...like passing civil rights legislation.
But former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich said Obama and the Democrats will regret their decision to push for comprehensive reform. Calling the bill "the most radical social experiment . . . in modern times," Gingrich said: "They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years" with the enactment of civil rights legislation in the 1960s.Yeah, that sure was sad to see all that damage that happened forty-five years ago when we stopped actively trying to deny minorities the right to vote. Hell, one's President now! Look at the damage to the Democrats! They'd never gain a majority in the House or Senate or control the White House ever again! We certainly wouldn't have any Democratic presidents from southern states like Georgia or Arkansas!
No one doubts that Johnson was right to push for those civil rights measures. And he was well aware of the potential damage they would do to a Democratic Party that was then a coalition including whites and African Americans, liberals from the North and conservative segregationists from the South.
Those battles over civil rights set off a political realignment that played out over decades and led eventually to a Republican domination of the South that continues to this day.
We all know that in Newt's world, politics only exists to maintain power, not to pass legislation that does the right thing against the objections of the party out of power. Why, the Republicans would have passed their own health care reform, except when they controlled the House, Senate, and White House they never had time to do it. They were too busy with....umm...fighting terrorists!
In conclusion, Newt Gingrich would like you to know that Democrats would be in power if they kept minorities from voting in southern states, so kill the bill!
Yep, sure is good we have Villagers like Dan Balz around to take Newt seriously.
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Well, to be fair, it DID hurt the Democratic party, when the racists basically decided they weren't racist enough for them.
Which was near-immediately picked up with the Southern Strategy. Pretty shamelessly, really.
The fact is, it really only matters if it hurts the party if the party can't defend it. It *IS* possible that the Dems will split due to this, but then the ability to defend it will have to come from replacing those who split off with those who will defend it.
Meanwhile, going back to the last party split, people (particularly minorities) remember the Dems as for civil rights, and the Republicans as against. It may have split the party, but it has paid off a bit down the road. HCR will likely to that too. After all, it may suck, but at least we can improve it, and we need people who will do just that, as well as defend it.
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