Michael Steele right; Jackie Robinson was in fact a Republican

Libertarian Republican ^ | October 15, 2009 | Eric Dondero

[blackandgoldfan]

The Leftwing Blogs and News Sites are burning up with a "gotcha" on Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. The RNC's new website was launched on Monday morning. There were some glitches. This led Leftwingers to scrutinize the entire site top-to-bottom. One of the talking points they came up with, was that "Jackie Robinson was not a Republican," as the site claimed in the GOP Heros section. Like all good sounding internet memes it's since been picked up on every leftwing website imaginable.

But there's a problem.

The meme is a complete and utter lie.

[nickcarraway]

Very interetsing

[backwoods-engineer]

Well, facts never bothered these lefty websites before; why start now?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

So was Martin Luther King, Jr.

But let’s not let FACTS get in the way...

[GeronL]

Does anyone remember Reconstruction?

There was something like a dozen black Republicans in Congress.

Does anyone recall being taught about them in school?
Does anyone recall a PBS documentary about them? a movie? a best selling book?

Just wondering.

[nutmeg]

bookmark

[trumandogz]

I was not aware that Nelson Rockefeller was a stalwart “conservative.”

[Rodebrecht]

Notice that Barry Goldwater and Robert Taft are excluded.

[fieldmarshaldj]

No, he wasn’t, and certainly not from 1960 onward. We’ve debunked that here endlessly (based on that error-riddled Frances Rice article from a few years ago which gets posted here almost twice a week, for which she also called a NY Socialist party activist, A. Phillip Randolph, a “Republican” in the article, too). I just had to correct a few others just this evening on it. :-\

[fieldmarshaldj]

The first Black Democrat wasn't elected to the U.S. House until 1934 (he beat a Black Republican incumbent). The first Black Male Democrat wasn't elected to the U.S. Senate until 2004, that being Zero. The GOP elected their first in 1870.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

OK. You win. The NRA is wrong, then? They used that info in ads that I distinctly remember?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yes, it was wrong. We were discussing it in another thread, and according to one book written about President Kennedy, MLK, Jr. only voted on one occasion for a Republican, and that was Ike in '56 (although I don't know the source the author has for that). He would've been eligible to vote in 1950 when he turned 21, and I have never seen any evidence of his voter (party) registration in AL or GA or for whom he voted for during that decade save that one particular unsourced race. The problem with all of this is that it's based on why he should've voted Republican, but not if he did, which is a big difference. The problem is that he was a Socialist, and he certainly did not believe in Conservatism as we know it. If he did indeed vote GOP for the decade of the '50s and never after, why would we even want to claim him ? That would be like our running around touting Jim Jeffords as a Republican. He may have been at one point, but never was after. See what I mean ?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“See what I mean ?”

Yes, I do. Thank you. :)