The short comment was a joke criddic. Lighten up.
And once again, you dodge the main issue. The last three articles I posted addressed the question of Giuliani's racism - which Dmaien correctly charged him with and you asked for proof - as well as the racism of the Republican Party in terms of its strategy in winning elections.
Was anyone really still talking about baseball?
President Giuliani 2008? Wake me when it's over! - why do you guys think?
I'm not that short. How tall are you? 7? 9?Akash wrote:flipp525 wrote:I just don’t even respond to him anymore. Life’s too short
Incidentally so is he. Criddic's myspace says he's 5' 6".
About Rudy, I just don't see the big deal here. His favorite team is not in the series, so he roots for a team that is close to his home state and also close to another state that he needs to win the Republican nomination. If the Yankees were in play, he'd probably be all for them. It's not his fault they didn't make it.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
October 26, 2007
The Contender from a Ridiculous Party
Portrait of Rudy
By SAUL LANDAU
As Nature sends the world warnings about its production and consumption methods, Ridiculous Party candidates audition for voters with promises to deport immigrants and ban gay marriages. Wars rage in Africa and the Middle East, more than a billion people struggle against starvation, and Ridiculous candidates pledge eternal love of guns, the unborn and brain-dead. Disease spreads; Ridiculous Party aspirants vow to cut social funds and spend more on war.
Education and health systems face crises. A bridge in Minnesota and the dikes in New Orleans collapsed; others face imminent breakdown; kids shoot up or shoot up in -- classrooms. In a world demanding serious attention, the Ridiculous politician has devolved into vying in a contest of blatant attention getters, one in which the major candidates resemble opera singers warming up: they sing "me, me, me."
The Ridiculous Party and their rival, the Disappointing Party, have fielded actors for a grade B Hollywood comedy and OUR political reality.
The leading Ridiculous Party candidate, self-proclaimed 9-11 hero, invented a myth -- of his own heroism. As New York Mayor, he showed up unlike Bush -- at the scene of the tragedy after the planes hit the Towers and spent the day there, emanating a sense of calm. Since Bush didn't appear, Giuliani subsequently assumed the role of "the mayor who suffered" (albeit briefly) with the victims and their rescuers. Then, he proceeded to take advantage of the fear atmosphere generated by the attacks and stake his campaign on the image of the strong and in control chief executive. He is running for President as Mr. 9-11.
His major rival, Mitt "the Mormon" Romney, ex Massachusetts governor, describes himself as the candidate of optimism. And why not, with upwards of $200 million, he believes he deserves political power because such honor rightfully accrues to vast quantities of wealth. He has a nice smile and, unlike Giuliani, fat hair.
Two other Ridiculous contenders also sing their "Hey, I really want to govern in the worst way" song. John McCain promotes more US military involvement in Iraq while voters overwhelmingly favor withdrawal. Bush bungled the war, but he, McCain, would send in enough (many thousands more) troops and win it. This patter has resonated to the sound of checkbooks closing.
Where, ask the skeptics, will McCain find these troops, given that the army barely meets its monthly quota now and has had to resort to recruiting criminals and "illegal aliens who can go to Iraq and thus ear the right to citizenship. Does McCain want to return to the draft? Is that what parents of teenagers want to hear? Do conservative Americans want to relive scenes of the 1960s when students rallied and rioted against the Vietnam War and thousands fled the country to avoid the draft?
Fred Thompson, the actor with the hayseed accent a New York City DA on "Law and Order," has thus far excelled at boring his audiences. He has yet to explain why he wants to be president since he didn't rerun for his Senate seat because he said it was too much work.
None of the candidates even consider addressing issues that beset the people of this country or the world.
Giuliani poses as tough on "security" as a cover for mega ambition and mean spiritedness just ask the homeless of New York who found themselves beaten and jailed. In fact, he did not risk his life on 9-11, and certainly not his career by showing up after the planes hit the towers. The NY firefighters, however, blame him for causing countless deaths because he failed to provide them with working two-way radios, thus making it impossible for them to learn that the Tower in which hundreds of them busy rescuing people were about to collapse. A video shown by firefighters and their relatives claims Giuliani exploited 9/11 only to pump up his own image so he could run for president. They present compelling facts that Giuliani was negligent in not dealing with the needed communication devices. Some NY firefighters have openly called for an investigation. http://www.rudy-urbanlegend.com/
When Giuliani subsequently tried to mollify the families of the dead firefighters at the 9/11 Commission hearings by praising the dead men for staying inside to keep everyone calm, the audience booed and hissed. Nevertheless, facts aside, Giuliani has successfully appealed to the "order crowd" those that say "screw civil liberties and just stop crime" -- with his "tough" pseudo philosophy. He cheered police as they beat some poor blacks in Brooklyn's Crown Heights who were protesting against othodox Jews' behavior in their neighborhood.
"Freedom is about authority," explained Giuliani to a New York forum on crime on March 20, 1994. "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."
This kind of unliterary Orwellianism alongside his disdain for civil liberties might have provoked even his supporter, Jackie Mason, to call Giuliani "the greatest crime fighter that ever lived. He puts you in jail whether you're guilty or not."
Since leaving his post as mayor, Giuliani has made more than $15 million a year lobbying for causes as distinct as Saudi Arabia, tobacco, oil and drug companies, private prisons and Rupert Murdoch. He has become a major promoter of war against Iran and of course backs the war on Iraq but, like Bush and Cheney, he never served.
The image his campaign has projected, a moralist and adoring husband, might not coincide with some of his behavior. For example, he didn't telephone his second wife to tell her he was dumping her. He turned that task over to his attorney who apparently called the woman a "stuck pig." One cannot help recall another great conservative moralist, Newt Gingrich, who 86ed his wife just as soon as the anesthetic wore off from her cancer surgery.
Like the current lying, but pompous moron, Giuliani the sneering poseur loves photo ops: "Mission Accomplished George" on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln; Bullhorn Rudy posing at ground zero. Boasting about his own (imagined) heroism got him almost $3 million to write his biography: Leadership.
Rudy's national security based, free-market capitalism reflect his "changed mind" on abortion rights, gay rights and gun control, all of which he stood for as NY mayor. As Ridiculous candidate, he tries to appeal to fundamentalists who abhor abortion, gays (out of the closet) taxes and government?
On foreign policy, he remains a neo con, oblivious of the failure that group has imposed on the world in Iraq. To advise him on Middle East policy, Giuliani hired Michael Rubin, former idea man in Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans. One can find Rubin's originality and brilliance in such statements as: "In the Islamic world, confrontation may work better than dialogue. . ." Or, his urging of "military force to disarm Syria of weapons of mass destruction." ()
Scandal, however, haunts his presidential undertaking. Former NY Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in 2001, who Rudy nominated to run Homeland Security, made $6 million from stock options from a stun gun company that sold its ware to his department. Taser International, a Soprano-like company, aspired to forge greater business ties with Giuliani's mayoral office. Bernie faces federal charges "that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice." NY Daily News Oct 12, 2007
Rudy the hero, bullhorn at mouth, at the World Trade Center claimed "no significant problems" existed. Tough Rudy, after his day as a hero, went on a high fee speaking tour while cops, firemen and cleanup workers at the World Trade Center got sick from toxics.
The musk of corruption emanating fro Rudy's relations to Kerik, got stronger from the perfume of Senator David Vitter's (R-LA). This fervent anti-sinner endorsed Giuliani last March, before the media outed him for using hookers.
Futher attar came from a federal grand jury indictment of South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel -- for distribution of cocaine. Ravenal resigned as State chairman of Rudy's campaign.
Additional aromas arise from an accused (of you know what) priest who annulled Rudy's first marriage and then worked for his consulting firm. Rudy leads the Ridiculous Party in the polls and stands as the man who Hillary, lead polling star for the Disappointing Party, must fear most.
Stay tuned for the next act of Election Farce: a Tragi Comedy that Affects the World.
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau10262007.html
The Contender from a Ridiculous Party
Portrait of Rudy
By SAUL LANDAU
As Nature sends the world warnings about its production and consumption methods, Ridiculous Party candidates audition for voters with promises to deport immigrants and ban gay marriages. Wars rage in Africa and the Middle East, more than a billion people struggle against starvation, and Ridiculous candidates pledge eternal love of guns, the unborn and brain-dead. Disease spreads; Ridiculous Party aspirants vow to cut social funds and spend more on war.
Education and health systems face crises. A bridge in Minnesota and the dikes in New Orleans collapsed; others face imminent breakdown; kids shoot up or shoot up in -- classrooms. In a world demanding serious attention, the Ridiculous politician has devolved into vying in a contest of blatant attention getters, one in which the major candidates resemble opera singers warming up: they sing "me, me, me."
The Ridiculous Party and their rival, the Disappointing Party, have fielded actors for a grade B Hollywood comedy and OUR political reality.
The leading Ridiculous Party candidate, self-proclaimed 9-11 hero, invented a myth -- of his own heroism. As New York Mayor, he showed up unlike Bush -- at the scene of the tragedy after the planes hit the Towers and spent the day there, emanating a sense of calm. Since Bush didn't appear, Giuliani subsequently assumed the role of "the mayor who suffered" (albeit briefly) with the victims and their rescuers. Then, he proceeded to take advantage of the fear atmosphere generated by the attacks and stake his campaign on the image of the strong and in control chief executive. He is running for President as Mr. 9-11.
His major rival, Mitt "the Mormon" Romney, ex Massachusetts governor, describes himself as the candidate of optimism. And why not, with upwards of $200 million, he believes he deserves political power because such honor rightfully accrues to vast quantities of wealth. He has a nice smile and, unlike Giuliani, fat hair.
Two other Ridiculous contenders also sing their "Hey, I really want to govern in the worst way" song. John McCain promotes more US military involvement in Iraq while voters overwhelmingly favor withdrawal. Bush bungled the war, but he, McCain, would send in enough (many thousands more) troops and win it. This patter has resonated to the sound of checkbooks closing.
Where, ask the skeptics, will McCain find these troops, given that the army barely meets its monthly quota now and has had to resort to recruiting criminals and "illegal aliens who can go to Iraq and thus ear the right to citizenship. Does McCain want to return to the draft? Is that what parents of teenagers want to hear? Do conservative Americans want to relive scenes of the 1960s when students rallied and rioted against the Vietnam War and thousands fled the country to avoid the draft?
Fred Thompson, the actor with the hayseed accent a New York City DA on "Law and Order," has thus far excelled at boring his audiences. He has yet to explain why he wants to be president since he didn't rerun for his Senate seat because he said it was too much work.
None of the candidates even consider addressing issues that beset the people of this country or the world.
Giuliani poses as tough on "security" as a cover for mega ambition and mean spiritedness just ask the homeless of New York who found themselves beaten and jailed. In fact, he did not risk his life on 9-11, and certainly not his career by showing up after the planes hit the towers. The NY firefighters, however, blame him for causing countless deaths because he failed to provide them with working two-way radios, thus making it impossible for them to learn that the Tower in which hundreds of them busy rescuing people were about to collapse. A video shown by firefighters and their relatives claims Giuliani exploited 9/11 only to pump up his own image so he could run for president. They present compelling facts that Giuliani was negligent in not dealing with the needed communication devices. Some NY firefighters have openly called for an investigation. http://www.rudy-urbanlegend.com/
When Giuliani subsequently tried to mollify the families of the dead firefighters at the 9/11 Commission hearings by praising the dead men for staying inside to keep everyone calm, the audience booed and hissed. Nevertheless, facts aside, Giuliani has successfully appealed to the "order crowd" those that say "screw civil liberties and just stop crime" -- with his "tough" pseudo philosophy. He cheered police as they beat some poor blacks in Brooklyn's Crown Heights who were protesting against othodox Jews' behavior in their neighborhood.
"Freedom is about authority," explained Giuliani to a New York forum on crime on March 20, 1994. "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."
This kind of unliterary Orwellianism alongside his disdain for civil liberties might have provoked even his supporter, Jackie Mason, to call Giuliani "the greatest crime fighter that ever lived. He puts you in jail whether you're guilty or not."
Since leaving his post as mayor, Giuliani has made more than $15 million a year lobbying for causes as distinct as Saudi Arabia, tobacco, oil and drug companies, private prisons and Rupert Murdoch. He has become a major promoter of war against Iran and of course backs the war on Iraq but, like Bush and Cheney, he never served.
The image his campaign has projected, a moralist and adoring husband, might not coincide with some of his behavior. For example, he didn't telephone his second wife to tell her he was dumping her. He turned that task over to his attorney who apparently called the woman a "stuck pig." One cannot help recall another great conservative moralist, Newt Gingrich, who 86ed his wife just as soon as the anesthetic wore off from her cancer surgery.
Like the current lying, but pompous moron, Giuliani the sneering poseur loves photo ops: "Mission Accomplished George" on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln; Bullhorn Rudy posing at ground zero. Boasting about his own (imagined) heroism got him almost $3 million to write his biography: Leadership.
Rudy's national security based, free-market capitalism reflect his "changed mind" on abortion rights, gay rights and gun control, all of which he stood for as NY mayor. As Ridiculous candidate, he tries to appeal to fundamentalists who abhor abortion, gays (out of the closet) taxes and government?
On foreign policy, he remains a neo con, oblivious of the failure that group has imposed on the world in Iraq. To advise him on Middle East policy, Giuliani hired Michael Rubin, former idea man in Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans. One can find Rubin's originality and brilliance in such statements as: "In the Islamic world, confrontation may work better than dialogue. . ." Or, his urging of "military force to disarm Syria of weapons of mass destruction." ()
Scandal, however, haunts his presidential undertaking. Former NY Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in 2001, who Rudy nominated to run Homeland Security, made $6 million from stock options from a stun gun company that sold its ware to his department. Taser International, a Soprano-like company, aspired to forge greater business ties with Giuliani's mayoral office. Bernie faces federal charges "that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice." NY Daily News Oct 12, 2007
Rudy the hero, bullhorn at mouth, at the World Trade Center claimed "no significant problems" existed. Tough Rudy, after his day as a hero, went on a high fee speaking tour while cops, firemen and cleanup workers at the World Trade Center got sick from toxics.
The musk of corruption emanating fro Rudy's relations to Kerik, got stronger from the perfume of Senator David Vitter's (R-LA). This fervent anti-sinner endorsed Giuliani last March, before the media outed him for using hookers.
Futher attar came from a federal grand jury indictment of South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel -- for distribution of cocaine. Ravenal resigned as State chairman of Rudy's campaign.
Additional aromas arise from an accused (of you know what) priest who annulled Rudy's first marriage and then worked for his consulting firm. Rudy leads the Ridiculous Party in the polls and stands as the man who Hillary, lead polling star for the Disappointing Party, must fear most.
Stay tuned for the next act of Election Farce: a Tragi Comedy that Affects the World.
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau10262007.html
An Editorial in today's New York Daily News (which was always a big Giuliani booster):
Editorial
It was July 2002, and "America's mayor" was recounting for Reader's Digest how his Yankees-fan father would dress him in a little pinstripe uniform and send him out to play in Brooklyn - Dodgerland. "I had to physically defend myself from neighborhood kids who would attack me," Rudy Giuliani said. "Once they put a rope around my neck and tried to hang me."
"Why did your father continue sending you out in the uniform?" the interviewer asked. Answer: "He thought I would learn how to stand up for what I believed in. And he turned out to be right."
Well, no longer. Now that Rudy Giuliani is running for President, he has been flip-flopping as if he were part seal. Gay rights, gun control, immigration reform. Naturally, some people wondered what Giuliani really does believe in. On Tuesday, we learned: not the New York Yankees.
The guy with four Yankees World Series rings proclaimed in Boston, within shouting distance of New Hampshire primary voters: "I'm rooting for the Red Sox." Are you not ashamed, sir? Will you stop at nothing?
Edited By Damien on 1193388775
Editorial
It was July 2002, and "America's mayor" was recounting for Reader's Digest how his Yankees-fan father would dress him in a little pinstripe uniform and send him out to play in Brooklyn - Dodgerland. "I had to physically defend myself from neighborhood kids who would attack me," Rudy Giuliani said. "Once they put a rope around my neck and tried to hang me."
"Why did your father continue sending you out in the uniform?" the interviewer asked. Answer: "He thought I would learn how to stand up for what I believed in. And he turned out to be right."
Well, no longer. Now that Rudy Giuliani is running for President, he has been flip-flopping as if he were part seal. Gay rights, gun control, immigration reform. Naturally, some people wondered what Giuliani really does believe in. On Tuesday, we learned: not the New York Yankees.
The guy with four Yankees World Series rings proclaimed in Boston, within shouting distance of New Hampshire primary voters: "I'm rooting for the Red Sox." Are you not ashamed, sir? Will you stop at nothing?
Edited By Damien on 1193388775
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
And to add to criddic's argument, we can all be certain that Giuliani's latent Red Sox fandom is not a result of a deal with The Devil, because Satan has already announced his endorsement of Romney.
To be fair, he didn't actually say he would never back the Sox. He said he wouldn't make a deal with the devil to do it. His team isn't in the series, so I say it's not a big deal. If New Yorkers want to complain about it, fine, but if they wanna do something about it, get their team to win the important games that get them into the series. Duh!
Full disclosure: I am not a sports fan. I appreciate sports and its role in society, but I don't play 'em and I rarely watch them. However, I understand the loyalty factor at play here and I simply don't think this should be a make-or-break issue for voters.
Full disclosure: I am not a sports fan. I appreciate sports and its role in society, but I don't play 'em and I rarely watch them. However, I understand the loyalty factor at play here and I simply don't think this should be a make-or-break issue for voters.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
From the New York Daily News:
IN JULY, RUDY GIULIANI SWORE HE WOULD NEVER BACK RED SOX
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
October 25th
Maybe the Devil made him do it.
Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani declared himself a Red Sox fan on Tuesday, but as recently as last summer he vowed never to trade his Yankee soul to the Sox - even for the White House.
Last July, The Providence Journal asked the former mayor this fateful question: If the Devil said you can be President if you become a Red Sox fan, would you do it?
"I'm a Yankee fan," Giuliani replied then. "I always believe it's a sign of my being straight with people, about not wanting to fool them, that I was one of the first mayors to be willing to say I was a Yankee fan."
He went on to say he had "great respect" for true Red Sox fans, but as for becoming a Red Sox cheerleader in a Devil's bargain, "Probably that's a deal I could not make," he said.
Giuliani sounded a different note on Tuesday as he stumped through New Hampshire, a loyal province of the Red Sox Nation and home to the first presidential primary.
"I will be rooting for the Red Sox because I am an American League fan," he told a group of reporters, most of them local. "In this case, you won the division and we lost."
The comments were viewed by some as a traitorous play for votes from a man who keeps four Yankee World Series rings in his dresser and has long mocked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for dividing her baseball loyalties between the American League Yankees and National League Cubs.
Even Clinton had the good sense to lay off the pitch when asked whom she'd be rooting for in the World Series, which pits the Red Sox against the Colorado Rockies in Game 2 tonight.
"Neither of my teams is in," she told reporters in Denver, home of the Rockies, on Tuesday. "I'm going to be an interested but dispassionate observer."
Experts said the contrasting answers underscore the wildly different styles and strategies of the two New York-based front-runners.
"People need to see her as less confrontational and less divisive, which helps her," Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said.
"And he needs to be seen as more confrontational and willing to pick a fight, which helps him within his own party."
IN JULY, RUDY GIULIANI SWORE HE WOULD NEVER BACK RED SOX
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
October 25th
Maybe the Devil made him do it.
Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani declared himself a Red Sox fan on Tuesday, but as recently as last summer he vowed never to trade his Yankee soul to the Sox - even for the White House.
Last July, The Providence Journal asked the former mayor this fateful question: If the Devil said you can be President if you become a Red Sox fan, would you do it?
"I'm a Yankee fan," Giuliani replied then. "I always believe it's a sign of my being straight with people, about not wanting to fool them, that I was one of the first mayors to be willing to say I was a Yankee fan."
He went on to say he had "great respect" for true Red Sox fans, but as for becoming a Red Sox cheerleader in a Devil's bargain, "Probably that's a deal I could not make," he said.
Giuliani sounded a different note on Tuesday as he stumped through New Hampshire, a loyal province of the Red Sox Nation and home to the first presidential primary.
"I will be rooting for the Red Sox because I am an American League fan," he told a group of reporters, most of them local. "In this case, you won the division and we lost."
The comments were viewed by some as a traitorous play for votes from a man who keeps four Yankee World Series rings in his dresser and has long mocked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for dividing her baseball loyalties between the American League Yankees and National League Cubs.
Even Clinton had the good sense to lay off the pitch when asked whom she'd be rooting for in the World Series, which pits the Red Sox against the Colorado Rockies in Game 2 tonight.
"Neither of my teams is in," she told reporters in Denver, home of the Rockies, on Tuesday. "I'm going to be an interested but dispassionate observer."
Experts said the contrasting answers underscore the wildly different styles and strategies of the two New York-based front-runners.
"People need to see her as less confrontational and less divisive, which helps her," Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said.
"And he needs to be seen as more confrontational and willing to pick a fight, which helps him within his own party."
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Oh heck, why not inundate criddic with "Bob Herbert's Greatest Hits: Republicans are Racist"
NEW YORK TIMES
July 18, 2005
An Empty Apology
By BOB HERBERT
One of President Bush's surrogates went before the N.A.A.C.P. last week and apologized for the Republican Party's reprehensible, decades-long Southern strategy.
The surrogate, Ken Mehlman, is chairman of the Republican National Committee. Perhaps he meant well. But his words were worse than meaningless. They were insulting. The G.O.P.'s Southern strategy, racist at its core, still lives.
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," said Mr. Mehlman. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."
He made his remarks during an appearance in Milwaukee at the annual convention of the N.A.A.C.P., which has a relationship with President Bush reminiscent of the Hatfields' relationship with the McCoys. In a chilling act of political intimidation, the Internal Revenue Service responded to criticism of Mr. Bush by the N.A.A.C.P.'s chairman by launching an investigation of the group's tax-exempt status.
The Southern strategy meant much, much more than some members of the G.O.P. simply giving up on African-American votes. Put into play by Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in the mid- to late 1960's, it fed like a starving beast on the resentment of whites who were scornful of blacks and furious about the demise of segregation and other civil rights advances. The idea was to snatch the white racist vote away from the Democratic Party, which had committed such unpardonable sins as enacting the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and enforcing desegregation statutes.
The important thing to keep in mind was how deliberate and pernicious the strategy was. Last month a jury in Philadelphia, Miss., convicted an 80-year-old man, Edgar Ray Killen, of manslaughter in the slaying of three civil rights workers - Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney - in the summer of 1964. It was a crime that made much of the nation tremble, and revolted anyone with a true sense of justice.
So what did Ronald Reagan do in his first run for the presidency, 16 years after the murder, in the summer of 1980? He chose the site of the murders, Philadelphia, Miss., as the perfect place to send an important symbolic message. Mr. Reagan kicked off his general election campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, an annual gathering that was famous for its diatribes by segregationist politicians. His message: "I believe in states' rights."
Mr. Reagan's running mate was George H. W. Bush, who, in his own run for president in 1988, thought it was a good idea to exploit racial fears with the notorious Willie Horton ads about a black prisoner who raped a white woman. Mr. Bush's campaign manager, Lee Atwater, said at the time that the Horton case was a "values issue, particularly in the South - and if we hammer at these over and over, we are going to win."
Mr. Bush's son, the current president, has been as devoted as an acolyte to the Southern strategy, despite anything Ken Mehlman might think. Like so many other Republican politicians and presidential wannabes, George W. Bush was happy to appear at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., at a time when the school was blatantly racially discriminatory.
And in both of Mr. Bush's presidential campaigns, his supporters, especially his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, have gone out of their way to prevent or discourage blacks from voting. In a particularly vile episode last year, Florida state troopers conducted a criminal investigation that zeroed in on black voter turnout efforts in Orlando. A number of people were indicted, including the mayor, Buddy Dyer, a Democrat who was then suspended from office.
In April, with the election safely out of the way, the indictments were dropped and Mr. Dyer was reinstated as mayor.
At its heart, the Southern strategy remains the same, a cynical and remarkably successful divide-and-conquer strategy that nurtures the bigotry of whites and is utterly contemptuous of blacks.
My guess is that Mr. Mehlman's apology was less about starting a stampede of blacks into the G.O.P. than about softening the party's image in the eyes of moderate white voters. If the apology was serious, it would mean the Southern strategy was kaput. And we know that's not true.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/opinion/18herbert.html
NEW YORK TIMES
Racism and the G.O.P.
By BOB HERBERT
December 12, 2002
Strom Thurmond was screaming and the crowd was going wild. ''There's not enough troops in the Army,'' he said, ''to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our schools and into our homes.''
That was in 1948. Mr. Thurmond, the governor of South Carolina at the time, was accepting the presidential nomination of the States' Rights Democratic Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats. The only reason the party existed was to advance the cause of white supremacy. Mr. Thurmond and his rabid followers felt that the national Democratic Party wasn't racist enough.
Fast-forward to 2002. Mr. Thurmond, who was born in 1902, is still with us and, in some execrable corners of the Republican Party, so are his racist midcentury attitudes. He's a hero to Trent Lott, the Senate Republican leader, who's now stuck in a morass of controversy for his recent ringing endorsement of Mr. Thurmond's 1948 campaign.
But Mr. Lott is not the only culprit here. The Republican Party has become a haven for white racist attitudes and anti-black policies. The party of Lincoln is now a safe house for bigotry. It's the party of the Southern strategies and the Willie Horton campaigns and Bob Jones University and the relentless and unconscionable efforts to disenfranchise black voters. For those who now think the Democratic Party is not racist enough, the answer is the G.O.P. And there are precious few voices anywhere in the G.O.P. willing to step up and say that this is wrong.
Mr. Lott got into trouble last week when, at a party for Mr. Thurmond's 100th birthday, he told the guests with great emphasis: ''I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.''
That's the Senate leader of the Republican Party speaking. And despite an apology squeezed out of him by the controversy, that's what Trent Lott believes. He made a similar comment in 1980 after Mr. Thurmond had delivered one of his frenzied speeches at a campaign rally for Ronald Reagan. Referring to Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Lott said: ''You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in today.''
Much of the current success of the Republican Party was built on the deliberate exploitation of very similar sentiments. One of the things I remember about Mr. Reagan's 1980 presidential run was that his first major appearance in the general election campaign was in Philadelphia, Miss., which just happened to be the place where three civil rights workers -- Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney -- were murdered in 1964.
During that appearance, Mr. Reagan told his audience, ''I believe in states' rights.''
Enough said.
Whenever I think about that appearance I can't help also thinking about my friend Carolyn Goodman, who after all these years still grieves for the loss of her son, Andrew.
One of the controversies that arose during the Reagan presidency concerned Bob Jones University, a religious school in Greenville, S.C., that opposed the so-called mingling of the races. Interracial dating and marriage were forbidden. (The ban was lifted in March 2000.)
The G.O.P. bond with Bob Jones was an intense one, despite the fact that a former head of the university, Bob Jones Jr., had engaged in an astonishing series of attacks on Catholics in the 1980's. ''The papacy,'' he said, ''is the religion of Antichrist and is a satanic system.''
Still, Republican presidential wannabes and other big-time G.O.P. leaders would stumble over each other year after shameful year to appear at the school. George W. Bush (whose brother Jeb and sister-in-law Columba would have been expelled from Bob Jones for having dared to fall in love and marry) was among the G.O.P. biggies who appeared at the school while its racially discriminatory policies were in effect.
There are calls now for the ouster of Trent Lott as the Senate Republican leader. I say let him stay. He's a direct descendant of the Dixiecrats and a first-rate example of what much of his party has become.
Keep him in plain sight. His presence is instructive. As long as we keep in mind that it isn't only him.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst....ted=all
NEW YORK TIMES
July 18, 2005
An Empty Apology
By BOB HERBERT
One of President Bush's surrogates went before the N.A.A.C.P. last week and apologized for the Republican Party's reprehensible, decades-long Southern strategy.
The surrogate, Ken Mehlman, is chairman of the Republican National Committee. Perhaps he meant well. But his words were worse than meaningless. They were insulting. The G.O.P.'s Southern strategy, racist at its core, still lives.
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," said Mr. Mehlman. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."
He made his remarks during an appearance in Milwaukee at the annual convention of the N.A.A.C.P., which has a relationship with President Bush reminiscent of the Hatfields' relationship with the McCoys. In a chilling act of political intimidation, the Internal Revenue Service responded to criticism of Mr. Bush by the N.A.A.C.P.'s chairman by launching an investigation of the group's tax-exempt status.
The Southern strategy meant much, much more than some members of the G.O.P. simply giving up on African-American votes. Put into play by Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in the mid- to late 1960's, it fed like a starving beast on the resentment of whites who were scornful of blacks and furious about the demise of segregation and other civil rights advances. The idea was to snatch the white racist vote away from the Democratic Party, which had committed such unpardonable sins as enacting the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and enforcing desegregation statutes.
The important thing to keep in mind was how deliberate and pernicious the strategy was. Last month a jury in Philadelphia, Miss., convicted an 80-year-old man, Edgar Ray Killen, of manslaughter in the slaying of three civil rights workers - Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney - in the summer of 1964. It was a crime that made much of the nation tremble, and revolted anyone with a true sense of justice.
So what did Ronald Reagan do in his first run for the presidency, 16 years after the murder, in the summer of 1980? He chose the site of the murders, Philadelphia, Miss., as the perfect place to send an important symbolic message. Mr. Reagan kicked off his general election campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, an annual gathering that was famous for its diatribes by segregationist politicians. His message: "I believe in states' rights."
Mr. Reagan's running mate was George H. W. Bush, who, in his own run for president in 1988, thought it was a good idea to exploit racial fears with the notorious Willie Horton ads about a black prisoner who raped a white woman. Mr. Bush's campaign manager, Lee Atwater, said at the time that the Horton case was a "values issue, particularly in the South - and if we hammer at these over and over, we are going to win."
Mr. Bush's son, the current president, has been as devoted as an acolyte to the Southern strategy, despite anything Ken Mehlman might think. Like so many other Republican politicians and presidential wannabes, George W. Bush was happy to appear at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., at a time when the school was blatantly racially discriminatory.
And in both of Mr. Bush's presidential campaigns, his supporters, especially his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, have gone out of their way to prevent or discourage blacks from voting. In a particularly vile episode last year, Florida state troopers conducted a criminal investigation that zeroed in on black voter turnout efforts in Orlando. A number of people were indicted, including the mayor, Buddy Dyer, a Democrat who was then suspended from office.
In April, with the election safely out of the way, the indictments were dropped and Mr. Dyer was reinstated as mayor.
At its heart, the Southern strategy remains the same, a cynical and remarkably successful divide-and-conquer strategy that nurtures the bigotry of whites and is utterly contemptuous of blacks.
My guess is that Mr. Mehlman's apology was less about starting a stampede of blacks into the G.O.P. than about softening the party's image in the eyes of moderate white voters. If the apology was serious, it would mean the Southern strategy was kaput. And we know that's not true.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/opinion/18herbert.html
NEW YORK TIMES
Racism and the G.O.P.
By BOB HERBERT
December 12, 2002
Strom Thurmond was screaming and the crowd was going wild. ''There's not enough troops in the Army,'' he said, ''to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our schools and into our homes.''
That was in 1948. Mr. Thurmond, the governor of South Carolina at the time, was accepting the presidential nomination of the States' Rights Democratic Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats. The only reason the party existed was to advance the cause of white supremacy. Mr. Thurmond and his rabid followers felt that the national Democratic Party wasn't racist enough.
Fast-forward to 2002. Mr. Thurmond, who was born in 1902, is still with us and, in some execrable corners of the Republican Party, so are his racist midcentury attitudes. He's a hero to Trent Lott, the Senate Republican leader, who's now stuck in a morass of controversy for his recent ringing endorsement of Mr. Thurmond's 1948 campaign.
But Mr. Lott is not the only culprit here. The Republican Party has become a haven for white racist attitudes and anti-black policies. The party of Lincoln is now a safe house for bigotry. It's the party of the Southern strategies and the Willie Horton campaigns and Bob Jones University and the relentless and unconscionable efforts to disenfranchise black voters. For those who now think the Democratic Party is not racist enough, the answer is the G.O.P. And there are precious few voices anywhere in the G.O.P. willing to step up and say that this is wrong.
Mr. Lott got into trouble last week when, at a party for Mr. Thurmond's 100th birthday, he told the guests with great emphasis: ''I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.''
That's the Senate leader of the Republican Party speaking. And despite an apology squeezed out of him by the controversy, that's what Trent Lott believes. He made a similar comment in 1980 after Mr. Thurmond had delivered one of his frenzied speeches at a campaign rally for Ronald Reagan. Referring to Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Lott said: ''You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in today.''
Much of the current success of the Republican Party was built on the deliberate exploitation of very similar sentiments. One of the things I remember about Mr. Reagan's 1980 presidential run was that his first major appearance in the general election campaign was in Philadelphia, Miss., which just happened to be the place where three civil rights workers -- Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney -- were murdered in 1964.
During that appearance, Mr. Reagan told his audience, ''I believe in states' rights.''
Enough said.
Whenever I think about that appearance I can't help also thinking about my friend Carolyn Goodman, who after all these years still grieves for the loss of her son, Andrew.
One of the controversies that arose during the Reagan presidency concerned Bob Jones University, a religious school in Greenville, S.C., that opposed the so-called mingling of the races. Interracial dating and marriage were forbidden. (The ban was lifted in March 2000.)
The G.O.P. bond with Bob Jones was an intense one, despite the fact that a former head of the university, Bob Jones Jr., had engaged in an astonishing series of attacks on Catholics in the 1980's. ''The papacy,'' he said, ''is the religion of Antichrist and is a satanic system.''
Still, Republican presidential wannabes and other big-time G.O.P. leaders would stumble over each other year after shameful year to appear at the school. George W. Bush (whose brother Jeb and sister-in-law Columba would have been expelled from Bob Jones for having dared to fall in love and marry) was among the G.O.P. biggies who appeared at the school while its racially discriminatory policies were in effect.
There are calls now for the ouster of Trent Lott as the Senate Republican leader. I say let him stay. He's a direct descendant of the Dixiecrats and a first-rate example of what much of his party has become.
Keep him in plain sight. His presence is instructive. As long as we keep in mind that it isn't only him.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst....ted=all
And here's a more recent one by NY Times columnist Bob Herbert, showing how racist the GOP is, including politicians like Giuliani.
September 25, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Ugly Side of the G.O.P.
By BOB HERBERT
I applaud the thousands of people, many of them poor, who traveled from around the country to protest in Jena, La., last week. But what I’d really like to see is a million angry protesters marching on the headquarters of the National Republican Party in Washington.
Enough is enough. Last week the Republicans showed once again just how anti-black their party really is.
The G.O.P. has spent the last 40 years insulting, disenfranchising and otherwise stomping on the interests of black Americans. Last week, the residents of Washington, D.C., with its majority black population, came remarkably close to realizing a goal they have sought for decades — a voting member of Congress to represent them.
A majority in Congress favored the move, and the House had already approved it. But the Republican minority in the Senate — with the enthusiastic support of President Bush — rose up on Tuesday and said: “No way, baby.”
At least 57 senators favored the bill, a solid majority. But the Republicans prevented a key motion on the measure from receiving the 60 votes necessary to move it forward in the Senate. The bill died.
At the same time that the Republicans were killing Congressional representation for D.C. residents, the major G.O.P. candidates for president were offering a collective slap in the face to black voters nationally by refusing to participate in a long-scheduled, nationally televised debate focusing on issues important to minorities.
The radio and television personality Tavis Smiley worked for a year to have a pair of these debates televised on PBS, one for the Democratic candidates and the other for the Republicans. The Democratic debate was held in June, and all the major candidates participated.
The Republican debate is scheduled for Thursday. But Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have all told Mr. Smiley: “No way, baby.”
They won’t be there. They can’t be bothered debating issues that might be of interest to black Americans. After all, they’re Republicans.
This is the party of the Southern strategy — the party that ran, like panting dogs, after the votes of segregationist whites who were repelled by the very idea of giving equal treatment to blacks. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. (Willie Horton) Bush, George W. (Compassionate Conservative) Bush — they all ran with that lousy pack.
Dr. Carolyn Goodman, a woman I was privileged to call a friend, died last month at the age of 91. She was the mother of Andrew Goodman, one of the three young civil rights activists shot to death by rabid racists near Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964.
Dr. Goodman, one of the most decent people I have ever known, carried the ache of that loss with her every day of her life.
In one of the vilest moves in modern presidential politics, Ronald Reagan, the ultimate hero of this latter-day Republican Party, went out of his way to kick off his general election campaign in 1980 in that very same Philadelphia, Miss. He was not there to send the message that he stood solidly for the values of Andrew Goodman. He was there to assure the bigots that he was with them.
“I believe in states’ rights,” said Mr. Reagan. The crowd roared.
In 1981, during the first year of Mr. Reagan’s presidency, the late Lee Atwater gave an interview to a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University, explaining the evolution of the Southern strategy:
“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”
In 1991, the first President Bush poked a finger in the eye of black America by selecting the egregious Clarence Thomas for the seat on the Supreme Court that had been held by the revered Thurgood Marshall. The fact that there is a rigid quota on the court, permitting one black and one black only to serve at a time, is itself racist.
Mr. Bush seemed to be saying, “All right, you want your black on the court? Boy, have I got one for you.”
Republicans improperly threw black voters off the rolls in Florida in the contested presidential election of 2000, and sent Florida state troopers into the homes of black voters to intimidate them in 2004.
Blacks have been remarkably quiet about this sustained mistreatment by the Republican Party, which says a great deal about the quality of black leadership in the U.S. It’s time for that passive, masochistic posture to end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/opinion/25herbert.html
September 25, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Ugly Side of the G.O.P.
By BOB HERBERT
I applaud the thousands of people, many of them poor, who traveled from around the country to protest in Jena, La., last week. But what I’d really like to see is a million angry protesters marching on the headquarters of the National Republican Party in Washington.
Enough is enough. Last week the Republicans showed once again just how anti-black their party really is.
The G.O.P. has spent the last 40 years insulting, disenfranchising and otherwise stomping on the interests of black Americans. Last week, the residents of Washington, D.C., with its majority black population, came remarkably close to realizing a goal they have sought for decades — a voting member of Congress to represent them.
A majority in Congress favored the move, and the House had already approved it. But the Republican minority in the Senate — with the enthusiastic support of President Bush — rose up on Tuesday and said: “No way, baby.”
At least 57 senators favored the bill, a solid majority. But the Republicans prevented a key motion on the measure from receiving the 60 votes necessary to move it forward in the Senate. The bill died.
At the same time that the Republicans were killing Congressional representation for D.C. residents, the major G.O.P. candidates for president were offering a collective slap in the face to black voters nationally by refusing to participate in a long-scheduled, nationally televised debate focusing on issues important to minorities.
The radio and television personality Tavis Smiley worked for a year to have a pair of these debates televised on PBS, one for the Democratic candidates and the other for the Republicans. The Democratic debate was held in June, and all the major candidates participated.
The Republican debate is scheduled for Thursday. But Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have all told Mr. Smiley: “No way, baby.”
They won’t be there. They can’t be bothered debating issues that might be of interest to black Americans. After all, they’re Republicans.
This is the party of the Southern strategy — the party that ran, like panting dogs, after the votes of segregationist whites who were repelled by the very idea of giving equal treatment to blacks. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. (Willie Horton) Bush, George W. (Compassionate Conservative) Bush — they all ran with that lousy pack.
Dr. Carolyn Goodman, a woman I was privileged to call a friend, died last month at the age of 91. She was the mother of Andrew Goodman, one of the three young civil rights activists shot to death by rabid racists near Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964.
Dr. Goodman, one of the most decent people I have ever known, carried the ache of that loss with her every day of her life.
In one of the vilest moves in modern presidential politics, Ronald Reagan, the ultimate hero of this latter-day Republican Party, went out of his way to kick off his general election campaign in 1980 in that very same Philadelphia, Miss. He was not there to send the message that he stood solidly for the values of Andrew Goodman. He was there to assure the bigots that he was with them.
“I believe in states’ rights,” said Mr. Reagan. The crowd roared.
In 1981, during the first year of Mr. Reagan’s presidency, the late Lee Atwater gave an interview to a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University, explaining the evolution of the Southern strategy:
“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”
In 1991, the first President Bush poked a finger in the eye of black America by selecting the egregious Clarence Thomas for the seat on the Supreme Court that had been held by the revered Thurgood Marshall. The fact that there is a rigid quota on the court, permitting one black and one black only to serve at a time, is itself racist.
Mr. Bush seemed to be saying, “All right, you want your black on the court? Boy, have I got one for you.”
Republicans improperly threw black voters off the rolls in Florida in the contested presidential election of 2000, and sent Florida state troopers into the homes of black voters to intimidate them in 2004.
Blacks have been remarkably quiet about this sustained mistreatment by the Republican Party, which says a great deal about the quality of black leadership in the U.S. It’s time for that passive, masochistic posture to end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/opinion/25herbert.html