The National Black Republican Association has paid for Florida and South Carolina billboards that show a photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and claim that he was REPUBLICAN.
That’s a claim that really takes some nerve - or desperation. Could it be that there’s some worry about losing the South after all? Now they’re trying to claim MLK - now? Unbelievable.
Memes to you all… because there’s no real argument or justification left to vote Republican except fear of the demonized left wing, right? Please tell me that there is only a very very minuscule subset of the voting population that could in any way fall for this one. I wish I had more confidence in my countrymen, but discernment has been lacking in the last couple of elections.
Thanks to Rob Kall at OpEd News.
” Told about the billboards, the Rev. Joseph Lowery let out a soft chuckle that grew stronger as he began to think more about the idea.
“These guys never give up, do they?” said Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King. “Lord have mercy.”
In a statement released through the King Center, Martin Luther King III said, “It is disingenuous to imply that my father was a Republican. He never endorsed any presidential candidate, and there is certainly no evidence that he ever even voted for a Republican. It is even more outrageous to suggest that he would support the Republican Party of today, which has spent so much time and effort trying to suppress African American votes in Florida and many other states.”
Read the entire AP story.
Roberta Genini on 
7:37 pm on July 13th, 2008 1
That there is just crazy talk…!
Todd HellsKitchens last blog post..A Mid-July Weekend in Tweets
4:06 pm on July 17th, 2008 2
This is akin to the stupid notion that Abe Lincoln was a member of the beast that the GOP has become.
There was a similar radio ad in 2006 that featured two young black women talking about how it was the Democrats who started Jim Crow in the South.
The sad fact is … the fact that between 1910 and 1970 the Democrats in South were responsible for many racial atrocities. Bull Conner, George Wallace, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms were all Democrats until Truman, Kennedy and LBJ forced them to eat lunch in the same restaurants as African Americans.
The racists from the splintered Democratic Party all flocked to the GOP and the GOP was happy to have them.
But, to suggest that King was a Republican or a Democrat is nonsense. There was no political affiliation that was safe for African Americans in the Jim Crown South. But, if one were forced to pigeon hole King into a category, one could easily see that King worked far more with Northern Democrats than he did with Republicans.
Anywho….