Urban Myth #534,249,569: The GOP Is The Party Of Racist, Old, White Men

"Because he lived in the South, with the Racists who now vote for the GOP ...  Tradition. The right hates blacks, Jews, and Catholics."

- Dot2Dasher, Democrats Unveil Extreme Platform, Townhall.com, 5 September 2012

You are becoming quite the little reactionary. It's the 21st century. The Right doesn't hate blacks, Jews, and Catholics. It votes for them in primaries, elects them to Congress and other offices, makes them the Majority Leader in the House, and nominates them to be Vice-President.

I don't think that you want me to start reeling off the stats on the Democrat Party and civil rights legislation, but if you're interested, you can read them here.  I've taken the time to compile all of the voting stats on every major piece of civil rights legislation going back to the Civil War.  The Democrats always had lower percentages than the Republicans.   Hell, I bet that you think that it was the Democratic Party that sought the 19th amendment, too.  Fortunately for you, I cover that as well.

From Josh Kraushaar at Nat Jour:

"[Artur] Davis’ critics may call him a turncoat, but his new party (the GOP) features more minorities holding Senate seats and governors’ offices, and they made sure convention viewers knew it. The tale of the tape:

Republicans boast FIVE minorities as governors or senators:

1.  Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida

2.  Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval

3.  South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

4.  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

5. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez

And should have a SIXTH when Ted Cruz wins a gimme Senate race in Texas. 

Democrats have only FOUR: 

1.  Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey

2.  Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

3. Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawai'i

4.  Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawai'i.

Of the four, only Patrick has been touted as a possible contender for a future presidential ticket."

The Republicans have run minorities in the South and won statewide offices.  The Democrats?  With the exception of Doug Wilder, Deval Patrick, Carol Mosely Braun, Barack Obama, Bob Menendez, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka, and Ken Salazar, how many of the Democrat Party's Progressive minorities have been elected statewide?  Not many.  As Kraushaar writes, the Democrat Party's minorities are elected in minority-majority districts.

Democrats do have the honour of having the first female Senator.  Her name was  Rebecca Latimer Felton.  She was a Progressive and a white supremacist.  She also was not elected, but rather was appointed to serve out a term and held the office for all of 50 days.

Congresswoman Jeannette Pickering Rankin was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.  She was a Republican.

Senator Hattie Caraway of Arkansas became the first woman to win election to the Senate.  She was a Democrat, but ran for her deceased husband's seat.

Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas was the first woman to win election to the Senate without a familial connection paving the way.  She is a Republican.

Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was the first African-American elected to the Senate.  He was a Republican.

Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts was the first African-American elected to the Senate post-Reconstruction.  He was a Republican.

Democrats can claim, if they wish -- and many don't, Carol Moseley-Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the Senate.  The reason that many would rather not claim her has nothing to do with her skin colour.  Corruption is colourless.

Congressman Joseph Rainey of South Carolina was the first African-American directly elected to the House of Representatives.   He was a Republican.

Congressman Oscar De Priest of Illinois was the first African-American directly elected to the House of Representatives post Reconstruction.  He was a Republican.

Democrats can claim the first Latino governor, Ezequiel Cabeza de Baca of New Mexico.

Governor  Susana Martinez of New Mexico is the nation's first Latina governor.  She is a Republican.

Congressman Joseph Marion Hernández of Florida was the first Hispanic elected to the House of Representatives.  He was a member of the Whig Party.

Congressman Romualdo Pacheco of California was the first Hispanic elected to the House of Representatives from one of the current parties.  He was the first Hispanic to chair a committee in Congress (Private Land Claims Committee).  He was a Republican.

Senator  Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico was the first Hispanic elected to the US Senate.  He was a Republican.

Vice-Admiral Antonia Coello Novello was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General.  She was a Republican.

Romana Acosta Bañuelos was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Treasurer of the United States.  She was a Republican.

Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos was the first Hispanic American to serve in the Cabinet.  He was named Secretary of Education by Ronald Reagan and then George H.W. Bush.  He was a Republican.

Senator Charles Curtis was the first Native American to be elected as Vice-President.  Curtis was also the first Native American elected to the House of Representatives.  He was 1/8 each Kansa/Osage Nation/Potawatomi Indian and a Republican.  

Senator Matthew Stanley Quay was the first Native American to be elected to the United States Senate.  He was a Republican, as were the other two Native Americans that have been elected to the Senate, Charles Curtis and Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell became the first American Indian to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Congressman  Tom Cole is the only registered Native American currently serving in Congress.  He is a Republican.

Senator Hiram L Fong was the first Asian- and Chinese-American to be elected to the United States Senate.  He was a Republican.

I'll leave you with this factoid:  In 2010, Tim Scott became the first Republican African-American Representative from South Carolina since 1901.  What makes Tim Scott's election so telling is that the 1st Congressional District was a Democratic stronghold after the Reconstruction era due to the disfranchisement of African-American citizens in 1896 under the new state constitution and stayed that way through most of the 20th century.

It has, in the past, been represented by Democrat Segregationists.  For example, L Mendel Rivers served for 3 decades and voted against every civil rights bill, and joined the entire South Carolina delegation in signing the Southern Manifesto in 1954.  He attempted to have Charleston Federal judge, Waities Waring, impeached for having ruled that blacks had to be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary and that segregated schools were unconstitutional. When President Truman integrated the U.S. Army in 1948, Rivers called him a "dead chicken" and a "bankrupt politician."

Anyhoo, Tim Scott ran against Strom Thurmond's son, Paul, in the Republican primary.  Again, Tim is black.  Paul is white.  In this South Carolina district that you undoubtedly would claim is full of white racists, Congressman Scott received twice as many votes as Paul Thurmond, the son of a state legend, who actually was a segregationist.   Given the love Progressives have for them, I'm sure that idiots like Chris Matthews and Laurence O'Donnell would claim that "Thurmond" could be a "dog-whistle."  You know, something like "vote for me and I'll be a racist like my dad and Al Gore's father.  I'll make sure that we cut those welfare queens off of the teat and your tax dollars!"  Hint, hint.  Wink, wink. 

When given one last chance to "vote for the white guy and stop the n-word," the people of the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina voted for the black guy and buried the white Democrat by a margin of 65 to 29 percent.  There's only one word to describe that beating:  B-R-U-T-A-L.

How bad of a beating was it?  Consider this:  Alvin Greene lost to Senator Jim DeMint by a margin of 63% to 28%.

The black Tim Scott beat the white Democrat by a larger margin than the white Senator, Jim DeMint, beat the black Alvin Greene.

In case you need a refresher...

"Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays. Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That's something that would create jobs. So you see I think out of the box like that. It's not something a typical person would bring up. That's something that could happen, that makes sense. It's not a joke."

-- Democratic Candidate for Senate, Alvin Green

In the Democratic Party, you can be a Southern Governor and never take one act in your 12 years to change the confederate flag and sign Act 985 making the birthdays of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert E. Lee a state holiday - TO BE OBSERVED ON THE SAME DAY – AND STILL GET ELECTED President of the United States of America. As POTUS, you can then award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a staunch segregationist like Wm. J Fullbright. As the former POTUS, you can say "'A few years ago he would've been carrying our bags" about an African-American running to be the first true black President and be heralded at the convention to save the latter's failed bum. 

You can do all of this and STILL be the putative first black President of the United States of America.

Why?

Because in the Democratic Party, the Bobby Byrds never cooooommmmmme hoooooommmmme tooooooooo rooooooooossssttttt!!!

PS, Dottie:  Be sure to tell Jerry Brown, Pat Quinn, Martin O'Malley, Brian Schweitzer, etc., to use a shovel to apply sunscreen.  Their skin is so lily-white that I'm afraid that they'll get 3rd degree burns.