"Martin Luther King Was A Republican"

[jetsetter]

50 Martin Luther King Was A Republican Billboards Welcome Obama To Denver

Press Release
August 25, 2008

We have put up more than 50 Martin Luther King Was A Republican billboards in Denver, Colorado to welcome Senator Barack Obama to the Democratic National Convention!

They are a reminder -- Obama is no MLK.



http://www.nationalblackrepublicans....p_preview=true

An interesting move by this organization. People seem to forget that up until fairly recently the some of the most racist politicians were Democrats. The Republican's first black delegate was in 1868, while the Democrats did not have their first black delegate until 1936, 68 years. The first black to ever be put onto a ballot for President was Frederick Douglas. He was a Republican. All of the major slave owners were Democrats and this racist legacy was there right up till the 1960s.

An interesting Euro article:

Following a dramatic appearance by Hillary Clinton on the packed floor of the Democratic Convention, Barack Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, was finally and officially named the party's presidential candidate last night.

Mrs Clinton swept on to the convention floor just as her home state, New York, was being called upon to cast its vote during a raucous roll-call of the delegates of all states. In a striking gesture of unity after all the months of bitterness, Mrs Clinton took the microphone to formally ask that the vote be suspended and that the convention approve the Obama nomination by acclamation.

"With eyes firmly fixed on the future, in the spirit of unity... let's declare together in one voice, right here right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president," she said, reading from a script.

"I move Senator Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by the convention by acclamation as the nominee of the Democratic Party" she added, lifting the roof of the convention hall. Her request was instantly accepted by Nancy Pelosi, the convention's presiding officer.

Mrs Pelosi then announced that Barack Obama had accepted the nomination.

The stage is now set for Denver's vast outdoor arena where tonight, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Mr Obama will deliver an address upon which hangs the outcome of November's American presidential election, and the hopes of the first black man with a real shot at the White House.

Eight years ago, such a scenario would have been laughable. Obama was broke and without political friends of any consequence. He had to gatecrash the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles after arriving on a cheap flight at the last minute. A rental car company rejected his maxed-out American Express card and he watched Al Gore accept the party's nomination on television screens at the perimeter of the convention centre.

Tonight will seem a millennium away. This time, it will be Gore in the audience lending support to the candidate on whose slender shoulders the Democrats' hopes lie. The psychodramas surrounding Hillary Clinton have also been dealt with following the rapturous reception for her barnstorming speech to the convention on Tuesday.

Senator Obama's acceptance of the nomination before 70,000 people is set to be an extraordinary political event. The task at hand is to energise the party and reconnect Obama's "colourblind" vision for the country with those Republicans who were briefly enthralled by his electrifying promise to unify America's angry and divided politics.

Back in 2000, at the age of 39 and with his career crashing around him, his hopes seemed to have flamed out after he had been trounced while trying to unseat a well-liked black Congressman. He recalls being terrified that for all his dreams he was about to disappear from public life – just as his talented Kenyan father had done before him.

Last night, he arrived in Denver on a private Boeing 757 with his name emblazoned on the side. It was yet another giant step in the remarkable journey from ambitious local politician to global political superstar, who may from January be President of the world's troubled superpower.

Tonight, millions of Americans – and millions more around the world – will hang on his every word. But John McCain, whose campaign is ratcheting up the attacks on Obama's inexperience with every hour, will be watching too. Even Obama's decision to choose the experienced political warhorse Joe Biden as his running mate has not given him the hoped-for "bounce" in the polls.

Yet, during the past eight years, it is Obama's extraordinary ability to rise to the occasion that has marked him out from the crowd. Campaigning this week in four battleground states – Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Montana – he has worked late into the night with a pen and yellow pad, crafting in longhand what is expected to be the speech of his lifetime.

Mr Obama has given hundreds of stump speeches over the past two years, some of them inspiring, many of them repetitious. But it is an address delivered in 2002 to a group of war protesters in which he flatly stated his opposition to the invasion of Iraq that he considers his best.

Just a year after 11 September 2001, with Mr Bush riding high and polls supporting an invasion – and just as he was preparing to run for the US Senate – he committed what many thought to be political suicide.

"I don't oppose all wars," he said. "What I am opposed to is... a war based not on reason, but on passion, not on principle but on politics." That seemingly foolhardy, if prescient, statement made him the only top-tier presidential candidate flatly to oppose the war before it was launched. Until 2004, he languished in the backwaters of Chicago, an obscure state senator – the lowest form of pond life in national politics. Then he was noticed by John Kerry, the Democratic candidate of that election year. Wooden and uninspiring, Kerry was on the lookout for a talented black politician. After seeing Obama skilfully work a room of white voters, he soon invited him to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

It was just 17 minutes long but the speech captured America's attention. The speech, which Obama insisted on writing himself, was hailed as a classic by the political world and earned him comparisons to John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

It has become part of the myth of Obama's effortless rise as a political phenomenon. But behind the legend lies a cunning, an extraordinary ambition and an unrivalled attention to detail that he learnt going door to door as a community organiser in Chicago's South Side.

That trademark micro-management was in evidence again yesterday as his campaign succeeded in short cutting the roll-call of states – thereby avoiding the embarrassment of the biggest states declaring for Hillary Clinton. The Obama camp ensured that long before most Americans switched on their TVs last night – Barack Obama was already the Democratic nominee to become the 44th US president.

King's dream and the road to Denver

1870: Hiram Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is the first African American elected to the US Senate.

1954: Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), successfully argues for the end of school segregation before the US Supreme Court. In 1967, he becomes the first African American to serve on the court.

1955: Rosa Parks, a seamstress and civil rights activist in Alabama, refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Her act propels the Civil Rights movement forward.

1963: Martin Luther King, pictured, leads the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that brings 250,000 to the capital on 28 August – 45 years ago. The event culminates with his "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial. (King is assassinated in April 1968.)

1968: Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African-American woman elected to the US Congress. In 1972, she runs for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1984: The Rev Jesse Jackson makes the first viable bid by an African American for his party's presidential nomination. He wins more than three million votes in the primaries, but eventually comes third.

2001: Colin Powell, a four-star general, is chosen by George Bush as Secretary of State, the first time an African American has served in that position. He was also the first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military rank in the US, in 1999.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...?startindex=60

You see how the writer seems to forget Justice Clarence Thomas and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. So many of these European writers seem to think that by electing Obama the American people will prove themselves not to be racist. The fact is that the American politician pool is significantly more diverse than any European country. In the same European paper I have read one article bitching about the treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States and in another article they bitch about legal Eastern European and Middle Eastern immigrants in Europe.

[jetsetter]

And these comparisons of Obama to JFK have to stop. JFK had his hand in Cuba and Vietnam, actions that would be described as "neocon" by the same people (liberals, lefties, Euros, etc) who compare Obama to JFK.

[watisdis]

Yup. History seems to have a short memory with most people unfortunately.

Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party quickly surpassed the Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party. In 1860, it came to power with the election of Abraham Lincoln *[first Republican President] to the presidency.

*insert mine

[jetsetter]

I find it humorous that Obama has given his speech on this in Denver:



Lol, WTF. Does the guy actually think he is a Greek god or something? Never mind the fact that the ancient Greeks were only able to practice their form of democracy by having significant amounts of slaves doing the menial labor and freeing up time for the men to vote and do politics.

[Momentum57]

I am listening to his speech right now and I have to say it sounds exactly like Nixon '68 acceptance

[Cobol74]

Originally Posted by jetsetter

An interesting move by this organization. People seem to forget that up until fairly recently the some of the most racist politicians were Democrats. The Republican's first black delegate was in 1868, while the Democrats did not have their first black delegate until 1936, 68 years. The first black to ever be put onto a ballot for President was Frederick Douglas. He was a Republican. All of the major slave owners were Democrats and this racist legacy was there right up till the 1960s.

An interesting Euro article:


You see how the writer seems to forget Justice Clarence Thomas and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. So many of these European writers seem to think that by electing Obama the American people will prove themselves not to be racist. The fact is that the American politician pool is significantly more diverse than any European country. In the same European paper I have read one article bitching about the treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States and in another article they bitch about legal Eastern European and Middle Eastern immigrants in Europe.

This is coverage of your election by a news paper in a foreign country - think a minute, do you ever get this detail of coverage of any foreign election, at all?

Justice Clarence Thomas was not included because he was not the first, and Condelezza Rice was not included because she is just a civil servant, and for the purposes of the article there must have been black civil servants before - OK credit where it is due, she is the most senior black civil servant to date (AFAIK).

By the way somewhere there is a thread where I picked Obama and McCain as contenders (Early on in the primary cycle) with McCain the winner - still think that will be the case. Oh and I like McCain, I do not like the lack of substance in Obama's speaches.

[un-dee]

Eh... so what? Seriously, this has absolutely nothing to do with today's world. Or do you want to imply that Obama is racist?

E: Oh, and don't think I would vote for either of those, American politics somehow seem extremely weird to me... more like a TV casting show or soap opera

[Momentum57]

civil servant would imply that she took an exam. She is a political appointee in an extremely coveted role not to be taken lightly, cabinet level positions are next to being CEO of a huge company.

I have to say she is an amazing women not just well educated in diplomacy and a brilliant strategists but a concert pianist. I saw her play and speak once all I have to say is WOW

[Seasonone]

What % African do you have to be to be considered the first African-[insert nationality] to do something?

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

What % African do you have to be to be considered the first African-[insert nationality] to do something?

Any.

[Seasonone]

So than what's with the hype of saying Obama is the first African-American to be nominated to a major political party when 5 past presidents have had African blood (and not a small # like 2%). I have a few friends that are halfrican (their word, i love it) most of them look like they're black, but one of them is very very light skinned. I've been to his moms house and see the family pictures and everybody else (granparents) look to be black, he just ended up looking more like his dad. Granted he's not super white but he looks like his family would be from "sunny" Europe like Italy.


It's not like Obama is 100% black afterall.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

It's not like Obama is 100% black afterall.

According to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, no he isn't.

According to Joe Biden, he is "bright, clean and articulate".

According to The L.A. times, he is the "magic negro".

[Censport]

Originally Posted by un-dee

Eh... so what? Seriously, this has absolutely nothing to do with today's world. Or do you want to imply that Obama is racist?

I think it's more a call to judge Obama on the content of his character, and not the color of skin. Frankly, I don't think his character bears close scrutiny well.

E: Oh, and don't think I would vote for either of those, American politics somehow seem extremely weird to me... more like a TV casting show or soap opera

I know, it's the American-Idolization of politics.

[watisdis]

Originally Posted by un-dee

Eh... so what? Seriously, this has absolutely nothing to do with today's world. Or do you want to imply that Obama is racist?

It's just interesting facts that people seem to forget, that's all. Saying "so what?" to history means you forget where you came from and makes you liable to repeat the shitty parts of history over again.

Originally Posted by un-dee

E: Oh, and don't think I would vote for either of those, American politics somehow seem extremely weird to me... more like a TV casting show or soap opera

Yes they're both rubbish (one more than the other) and the reason it feels like a TV casting show is...well because it is one.

Originally Posted by Seasonone

What % African do you have to be to be considered the first African-[insert nationality] to do something?

Any % that's convenient it seems.

Originally Posted by jayhawk

According to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, no he isn't.

According to Joe Biden, he is "bright, clean and articulate".

According to The L.A. times, he is the "magic negro".

These reiterate my point.

[Censport]

In a recent column on the "Ten Myths in America", Republicans and race is addressed in #8. An interesting read:
http://www.singularity2050.com/2008/...n-america.html

[Cobol74]

Er, some truth there but unfortunate use of the English language that will fail to persuade people that this is correct.

And number 10 makes it look like EXXON paid for the website - yesh!

[Ottobon]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

So than what's with the hype of saying Obama is the first African-American to be nominated to a major political party when 5 past presidents have had African blood (and not a small # like 2%). I have a few friends that are halfrican (their word, i love it) most of them look like they're black, but one of them is very very light skinned. I've been to his moms house and see the family pictures and everybody else (granparents) look to be black, he just ended up looking more like his dad. Granted he's not super white but he looks like his family would be from "sunny" Europe like Italy.


It's not like Obama is 100% black afterall.

a Little OT: One of my old friends (Carver, as in G. Washington Carver) happened to be half black and for whatever reason he ended up being one of the whitest kids i ever met, both in color and in personality. The cool thing was it seemed like he only ever told me, so i would tell some of his other friends and they would totally freak out.

[Firecat]

While this may indeed be true (even though I've yet to read any actual evidence of this), it doesn't mean that he would want to be associated with the Republican party of today. So what does this billboard actually accomplish?

[TomCat]

Originally Posted by Ottobon

a Little OT: One of my old friends (Carver, as in G. Washington Carver) happened to be half black and for whatever reason he ended up being one of the whitest kids i ever met, both in color and in personality. The cool thing was it seemed like he only ever told me, so i would tell some of his other friends and they would totally freak out.

That is pretty funny.

I actually know a true African American. He was born and raised in Africa and moved to America with his family and got dual citizenship and all that. The funny thing is that he is white. I think it would be funny as hell if his kids found some scholarship programs for African Americans and applied for them.

[klankymen]

Originally Posted by TomCat

I think it would be funny as hell if his kids found some scholarship programs for African Americans and applied for them.

haha, that would be epic!