Ted Cruz Compares Democrats to the Ku Klux Klan

[Bojack Horseman]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

[136or142]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

It was a complicated process in so far as most Republicans didn't want Goldwater to be their party's nominee and Goldwater didn't win on the issue, but for the Republican Party whose hyper partisan members like to lie that 'they are the true party of civil rights' nominating a person who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be their Presidential standard bearer in the 1964 election hardly bears that out.

Ronald Reagan was also for the 1964 Civil Rights Act before he was against it.

So, for those keeping score:
Republican Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 2
Democratic Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 0

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

It was a complicated process in so far as most Republicans didn't want Goldwater to be their party's nominee and Goldwater didn't win on the issue, but for the Republican Party whose hyper partisan members like to lie that 'they are the true party of civil rights' nominating a person who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be their Presidential standard bearer in the 1964 election hardly bears that out.

Ronald Reagan was also for the 1964 Civil Rights Act before he was against it.

So, for those keeping score:
Republican Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 2
Democratic Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 0

If we extend it to pre-1965 legislation, I think the score gets a heck of a lot more even.  Eisenhower supported both civil rights bills that he signed, and while Stevenson might have been for such a bill (not sure what he promised on the campaign trail), he picked an open segregationist as his runningmate.  Before Truman's EO to desegregate the military, however (which was effectively really done by Eisenhower anyway), the Democrats had a LOT of ground to make up, so I champion them finally getting two points on the board.

[136or142]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

It was a complicated process in so far as most Republicans didn't want Goldwater to be their party's nominee and Goldwater didn't win on the issue, but for the Republican Party whose hyper partisan members like to lie that 'they are the true party of civil rights' nominating a person who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be their Presidential standard bearer in the 1964 election hardly bears that out.

Ronald Reagan was also for the 1964 Civil Rights Act before he was against it.

So, for those keeping score:
Republican Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 2
Democratic Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 0

If we extend it to pre-1965 legislation, I think the score gets a heck of a lot more even.  Eisenhower supported both civil rights bills that he signed, and while Stevenson might have been for such a bill (not sure what he promised on the campaign trail), he picked an open segregationist as his runningmate.  Before Truman's EO to desegregate the military, however (which was effectively really done by Eisenhower anyway), the Democrats had a LOT of ground to make up, so I champion them finally getting two points on the board.

The issue is whether the Democratic Party of today is comparable to the Ku Klux Klan.  When people have to go back 50+ years into the past to make a claim, it's usually because they have no recent/current history as evidence to back up their claims. 

I wonder if Ted Cruz believes that Greece and Rome are still empires.

For instance, I would agree that Republicans nominating Barry Goldwater is no evidence that the Republican Party of today is racist, but I used it because it's counter evidence of this lie from hyper partisan Republicans that their party is the 'true civil rights party' whereas the 'Democrat Party opposed the Civil Rights Act.'

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

It was a complicated process in so far as most Republicans didn't want Goldwater to be their party's nominee and Goldwater didn't win on the issue, but for the Republican Party whose hyper partisan members like to lie that 'they are the true party of civil rights' nominating a person who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be their Presidential standard bearer in the 1964 election hardly bears that out.

Ronald Reagan was also for the 1964 Civil Rights Act before he was against it.

So, for those keeping score:
Republican Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 2
Democratic Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 0

If we extend it to pre-1965 legislation, I think the score gets a heck of a lot more even.  Eisenhower supported both civil rights bills that he signed, and while Stevenson might have been for such a bill (not sure what he promised on the campaign trail), he picked an open segregationist as his runningmate.  Before Truman's EO to desegregate the military, however (which was effectively really done by Eisenhower anyway), the Democrats had a LOT of ground to make up, so I champion them finally getting two points on the board.

The issue is whether the Democratic Party of today is comparable to the Ku Klux Klan.  When people have to go back 60+ years into the past to make a claim, it's usually because they have no recent history as evidence to back up their claims.

I wonder if Ted Cruz believes that Greece and Rome are still empires.

I'm not denying Cruz's comments were stupid, but you were the one who brought up the 1960s, so I responded to that era.

[136or142]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

It was a complicated process in so far as most Republicans didn't want Goldwater to be their party's nominee and Goldwater didn't win on the issue, but for the Republican Party whose hyper partisan members like to lie that 'they are the true party of civil rights' nominating a person who voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be their Presidential standard bearer in the 1964 election hardly bears that out.

Ronald Reagan was also for the 1964 Civil Rights Act before he was against it.

So, for those keeping score:
Republican Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 2
Democratic Party Presidential nominees who opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act: 0

If we extend it to pre-1965 legislation, I think the score gets a heck of a lot more even.  Eisenhower supported both civil rights bills that he signed, and while Stevenson might have been for such a bill (not sure what he promised on the campaign trail), he picked an open segregationist as his runningmate.  Before Truman's EO to desegregate the military, however (which was effectively really done by Eisenhower anyway), the Democrats had a LOT of ground to make up, so I champion them finally getting two points on the board.

The issue is whether the Democratic Party of today is comparable to the Ku Klux Klan.  When people have to go back 60+ years into the past to make a claim, it's usually because they have no recent history as evidence to back up their claims.

I wonder if Ted Cruz believes that Greece and Rome are still empires.

I'm not denying Cruz's comments were stupid, but you were the one who brought up the 1960s, so I responded to that era.

It was Ted Cruz who brought up ancient history, not me.

[Zioneer]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

Where did the racists go, then?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Do they also think there was a great migration where all Northerners moved to the South and all Southerners to the North?

The North changed.

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

Where did the racists go, then?

They died, and their (slightly less racist) kids grew up Republican.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

-The South was not "solid Carter country". Mississippi Whites went for Ford, so you can't even say Carter definitively out-racisted him. He outracisted McGovern, I guess. Many Americans honestly didn't know for whom to vote in 1976 because both the candidates were so moderate. So the split was largely on the basis of college education and income, unlike in today's party system, in which the split is largely on the basis of marriage.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I'm pretty sure every 6 months this "teh parties switched positions" myth comes up here. Where is the long explanation thread with the data showing the white vote in the south swinging Republican in 1952 - 1960?

I mean other than Virginia and florida, no southern state legislature became majority republican until the 21st century.

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

-The South was not "solid Carter country". Mississippi Whites went for Ford, so you can't even say Carter definitively out-racisted him. He outracisted McGovern, I guess. Many Americans honestly didn't know for whom to vote in 1976 because both the candidates were so moderate. So the split was largely on the basis of college education and income, unlike in today's party system, in which the split is largely on the basis of marriage.

We get it, you have a fond appreciation for any politician who assures Americans it's OKAY to be a racist!

[RINO Tom]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

-The South was not "solid Carter country". Mississippi Whites went for Ford, so you can't even say Carter definitively out-racisted him. He outracisted McGovern, I guess. Many Americans honestly didn't know for whom to vote in 1976 because both the candidates were so moderate. So the split was largely on the basis of college education and income, unlike in today's party system, in which the split is largely on the basis of marriage.

You'll hate this, Eharding, as you seem to want to resurrect the old Southern Democrats; you even seem to fetishize them (the two types of people who want to believe in the Parties Switched myth are self-absorbed liberals who can't come to term with the facts that the American left, for a long time, didn't give a  about Black people or modern racists who feel a connection with racists of the past and wish to draw a comparison).  Ford won the White Southern vote vs. Carter 52%-46%.  Considering he won the relatively big Southern states of Texas and Virginia, a hefty chunk of his White Southern support came from those two states.  When we also consider that Carter won most of the rural (and most Democratic) counties and that Ford scored his Southern support mainly in urban and suburban areas that had trended Republican WELL before Goldwater, it is perfectly obvious to anyone without an agenda that Ford wasn't exactly flipping longtime Dixiecrats.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

-The South was not "solid Carter country". Mississippi Whites went for Ford, so you can't even say Carter definitively out-racisted him. He outracisted McGovern, I guess. Many Americans honestly didn't know for whom to vote in 1976 because both the candidates were so moderate. So the split was largely on the basis of college education and income, unlike in today's party system, in which the split is largely on the basis of marriage.

You'll hate this, Eharding, as you seem to want to resurrect the old Southern Democrats; you even seem to fetishize them (the two types of people who want to believe in the Parties Switched myth are self-absorbed liberals who can't come to term with the facts that the American left, for a long time, didn't give a  about Black people or modern racists who feel a connection with racists of the past and wish to draw a comparison).  Ford won the White Southern vote vs. Carter 52%-46%.  Considering he won the relatively big Southern states of Texas and Virginia, a hefty chunk of his White Southern support came from those two states.  When we also consider that Carter won most of the rural (and most Democratic) counties and that Ford scored his Southern support mainly in urban and suburban areas that had trended Republican WELL before Goldwater, it is perfectly obvious to anyone without an agenda that Ford wasn't exactly flipping longtime Dixiecrats.

-Carter won Texas, man. Carter won the rural counties because he, like Trump, appealed strongly to non-college Whites, especially those in all parts of the South.

Ford was riding off Nixon's success with southern Whites; that's why he won the White vote in Mississippi. Ford was still winning lots of White Southerners who first voted GOP in 1964.

Both of your "seem to"s are wrong. IMO, Ron Paul>Trump>Goldwater>4th Party System So Dems>Lindsey Graham>Lyndon Johnson.

[Badger]

This is something a lot of anti trump people have basically been saying. Cruz claiming the dems are currently affiliated with the kkk is just as absurd and unfair as the dems saying Trump is a nazi Hitler fascist. Its very easy to lampoon bad policies without stupid name calling.

what is remotely inaccurate about calling Trump a Fascist other than his government take over hasn't totally succeeded yet.

[136or142]

This is something a lot of anti trump people have basically been saying. Cruz claiming the dems are currently affiliated with the kkk is just as absurd and unfair as the dems saying Trump is a nazi Hitler fascist. Its very easy to lampoon bad policies without stupid name calling.

what is remotely inaccurate about calling Trump a Fascist other than his government take over hasn't totally succeeded yet.

The OP wrote it would be like comparing Trump to a "nazi Hitler Fascist."  I don't know if Mr. Reactionary meant that he didn't like the comparison of Trump to Hitler, which I agree is over the top, but agreed, at least as a possibility, that there is a lot of similarity between Trump and Mussolini, or that the OP didn't think in any way that Trump was a Fascist.

I agree with the idea that Trump has a lot in common with Mussolini, but, as deranged as Trump is, I don't think he wants to commit genocide.

[Bojack Horseman]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

They are from Michigan, what else do you expect.

It must have gone back to solid Carter country because he out-racisted Goldwater, LOL.

No, that was identity politics. The Democrats ran a white Southerner who spoke in the thick drawl who was just like them.

[pbrower2a]

I hate the GOP, but let's dispel with this fiction that Goldwater inspired racist Democrats to become Republicans. It's almost as bad as the myth that Northern Republicans wanted to abolish slavery because they were so magnanimous and righteous.

-I thought both of those were facts.

They are. The South went from 60% Democratic to 80% Republican thanks to Goldwater's racist campaign platform.

You two sound so dumb.

In fact, all former-Confederate states except Virginia went for Jimmy Carter as late as 1976, so any influence of Goldwater on long-term American politics is superficial and transitory. In 2016 all former-Confederate states except went for Donald Trump (although Florida and North Carolina barely did).   

Aside from his own state (barely, something analogous to Minnesota in 1984 for Mondale), Goldwater won the states in which Jim Crow was still entrenched and would be politically decapitated the next year.  Southern blacks went Democratic because of LBJ and ended up in the same Party with their recent nemeses.

What about Virginia? It is no longer a true Southern state.

[HAnnA MArin County]

I think John Boehner had it right when he called him Lucifer in the flesh. Cruz really is a despicable human being. Trump may be a narcissistic babbling buffoon but at least he has a personality. Doesn't Ted know that it was Republicans who dug up the KKK after Democrats buried it, or do they not teach the truth about the Southern Strategy in revisionist history Texas? This goes right up there with his pathetic "New York values" attack.

[Famous Mortimer]

Ted Cruz is right. The KKK were Democrats. That means the KKK are still around and are still Democrats. Donna Brazile is the Grand Dragon. Although I hope she gets replaced by Imperial Wizard Keith Ellison. We try to keep it secret but Democrats actually want to bring back slavery. Democrats hate Black people and love White supremacy. That's the point Cruz was trying to make, right? What other point could he possibly have had? It's so obvious.