How did the party of Lincoln become the Party of John Wilkes Booth?

[soupkitchen]

I've asked this question before, but someone on the national stage has to ask it.

Why is the Republican Party increasingly being represented by thugs exhibiting the personality traits of would be assassins? And why are the Republican Party leaders so tolerant of such treasonous rhetoric by their grass roots rooting asses?

[Captain Hilts]

1. Ouch!!

[NYC_SKP]

2. Your question really sums it up well and in an impactful way.

I'd like to see this slathered all over the place.

Of course, few people who NEED to know understand that Lincoln was a Republican.

They'd probably get it wrong.

[Demoiselle]

3. Excellent! I see both a t-shirt and a bumper sticker. (At the very least.) nt

[LuvNewcastle]

4. It happened when the Republicans

decided to court Southern Democrats. If that hadn't happened, a lot of us would probably be Republicans right now.

[Stuart G]

5. K and R

[WeDidIt]

6. BOOM goes the dynamite!

DAYIUM!

Somebody needs to ask that question on my TeeVee!

[The Magistrate]

7. Barry Golwater's Opposition To The Civil Rights Acts, Sir

Pulled in every Dixiecrat in 1964, and pointed Nixon towards the 'Southern Strategy'....

[PVnRT]

16. I think that was simply the culmination of years of reactionism

Before the civil rights debate really cranked up, you still had dumbasses like Taft running around bitching about spending and McCarthy attempting to eliminate political dissenters. You had Coolidge/Hoover who absolutely refused to do anything to regulate the free market or try to pull us out of the depression.

Frankly, I think the Republican party has been drifting away from Lincoln ever since that night in Ford's theater.

[tuckessee]

8. The same way the Party of Thomas Jefferson became the Party of Stalin & Beria.

Comparing rabble rousers to assassins and calling for the (what was once bad) Patriot Act to used is just as frightening as what the Pukes are doing.

[man4allcats]

9. Re: "How did the party of Lincoln become the Party of John Wilkes Booth?"

I think probably in the same way that the idealism of Jesus Christ became the religion of mainstream Christianity. A whole lot of hypocrites saw how they could use it to their advantage and did so.

[TexasObserver]

10. It became first the party of greed, and second the party of racism and bigotry.

[BLUSH]

11. Birthers have become Boothers

[graywarrior]

12. OMG, that is so true!!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Birthers to Boothers

DUzy!

[GeorgeGist]

14. Because Lincoln ended slavery but not it's cause.

Christians rule by force.

[saltpoint]

15. When you want to put a 2-year old to bed, he defies you and all other

grown-ups in the house, and instead of peacefully submitting to his bedtime schedule, runs wild through the joint, carrying on something awful.

And then physiology kind of kicks in and he konks out. You carry him to his room for what you hope is a long night's snooze.

The Republicans were whomped in the last couple of elections. They can't control either chamber of the 111th Congress. They aren't in the White House any longer. Obama is likely a 2-term president. There'll be 8 years of moderate-to-liberal judicial appointments at all levels, including the Supreme Court.

The GOP chairman these days is a flibbertigibbet. Their ranking members on Committees are buffoons or obstructionists. Their brand is flashed hourly by hate-hosts on cable and radio. Their opposition to Judge Sotomayor was phenomenally stupid and further erodes a once-safe demographic.

Not least, none of their possible contenders for the 2012 nomination can defeat Obama is he remains popular and effective, which appears to be the case.

They're in harm's way. Their ship 's been in disrepair since Nixon and Reagan and it's taking on water.

[invictus]

17. It happened because Southern Democrats joined then took over the Republican Party.

Trent Lott, Phil Graham, and Strom Thurmond all started their political careers as Democrats. A lot of these far-right wingnuts would be Democrats right now if it wasn't for the Republicans' "Southern strategy."