[lelio]

The prominent Democrat officially severed his ties to the Klan in 1943.
And people on FR get tired of the Algores talking about Bush stealing the election in 2000. Jimmie-Christmas, Byrd was involved in the KKK 60 years ago! Reading posts on here and listening to Sean Hannity mention it over and over again make conservatives look like fools or Johnny-One-Notes.

[CWRWinger]

Yes, the demokrats and the left are enormous hypocrites, but they use 'race', KKK, Confederate flag, slavery, etc. as tools to overthrow the Constitutional government of the USA. Once they have accomplished this, blacks, minorities, and those they have used, will be discarded like a fast food wrapper.

I don't doubt that klintoon and his socialist/communist cronies use the enwurd all the time. It is their character to demean.

[Consort]

Don't go there. These kinds of threads make everybody look bad, and, besides, there are plenty of closets full of skeletons across the political spectrum. Give it up.

[jjm2111]

Good post. We need to be reminded of this stuff.

[swheats]

This puts Jessie in a corner. Especially if he will insist on accountability for a comment by Lott spoken on the fly.

[ravingnutter]

Ummm...I do have to say I take exception to the remarks about Truman being in the KKK...he was related to me by marriage (6th cousin), I met him and Bess when I was young. I cannot imagine him doing something like that and there are others that back up my opinion. In fact, the KKK opposed him for a county judgeship in 1922. From what I know about the man, he was a champion of civil rights, not a racist.

Also see:

Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks

An excerpt:

Harry Truman and Civil Rights presents a riveting account of the little-known, yet pivotal role President Harry Truman played in the cause for civil rights. . . . President Truman’s bravery and dogged determination opened many doors and forever changed the course of history. This book is a tribute to the visionary courage displayed by this statesman who began laying the foundation to right the horrific injustices that prevailed against people of color during his time.”

—Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Now, if even Kweisi praised him on civil rights, I know that the charges just cannot be true.

[Saundra Duffy]

California's Lt Gov Cruz Bustamante also used the "N" word in a speech . . . but he's a democrat so it's all right. P.S. George Wallace was a democrat.

[Saundra Duffy]

I think it's embarrassing the way African Americans are willing to shine the shoes of White democrats. It's humiliating!!!

[Eva]

Actually, Lani Guinier, the Clinton appointee that was dubbed,"The Quota Queen," stated in her book that Clinton was reported to have made a very similar remark to that of Trent Lott. She reported that Clinton said in some kind of fund raising meeting, that, "We wouldn't have all the problems that we have today, if we hadn't lost the war." (That probably shouldn't be in quotation marks because it is not an exact quote, just from memory.)

[weegee]

Some additional details and comments:

David Duke originally ran in elections as a Democrat before he switched to the Republican party.

In one incarnation of the KKK's long history, they listed Republicans among those they opposed.

Unelected but still validated by the media, Jesse Jackson was not ostricized for his Hymietown comment. If he was (as Jimmy the Greek's career was tainted after some offcolor remarks) we would not be hearing from him today (at least without his bigotries on display).

Bill Clinton is at liberty to use the verbotten N-word as he is an honorary black man. < /sarcasm >

A member of the KKK conspired with other Democrats to try to taint Phil Graham's history with a fraudulently created backdated KKK membership card. The hoax was revealed but such action was tried because it was an effective technique to smear a candidate. Texas Monthly did a coverstory on this a number of years back (although they waited until late in the article to reveal that no Graham did not belong to the Klan, sounds like a tabloid tactic to proclaim "Is xxx a member of the KKK?" and then bury the answer as "no" deep in the article).

Another of the CBS staff (from 60 minutes) reportedly also dropped his poker face and made some offensive racial comments. I think that some website used to sell copies of this footage.

[Spiff]

If anyone has a video clip of Sen. Byrd making the "I've seen a lot of white niggers" comment, I'd like to get a link to it or something. I want to edit it as a loop so that Byrd is saying the word "niggers" over and over and over again. And make sure that it is clearly labeled to show that it is Senator (Democrat - WV) Robert Byrd making the comment.

Also, anything with Jesse Jackson saying "Hymie Town" could be similarly edited to have him saying "Hymie" over and over and over again. We could have fun with this.

[witnesstothefall]

Defending Lott on this is a mistake politically, and it's just wrong. If the quote I read is accurate, they are the words of an unreconstructed segregationist. If Lott spoke them, the words are his undoing. They should not be the Party's, however. /$.02

[Outraged]

bump

[syriacus]

Truman refused to speak out against lynchings in 1946, because he felt the timing wasn't right!!

A Twentieth Century Joshua

In 1946 [Paul Robeson] headed a delegation that met with President Truman to demand government action against lynching. Robeson urged Truman to issue "a formal public statement" condemning lynching and to come up with "a definite legislative and educational program to end the disgrace of mob violence."

Heavily dependent on the support of Southern senators and congressmen, Truman balked, saying the time wasn't right for such actions. To which Robeson responded that if the Government did not do something to curb lynching, "Negroes would!" Enraged, Truman said that this sounded like a "threat." It was no threat, Robeson replied, merely a statement of fact.

[Robeson] was a bitter opponent of those who counseled "gradualism" in the effort to obtain equal rights and minced no words in saying so. "The idea itself," he said, "is but another form of race discrimination: in no other area of our society are law-breakers granted an indefinite time to comply with the provisions of law."

[Orion]

The "N-word." WOW! We are so politically correct here on FR.

Rent "Gone With the Wind."

[lilylangtree]

The democrazies hypocrisy is sickening. Since they don't any issues to grab the media's view, they're grasping at straws and making a media event. Frankly, Byrd being 4th in line of succession is downright scary.

[lilylangtree]

Enjoyed reading your comments. I agree that it's about time people went on the offensive to counteract this obvious smear campaign against Trent Lott. The democrazies are trying to find an opportunity to gain the momentum back, and this is just another instance of trying to do just that in a negative way. Hope you don't mind but I copied your comments and forwarded to a host of Lott supporters with the hope they'll start circulating it.

[lilylangtree]

Enjoyed reading your comments. I agree that it's about time people went on the offensive to counteract this obvious smear campaign against Trent Lott. The democrazies are trying to find an opportunity to gain the momentum back, and this is just another instance of trying to do just that in a negative way. Hope you don't mind but I copied your post and forwarded to a host of Lott supporters with the hope they'll start circulating it.

[lilylangtree]

Previously, I accidentally posted the same thing twice. Sorry! I enjoyed your comments so much that I also posted them on an AOL opinion website re GOP and Racism. I hope you don't mind. I really agree that the best defense is a good offense. Your comments make that truism quite clear.

[GOPcapitalist]

You are absolutely right. It is never mentioned anymore that the Ku Klux Klan had one of their largest rallies in history at the 1924 Democratic National Convention in New York. Klan members made up a huge segment of the delegates at that convention. NY Governor Al Smith led a minority faction of the delegates, who proposed a resolution distancing the party from the KKK. The Klan delegates united and defeated the resolution. Shortly afterwards some 20,000 Klansmen descended upon a field outside of New York City to celebrate their victory at the Democrat convention. They cursed effigies of Smith, spewed racist hate, and ended the thing with a giant cross burning. It got national news back then, appalling many ordinary citizens who then elected Republican Calvin Coolidge in a landslide. The history books and the media have ignored the Democrat's infamous "Klanbake Convention" of 1924 ever since.