MD-SEN: GOP Group's Ad Claims Dr. King Was A Republican
Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Republican. That's the startling claim made in a new radio ad being aired in Maryland by a new group called the National Black Republican Association in its latest attempt to attract African Americans to the GOP. The ad — which can be heard here — features a dialogue between two women who are apparently African American. Among other things, they tell each other that Democrats founded the Ku Klux Klan and that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican — a curious assertion immediately dismissed by King experts. Quotes from the ad and more after the jump.
The ad, an apparent effort to boost the standing in the black community of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, says Democrats opposed all civil rights laws, "want to keep us poor while voting only Democrat," and goes after Democrats for cultural issues like abortion and gay marriage. Here are some choice quotes:
"Democrats passed those black codes and Jim Crow laws. Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan.""Democrats fought all civil rights legislation from the 1860s to the 1960s. Democrats released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks."
"Democrats want us to accept same-sex marriages, teen abortions without a parent's consent and suing the Boy Scouts for saying 'God' in their pledge."
"Republicans freed us from slavery and put our right to vote in the constitution."
The Associated Press says that Steele himself has disowned the ad, calling it "not helpful to the public discourse." AP also reports that experts on Dr. King are challenging the ad's key claims:
That assertion was challenged Thursday by Steve Klein, a senior researcher with the Atlanta-based King Center. Klein said King never endorsed candidates from either party."I think it's highly inaccurate to say he was a Republican because there's really no evidence," Klein said.
A King biographer, Taylor Branch, also said Thursday that King was nonpartisan.
Also from the AP article:
The KKK, never a political party, was a racist group of white men that started in the South after the Civil War, when Republicans were almost unheard of in former Confederate states. The mainstream Democratic Party never endorsed the Klan nor claimed to have founded it.
Ohh boy . . . they're swiftboating us on our own turf! This is terrible! Cardin needs to FIGHT BACK! The same goes for Menendez (fighting off Kean's allegations of corruption) and Webb (how Allen came to accuse WEBB of anti-Semitism is beyond me, since it was a reporter who asked him the questions.) What we need to remember, from a strategic point of view, is that THE TRUTH DOESN'T MATTER. If a story is played out before the public and beaten into their brains long enough, it becomes "truth" to them when they pull the levers on voting day. So, come on, Democrats-- FIGHT BACK ALREADY!!!
September 21, 2006 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny. I'm a "person of color" and I'm a Democrat precisely because of their stance on racial equality and civil rights since the 60s, even at the cost of many an election.
I'd like to hear an Al Sharpton one-line rebuttal on this.
September 21, 2006 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let' see if we can clear this up for everyone.....if they're Republican...you work for them...and if you believe corporate America whom they represent, has your best interests in mind at any time on any subject no matter what color you happen to be, they can also sell you beach front property in the desert. Give me a break! Rove the bottom feeder!
September 22, 2006 1:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
What they say--
They have no regard for history, none. If they say Democrats "founded' the KKK, they're wrong, but let's be candid here: the Southern Democrats managed to put together the segregationist fuling coalition in the south. It wasn't the Republicans, in those days. Republicans later decided not to care about anything but big money and Wall Street and pleasing tycoons.
And then came FDR, whose coalition was always hobbled by Southern Democrats. The coalition would come apart on the basis of race. It did in 1964. Within four years, the Nixon southern strategy started, and the parties, apparently, have switched places.
I saw an affecting documentary about Goldwater the other night. An honest conservative, but he did vote against the Civil Rights act. And he was probably the best of them.
September 22, 2006 2:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
The infuriating irony here here is that Southern Dems that belonged to the KKK are sure to vote Republican these days.
This kind of advertising is only GOTV for the GOP.
September 22, 2006 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
To reiterate and expand upon the point of my earlier comment, turning away and refusing to dignify this ad with a response is a LOSING strategy. Didn't we learn anything in 2004? They're trying to swift-boat us again! Maryland is a blue state, for cryin' out loud! So, don't just sit there idly and say that the ad is so ridiculous that no one will believe it. People are incredibly gullible, and if a message is trotted out before the public and repeated often enough, it becomes truth in their minds. It doesn't matter whether it's actually true or not– the PERCEPTION of truth is all that matters on election day. So, I exhort all of you to do your part. Call Cardin's offices. Tell his staffers that, in order to maintain the REAL truth in the minds of the voting public, the Cardin campaign has to FIGHT BACK against this ad!
And, for that matter, you should all do the same for Jim Webb– call his offices and tell the staff that the campaign needs to fight back against George Allen's allegations of anti-Semitism– and Bob Menendez– about the charges of corruption. Here are the numbers for all of them:
Ben Cardin:
Main Campaign Office
Catonsville, MD 21228
Phone: (410) 366-1900
Fax: (410) 455-0823
info@bencardin.com
Prince George's County Campaign Office
Fax: (301) 386-8206
Montgomery County Campaign Office (Bethesda)
Phone: (301) 986-6846
Fax: (301) 652-7211
______________________________________________
Jim Webb
Main Office
Phone: (703) 778-4080
Fax: (703) 778-4085
Roanoke Office
Phone: (540) 345-1192
Hampton Roads (Va. Beach) Office
Phone: (757) 200-9745
Charlottesville Office
Phone: (434) 295-0046
Richmond Office
Phone: (804) 440-8840
_________________________________________________
Bob Menendez
Campaign Office
(732) 729-9970
info@menendez2006.com
Bombard them with calls! Hop to it, folks!
September 22, 2006 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I figured that the black vote of 4 to 1 against Bush, while the rest of the country split almost evenly, was the ultimate disproof of "The Bell Curve" hypothesis of innate African American stupidity.
John
http://www.haberarts.com/
September 22, 2006 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink