|
|
|---|
|
American Politics Journal Atrios Barry Crimmins Betty Bowers Buzzflash Consortium News Daily Howler Daily Kos Democatic Underground Disinfotainment Today Evil GOP Bastards Faux News Channel Greg Palast The Hollywood Liberal Internet Weekly Jesus General Joe Conason Josh Marshall Liberal Oasis Make Them Accountable Mark Morford Mike Malloy Political Humor - About.com Political Wire Randi Rhodes Rude Pundit Smirking Chimp Take Back the Media Whitehouse.org More Links |
Ronald Reagan's speech in Philadelphia, MS
Ronald Reagan's visit
In 1980 Ronald Reagan gave his first post-convention
speech after being officially chosen
as the Republican nominee for President of the
United States a few miles from Philadelphia,
announcing at the annual Neshoba County Fair,
that with specific regard to economic policy,
"I believe in states' rights ... [I] believe
we have distorted the balance of our government
today by giving powers that were never intended
to be given in the Constitution to that
federal establishment." He went on to promise
to "restore to states and local governments
the power that properly belongs to them".
Some thought Reagan's speech marked the continuation
of the successful Republican "Southern strategy";
this was supposedly evidence of Reagan's libertarian
belief in federalism and a greater role for states in
determining their own policies. However, given
the history of Philadelphia, and Reagan's use of the words
"states' rights", often interpreted as a desire
to return to pre-Civil War laws regarding segregation, many
felt that Reagan was at least insensitive to
the concerns of blacks, or that he even was using this location
and thesewords as a cynical appeal to the white
racist vote.
Gee, ya think?
[1][2] Others, while not denying that the "states'
rights" phrase was insensitive, point out that Reagan
was speaking of economic policy, not race, when
he made that remark,
Wait - Reagan went all the way to "Hang Nigger,
Mississippi" to talk economic policy?
How white do you have to be to believe that
crock of shit?
...that reports at the time stated that the audience did not think he was speaking about race,
Or, maybe people didn't want to "cause any trouble"
since he was running for president.
You know how vindictive Republicans are to areas
that didn't vote for them.
California paid the price
...and that Reagan was on his way to speak to
the National Urban League where he stated,
"I am committed to the protection and enforcement
of the civil rights of black Americans.
This commitment is interwoven into every phase
of the programs I will propose,"
hardly evidence that he was engaging in an overtly
racist strategy.[3]
Right, because Republicans always talk honestly to Blacks.
Reminder:
Reagan was a Democrat until 1962, when JFK started
talking about Civil Rights.
That's when Reagan famously said,
"I didn't leave them, they left me."
Send e-mail
to Bart | Discuss
it on The BartCop Forum | Comment
on it at the BartBlog