Republicans are engaging in blatant hypocrisy. After all, Republicans invented the race card.
It was launched as a means of regaining power in the mid-sixties. This occurred after President Lyndon B. Johnson, the first Southerner to become president since the Reconstruction, conceded to associates that his active leadership in the civil rights field, culminating with passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Bill and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, meant loss of the South for Democrats for the next 50 years.
The Republicans under Richard Nixon devised a "law and order" and "Southern strategy" campaign. Lee Atwater later admitted that his participation in this and subsequent Republican efforts to win the South involved using these code terms to signal voters regarding what they were really talking about -- civil rights.
African American talk show host Larry Elder became enraged in a Larry King Live appearance over the issue of racism and a link to Republicans It is noteworthy to observe what happened at the beginning of the presidential campaign of his hero Ronald Reagan.
Reagan's 1980 general election presidential campaign against incumbent President Jimmy Carter was launched in Philadelphia, Mississippi a curious choice but for one key factor.
This was the town where civil rights workers had come from the north seeking justice for African Americans and were slain in the process.
Was the Republican campaign leadership unaware of this historical fact? Or were they sending a message to southerners that the good old boy network would be back if only their candidate gained the presidency?
What was the 1988 presidential race all about? Chief strategist Lee Atwater later admitted that the race card was at work through attempts to demonize Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.
Not only was there the blatant Willie Horton race card 30-second ads. Not only were references made to Dukakis' Greek American ancestry through unconscionable mentions of individuals of darker skin pigmentation seeking to overrun traditional America.
No, there was even more. It took Jewish New York City Congressman Stephen Solarz to expose two European Nazi Holocaust deniers who up to the time of this exposure were heading a special European American committee on behalf of Vice President George H. W. Bush.
How about the Trent Lott incident at the birthday tribute to Senator Strom Thurmond, the 1948 presidential standard bearer for the States Rights Party? Lott, liberated by alcoholic consumption, explained that it would have been for America's betterment had Thurmond's anti-civil rights posture succeeded.
Remember just a few months back? Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a negative comment about Rush Limbaugh.
Steele was promptly compelled to apologize. Limbaugh had reason to boast that he was indeed the titular leader of the Republican Party.
Limbaugh's current antics are so racist that he has even taken a tragic instance of some black students beating up a white student on a school bus and stating that this is an example of conduct in "Obama's America," begging an inference that this is the type of activity Obama supports.
What are Republicans now saying about Limbaugh in the face of this and other comments that have crossed the racial divide? Well, Rush Limbaugh in an entertainer, and hence certainly not a part of the Republican mainstream.
What about the racist signs and comments at Teabagger rallies exhorting Obama to "go back to Kenya"? Those are allegedly just tiny numbers of people. How many such signs, along with those containing swastikas next to a picture of Obama, are visible in shots shown on television?
Not only are the numbers much greater than the Republican spokespersons concede. This begs another question.
Remember how quick Republicans were to paint any anti-war rally conducted by progressives as un-American if they could find a sign or two or obtain a comment from a radical?
If those protesting at Teabagger rallies are truly out of synch with the sea of sign holders and shouters, then why blend in with those elements that are obviously numerous if they are opposed to the ideology and spirit of what is occurring?
KEYWORDS: Rush Limbaugh, Teabaggers, George H.W. Bush, Lee Atwater
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