Robert Byrd has been a Senator since 1959, when KKK membership was not particularly rare or controversial in the South (Byrd left the organization in 1953).

Byrd now admits his racial views were badly misguided. So why should this still be an issue?

MARCU$

Do you honestly think that if Mitch McConnel had said such a thing that Rev. Al, Jesse, Barack, et. al. would be so forgiving? You know the answer to that of course.

Hell, a few years ago, Barack Obama would be getting Bill Clinton coffee!

Let me ask you, if the GOP offered up as Senator a man who was once a card-carrying member of the KKK how would that be treated?

Lets let black people take the lead on the questionl. Oops. Obama has already forgiven Reid. TNC over at the Atlantic has a nuanced approach. But to watch the Sunday talking-head shows and almost exclusively see white faces chattering about this says a lot to me. Liz Cheney being outraged? Please.

Blacks (72%) are more likely than whites (52%) to rate poverty a big problem; to say outside circumstances are the main cause of poverty (57% to 44%); to say that poor people have hard lives (59% to 39%); to say it is harder today than it was ten years ago to get out of poverty through hard work (58% to 48%); to say that the government could eliminate poverty (67% to 40%); and to say that most welfare recipients really want to work (54% to 45%). Whites (49%) are more likely than blacks (36%) to say poor people are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty; to say that poor people have it easy (49% to 31%); to say the government cannot eliminate poverty (56% to 31%); and to say that welfare encourages women to have more children than they would otherwise (60% to 48%). These divisions generally hold across income lines.

Meanwhile from a very recent Pew polling:

“Has the country done enough to provide Blacks equal rights with Whites?”
Whites 54% yes, 42% no
Blacks 13% yes, 81% no

If you want to see the weirdest result from that poll, however:

Do you like the way Barack Obama and his family lead their life at the White House, or not?
Whites – 61% yes, 15% no (Republicans 24% no)
Blacks – 91% yes (8% don’t know)

I can’t think of a bigger divide than that last question – somehow, 24% of Republicans don’t like the way Barack Obama and his family are acting in the White House … while an infintessimal number of blacks find fault.

That’s a statistic considering virtually all the white racist conservatives used to be Democrats before Nixon’s “southern strategy” got the ball rolling towards realignment.

> The point being, that very often people have no clue what they are voting for or why.

“What’s the matter with Kansas?!” “They cling to their guns and bibles!” etc.. This works both ways, really.

> By saying Blacks have no reason to be in the GOP, you are basically saying that without the
> paternalistic programs and protection of the Democratic party they would not survive.

Well, let’s not forget blacks had to overcome outright OPPOSITION in the 1960s. Bill Buckley may have done some admirable things in life, but he was dead wrong about racial segregation in the 1950s and 60. And many white conservatives continue to dismiss the value of “multiculturalism”, quotas for minorities and women etc.. Little wonder then that minorities tend to vote Democratic.

MARCU$

Recently Howard Stern interviewed several African-Americans on ths streets of Harlem and presented to them a litany of Obama’s positions on taxes, Iraq, Afghanistan, Health Care etc. He asked them if they supported Obama on these initiatives. To a man/woman they all agreed whole-heartedly with each and every position. There was one small glitch though…the positions he was attributing to Barack Obama were actually JOHN MCCAIN’S!

The point being, that very often people have no clue what they are voting for or why. They just do what their local leaders tell them to do. And these local leaders are all plugged in philosophically and, , more importantly, financially to getting the democratic machine moving on and on. Jesse Jackson (still very relevant), Al Sharpton, etc. have a very vested interest in race relations being in disharmony…it is how they derive their power, influence, celebity and, of course, income.

I submit that ANY group that vote 9:1 for one party is going to be completely taken for granted by the ones getting the 9 and written off and thus ignored by the ones getting the rare 1.

By saying Blacks have no reason to be in the GOP, you are basically saying that without the paternalistic programs and protection of the Democratic party they would not survive. Perhaps you are right. But then had they been 5:5 the last half century, perhaps this would have been different.

(By the way. Civil Rights–which has nothing to do with the Welfare State which was wealth re-distribution and hand-outs –were supported by a larger % of Republican than Democratic legislators but…whatever).