# On election Eve, Freepers hit a new low **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 3, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946 "2008-11-03T23:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/181 "2008-11-05T05:01:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It is a **fact** that racism was utilized by The Republican party, in an institutionalized manner, to cull white voters. It is not a hateful rumor, a false smear, or an unwarranted “attack” to point out that this strategy existed. It’s also a fact that racism was used by Democrats in the past. We are talking about now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Understander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3da27b/32.png) [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/182 "2008-11-05T05:35:57Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s also a fact that racism was used by Democrats in the past. We are talking about now. Did you have a look at that electoral map? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/183 "2008-11-05T20:07:26Z")
wow, [not all freepers are always crazy](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2125610/posts) > [@True\_Teddy\_Conservative](#): > > Perhaps you should read this article: > > [Bush administration backs down on fraud and abuse - Salon.com](http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/04/fraud/) > > I don’t like liberals, but he’s right. George Bush is a Reaganite and, I’m sorry, but St. Reagan (to many of his followers) whored the party out in the name of victory and then ran it into the ground. G.W. has simply continued this trend. Heck his daddy was more of a true conservative. When is the party going to learn to kick the nuts out of the party and run as conservatives again? Kick the religious wack-jobs that won’t compromise to the curb. Kick the “greed is good” supply-side pimps in the rear out the door. Time to toss the Neo-conservatives out like the petulant children they are. > > I put the blame on this loss plainly on US. Conservatives whored themselves out in the name of power, and just like Newt, became petulantly overconfident. We allowed idiots to label disagreement as dangerous. We allowed talking heads to call others traitors in our name. We tried to rule this country not on principles, but on fear. Many foolishly deified Reagan as the “winner of the Cold War,” when he was simply the lucky guy the USSR went broke to. This was as idiotic as following his unholy trinity down the path to ruin. I can’t tell you how many liberals mock us for wanting the morals of the 1950’s without the tax code. I can’t tell you how many point out the cognitive disconnect of our own candidate embracing TR and then cutting at income tax. I can’t tell you how many pointedly talk about the difference between free and fair trade. > > I experience a very good conversation with a reasonably sane liberal talking about how he’d love to change trade laws to effect “sectoral reciprocity.” Asked to explain, he told of how S. Korea limits our car imports to a certain number every year, and how he’d like to limit them to the exact same number until they removed it. Exact, mirrored, trade laws. This, from a liberal no less. He wasn’t afraid of trading with China, but he doesn’t want the Maoists manipulate their currency and markets to keep American companies out! He calls Chavez a blanket Fascist dictator. He called Iran a waste of time, but we do have differing opinion there. He’s all for sending in SpecOps anywhere to kill Osama. He thinks that allying with Pakistan (a known terrorist supporter prior to 9/11 with many hints it still supports the Tigers) was a mistake. He thinks we should trade with Cuba, because it’s idiotic to trade with China thinking it will turn them Capitalist while acting the opposite way with Cuba. and then he closes with > [@](#): > > Conservatism failed because we let it become enthralled with a power lust. Power attracts the corruptible, and we keep electing corrupted idiots. While it’s funny to point out when the Democratic party does it, we should not tolerate ourselves. We should swiftly remove ANY purported conservative with even a whiff of impropriety. Only by showing the rest of the country that we hold ourselves to what we believe will we truly be worthy of leading. This post is currently near the bottom of the page, but it’s about the only one that isn’t 2 lines of “Slobama’s gonna put W in jail and open the gates to his Kenyan Ismlamic Socialist buddies. Ima go buy me some guns!” so it’s pretty easy to find. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/184 "2008-11-05T20:30:14Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s also a fact that racism was used by Democrats in the past. We are talking about now. The past you are talking about is over 100 years ago, for the most part. And I am unaware of any institutionalized Democartic party policies that support racism explicitly. The Republican Southern Strategy was (and is) a party-wide complicit use of racism as a political tool. I am unaware of the Democratic party doing anything similiar during the same time frame. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/185 "2008-11-05T20:41:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > The past you are talking about is over 100 years ago, for the most part. And I am unaware of any institutionalized Democartic party policies that support racism explicitly. > > The Republican Southern Strategy was (and is) a party-wide complicit use of racism as a political tool. > > I am unaware of the Democratic party doing anything similiar during the same time frame. [Dixicrat Party.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat_Party) > [@](#): > > The States’ Rights Democratic Party (commonly known as the Dixiecrats) was a segregationist, socially conservative political party in the United States. The term Dixiecrat is a portmanteau of Dixie, referring to the Southern United States, and Democrat, referring to the United States Democratic Party. It split with the Democratic Party in the mid-20th century determined to protect what they saw as the Southern way of life against an oppressive federal government.[1] Strom Thurman was a founding member and their Presidential candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/186 "2008-11-05T20:50:57Z")
> [@](#): > > But Redskins fans aren’t really all the different from Steelers fans. Alright will NOW you have just gone to far!! Redskins fans are the salt of the earth, light in the sky, honey uh, in the honeycomb type of people! Steelers fans are just assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/187 "2008-11-05T21:14:28Z")
> [@dob](#): > > alright will now you have just gone to far!! Redskins fans are the salt of the earth, light in the sky, honey uh, in the honeycomb type of people! > > Steelers fans are just assholes. What. Did. You. Say.?!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/188 "2008-11-05T21:22:17Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [Dixicrat Party.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat_Party)Strom Thurman was a founding member and their Presidential candidate. Which is not what Scylla was talking about. According to your own cite this was not the Democratic party, it was a bunch of people who broke from the Democratic party. And they did so because they felt the Democratic party was not racist enough. > [@](#): > > For more than a century, white Southerners had overwhelmingly been Democrats, but in 1948 many bolted from the party, angered by Harry Truman’s efforts to abolish or ameliorate the effects of racial segregation, and supported Strom Thurmond’s third-party candidacy for president. Nice try, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/189 "2008-11-05T21:42:01Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Which is not what Scylla was talking about. According to your own cite this was not the Democratic party, it was a bunch of people who broke from the Democratic party. > > And they did so because they felt the Democratic party was not racist enough. Yes, but it was plenty racist enough for them up until that point. The Republicans have benefited from racism _more recently_, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/190 "2008-11-05T21:42:37Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Which is not what Scylla was talking about. According to your own cite this was not the Democratic party, it was a bunch of people who broke from the Democratic party. > > And they did so because they felt the Democratic party was not racist enough. > > Nice try, tho. Last time I checked, 1948 was only about 60 years ago, **not** the 100 you were claiming. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/191 "2008-11-05T23:04:52Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Last time I checked, 1948 was only about 60 years ago, **not** the 100 you were claiming. Which doesn’t matter, because your cite was not for the Democratic party. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/192 "2008-11-05T23:11:32Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Last time I checked, 1948 was only about 60 years ago, **not** the 100 you were claiming. 60 years is a loooooong time in politics, bub. You realize that parties evolve, right? You can’t really argue that the party that Barack built is the same as Strom Thurman’s party. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/193 "2008-11-05T23:16:52Z")
More to the point, the leaders of the party, and most especially Lyndon Johnson, knew for fact that this political re-alignment of the Dems against racism would cost them hugely, and they did it anyway. Good for them! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/194 "2008-11-05T23:17:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Which doesn’t matter, because your cite was not for the Democratic party. As **RNATB** pointed out, they were quite content with that party up until that moment. Not to mention that the big shift in Civil Rights laws in the South didn’t happen until the 1960s, and a good number of Democratic Kongress Kritters there **opposed** those measures, while the GOP supported them in order to court the black vote. The concept of “Party Affiliation In Name Only” is **not** a uniquely Republican phenomen. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/195 "2008-11-05T23:19:26Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > 60 years is a loooooong time in politics, bub. You realize that parties evolve, right? You can’t really argue that the party that Barack built is the same as Strom Thurman’s party. I’m **not**. I’m simply refuting the claim that it was 100 years since the Dems **blocked** African-Americans from voting. Six **days** can be a long time in politics. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/196 "2008-11-05T23:29:00Z")
> [@some guy on FR](#): > > He thinks we should trade with Cuba, because it’s idiotic to trade with China thinking it will turn them Capitalist while acting the opposite way with Cuba. Well, to be fair, it’s obvious why we’re doing that: China has lots of shit we want, and Chinese-Americans (to my knowledge) are not particularly concentrated in one state nor active in politics; Cuba doesn’t have much, and Cuban-Americans settle overwhelmingly in Florida, a large, very important swing state, and they _hate_ Castro. Making any conciliatory gestures towards Communist Cuba will result in political pain for whoever does it. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/197 "2008-11-05T23:34:29Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’m **not**. I’m simply refuting the claim that it was 100 years since the Dems **blocked** African-Americans from voting. Six **days** can be a long time in politics. oh, just a pointless pedantic nit pic then? Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/198 "2008-11-05T23:44:34Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > oh, just a pointless pedantic nit pic then? Carry on. Hey! Isn’t that what the Dope’s all about? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/199 "2008-11-05T23:45:38Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’m **not**. I’m simply refuting the claim that it was 100 years since the Dems **blocked** African-Americans from voting. Six **days** can be a long time in politics. Which wasn’t my claim, and which you didn’t do. > [@Bo](#): > > The past you are talking about is over 100 years ago, for the most part. And I am unaware of any institutionalized Democartic party policies that support racism explicitly. > > The Republican Southern Strategy was (and is) a party-wide complicit use of racism as a political tool. > > I am unaware of the Democratic party doing anything similiar during the same time frame. The time-frame reference is to the inception of the Southern Strategy, not the 100 years. It helps if you actually read the posts. And all you did show, Tuckerfan, is that the Dixiecrats were racists. We all knew that; it’s why they created the party. They were not the Democratic party. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946/200 "2008-11-06T00:05:25Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Well, to be fair, it’s obvious why we’re doing that: China has lots of shit we want, and Chinese-Americans (to my knowledge) are not particularly concentrated in one state nor active in politics; Cuba doesn’t have much, and Cuban-Americans settle overwhelmingly in Florida, a large, very important swing state, and they _hate_ Castro. Making any conciliatory gestures towards Communist Cuba will result in political pain for whoever does it. People said the same thing about nominating black candidate this time last year. Now is the perfect time to fix our ridiculous Cuba policy. It doesn’t have to involve Castro at all; lifting sanctions would benefit nobody more than the rank and file Cuban _people_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-election-eve-freepers-hit-a-new-low/470946.md?page=11)