#dixiecrats

Yes, you are correct! Jimmy Carter has now passed John Nance Garner on the list of longest-living Presidents or Vice Presidents (here was that list at the beginning of September). And we are 10 days away from President Carter becoming the first President or Vice President to ever celebrate their 99th birthday. Not bad for a guy who has been in hospice care since February.

And, yes, Alf Landon is the longest-living major party nominee for President or Vice President. Landon was the 1936 Republican Presidential nominee and lost the general election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Landon was 100 years, 33 days old when he died in 1987. Think about that for a second: Alf Landon was the Republican Presidential nominee when FDR ran for his second term as President, and Landon died when Ronald Reagan had a little over a year left in his Presidency!

BUT, it's worth nothing that while Alf Landon is undoubtedly the longest-living Presidential or Vice Presidential nominee by a major party, he is NOT the longest-living person to ever win Electoral votes as President or Vice President.

In 1948, many Southern Democrats opposed to support for civil rights in the party's platform at the Democratic National Convention bolted from the party and formed the States' Rights or "Dixiecrat" party to run against incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman and Republican nominee Thomas Dewey. The Dixiecrats nominated South Carolina Governor (and future longtime Senator) Strom Thurmond as their Presidential nominee. Despite not being a major party nominee, Thurmond and the Dixiecrats, relying on voters in former Confederate strongholds in the South, performed better in the general election than just about any third-party Presidential candidate of the 20th Century.

Thurmond and the Dixiecrats won 4 states and 39 Electoral votes in 1948. In 1936, Republican nominee Alf Landon won two states and just 8 Electoral votes. So Thurmond's racist, third-party challenge performed far better than the GOP nominee had done twelve years earlier.

So, unfortunately, while we're talking about longest-living President or Vice Presidential nominees, we have to throw Strom Thurmond in the conversation considering the fact that he won far more Electoral votes in 1948 than Alf Landon did in 1936. And Thurmond lived longer, as well. Thurmond was 100 years, 203 days old when he died in 2003 -- he lived 170 days longer than Alf Landon did.

Thurmond is also almost certainly the oldest person to ever be one of the top officials in the Presidential line of succession. As I mentioned, Thurmond eventually served in the U.S. Senate from South Carolina -- a seat that he held from 1954-2003 (except for a period of about 7 months in 1956) -- where he eventually became the first (and only, so far) person to serve in Congress after their 100th birthday. Due to his lengthy tenure in office, Thurmond was president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate for several years when his party was in control of the Senate.

The Ballot Or The Bullet - Malcolm X

THE NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGE BUT THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME

BROTHER MALCOLM X MADE THIS SPEECH IN THE 60′S IN THE 20TH CENTURY. HERE WE ARE IN THE 21TH CENTURY AND IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES AND EXCHANGE SOME NAMES, YOU WOULD KNOW THIS SPEECH IS FRESH TODAY - BOTH SIDES DIFFERENT NAME BUT ARE STILL THE SAME.

DIXIECRATS - DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM? 

Dixiecrats and the “Southern Strategy” was born. At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, a group led by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota proposed some controversial new civil rights planks of racial integration and the reversal of Jim Crow laws to be included in the party platform.

Southern Democrats were dismayed. President Harry S. Truman was caught in the middle for his recent executive order to racially integrate the armed forces. As a compromise, he proposed the adoption of only those planks that had been in the 1944 platform. 

That was not enough for the liberals. Truman's own civil rights initiatives had made the civil rights debate unavoidable. The planks were adopted and 35 southern Democrats walked out in protest. They formed the States' Rights Democratic Party, which became popularly known as the Dixiecrats.

Their campaign slogan was “Segregation Forever!” Their platform also included “states’ rights” to freedom from governmental interference in an individual's or organization's prerogative to do business with whomever they wanted.

Clearer political and ideological lines began to be drawn between the Democrat and Republican parties as moderates and liberals converted from Republican to Democrat. Conservatives in the Democratic Party began to move to the increasingly conservative Republican Party. Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, the Dixiecrats nominated South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond as their presidential candidate. (NOTE BIDEN WAS MENTORED BY STROM THURMOND) CNN FACT CHECK  Biden on his past praise of segregationist senators - click the link to read

They remained in the Democratic fold, restive, until the candidacy of Republican conservative Barry Goldwater liberated them in 1964 by refreshing some of the Dixiecrat ideologies and therefore accelerated the transition from a solid South for the Democrats to one for the Republicans. Strom Thurmond switched to the Republican Party that year and remained there until his death in December 2003. Other presidential candidates, such as Republican Richard M. Nixon in 1968, have effectively used the Southern strategy of "states' rights" and racial inequality to garner votes from the racially conservative electorate in the southern states. Excerpt Dixiecrats  by US history.com

Letters: The old Dixiecrat racists are now the Republican obstructionists of today - click link for complete story

The party was dominated by Dixiecrats and they were the Democrats of the past. Many members of today's Democratic Party were prevented from voting. When they finally received help from the voting rights bills of the 1960s, the Dixiecrats started their move from Democrat to Republican. We now have a Republican Party that has taken on the old tried and true model of the Dixiecrats. (excerpt)

Just a bunch of Texas Democrats, back when that was a thing, but it looks suitably ominous 

Anyone who says “America is not racist” is a liar. They are not misinformed, they aren’t ignorant—THEY. ARE. LYING.

And I do not care if that person is a white male Democrat, or a Black woman Democrat, or a Black male Republican. They. are. all. lying.

America was founded on genocide, slavery and white supremacy. Lying and denying racism, to assuage white fragility is fucking dangerous.

It’s almost mind boggling: Centrist Democrats will claim with a straight face that America was bad, it had its problems, but it wasn’t a really really racist country until Trump came along and ruined everything with his overt racism. But now that he’s gone, somehow we’re not a racist country?? Is anyone else noticing a trend here? Children in cages—cages created under the Obama administration—suddenly became a super bad thing under Trump, but now almost no centrist news outlet (MSNBC, CNN) wants to do any more in-depth reporting on those same children in cages? (hint: they didn’t go anywhere, many of them are still right there caged up). It’s hypocritical, selective outrage.

Look, nobody is giving Republicans a pass - they might as well rename themselves as the American Nazi Party as far as I’m concerned. Republicans are racist and beyond any redemption. I am not going to change their minds, and I won’t waste energy trying. But centrist Dems are now, at best, the “moderate” Republicans of the 1990s, and they’re still plenty racist too. Oh, and speaking of Nazis, it’s over 100 days in office for Biden now …. has he gotten around to firing Sebastian Gorka yet? Or is some liberal going to try and tell me that Biden is too busy not decriminalizing marijuana to fire a well known Nazi? Or maybe he’s too busy setting up menthol cigarettes to become the 21st century’s new tool for mass incarceration? Idk, I just thought taking a few minutes to fire the Nazi who Trump appointed to the National Education Security Board might have been done in Biden’s first 100 seconds in office. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, a thought for today: “The new racism is to deny that racism even exists. The act of denying racism is inherently racist. This denial is the action that continues to normalize mistreatment and further divides the nation. The conscious decision to verbally deny racism is one that is caped behind content, prejudice, and the devaluing of black life. The comfort of refraining from tackling racism at its core often takes priority over the conditions of Black people in America. While this discomfort is often a reason to deny the obvious existence of anti-Black racism, it could also stem from a multitude of reasons including guilt, hatred, or the fear of being ostracized from peers who may share less-progressive views. Nonetheless, denying racism is just as dangerous as blatant discrimination, and possibly more offensive.”

What a piece of shit Republican.

Manchin is opposing the new voting rights law …. because he thinks it needs to be more bipartisan. He thinks Democrats should get more votes from the racist political party that writes voter suppression laws and opposes voting rights. He thinks the hens need more foxes voting on what to have for dinner.

What a giant piece of shit. He might as well be a Republican.

My guess is that he’s retiring. And when he does, all of the fake progressive, centrist news outlets like MSNBC and CNN will have him on regularly as a paid “moderate” political commentator.