Republicans have trouble mastering the "big tent"

[DKW 86 7,441]

I actually like Ford. But I will believe he is left enough to get the nomination in the Dem Party when it happens. I hear many complain that he is TOO conservative for the contemporary "progressive" Dems.

[channonc 466]

I actually like Ford. But I will believe he is left enough to get the nomination in the Dem Party when it happens. I hear many complain that he is TOO conservative for the contemporary "progressive" Dems.

He is by far one of my fav Congressmen. He has a great head on his shoulders. I really had hoped he would have gotten the Minority Leader spot over Pelosi when that whole thing was going on. Unfortunately, I think some think he lacks credibility b/c of his age.

[TexasTiger 13,028]

Typical Democrat:

1 + 1 + 1 + 1=4 not 1 

Get upto speed with the Republicans Dude.

I will give you Ford and no other. Thanks for playing...

The rest you talk about are really just like Julian Bond, Kweisi Mfume, et al. IE Democratic Party House N@#$$%rs. You know those are the ones allowed to hang out around the white folks that run the Dem Party, but not actually particicpate.

Hang out in the White House and not participate? Sounds like Powell at a Cabinet meeting. Do you really think Alan Keyes and Clarence Thomas could be elected President? Arsenio Hall and Clarence Clemons have a better chance. I used to think Bush would dump Cheney and pick Condi. If he gets really desperate he still might, but as THE candidate, she would bomb on the campaign trail.

You may not know who Barak Obama is...but you will.

One step closer...

[AFTiger 282]

And finally, I reject the notion that the "white, Southern, male voter" hasn't changed. That's the kind of rhetoric so typical of uninformed liberals who do anything to paint conservatives in a bad light. Most white, male Southerners bear little resemblance to their Dixiecrat forebears and if you would take time to consider that people across the aisle might not be the monsters you think they are, you'd know that.

Of course, I'm a southern white male voter myself, although not a conservative white voter. So certainly there are exceptions to everything and I should perhaps make it clear that I'm talking in generalities, not absolutes.

Yes, most southern whites have accepted the idea of equal rights under the law and the basic injustice of the old Jim Crow system. But for the most part, the conservative belief system of most southern whites I know hasn't radically changed...they are still generally distrustful of government efforts aimed at helping minorities or the poor, they are still suspicious of minority groups that refuse to quietly accept the status quo, and they are somewhat fearful of cultural changes that threaten their long-held conservative Christian conventions.

I don't think that make them monsters, just more drawn to the Republican Party than the Democratic.

Forgotten is all of this was that the duly elected delegates were refused by the national Democrat Party and a delegation selected by party bigwigs was seated. So in effect, the white southern Democrat voter was kicked out of the Democrat Party. They went where they were welcome.

Also forgotten, what the civil rights movement actually freed both races.