Who are the Democrats really?

Reposted from a comment on MSNBC.com. Details below:

I guess it is because of my age and back ground but I have never understood how left wing Democrats have overcome their history of being a notoriously racist group of politicians in the US. Here is the short list of Democrats that have a well documented history of being racist. Listing to the news you would gather that Republicans are just short of being under the control of Hitler. Let’s take a journey through history and honor those past Democratic Party members that have brought your party to the place you are today.

•George Wallace the Democratic Governor that stood on the step of High Schools, and College's promising that schools would remain segregated. Had black demonstrator’s water cannoned in the downtown streets of Birmingham. Senator Byrd who just passed away was an active member of the KKK.
•Sen. Ernest Hollings, leading Democrat Senator known for use of racial slurs against several minority groups
•Lee P. Brown, former Clinton cabinet official and Democrat mayor of Houston who won reelection using racial intimidation against Hispanic voters
•Andrew Cuomo, former Clinton cabinet official and Democrat candidate for NY Governor who made racist statements about a black opponent.
•Dan Rather, Democrat CBS news anchor and editorialist known for using anti-black racial epithets on a national radio broadcast
•Donna Brazile, former Gore campaign manager known for making anti-white racial attacks. Brazile has also worked for Jackson, Gephardt, and Michael Dukakis
•Franklin D Roosevelt, Democrat icon and orchestrator of Japanese Internment
•Dick Gephardt, former affiliate of a St. Louis area racist group
•Robert Byrd, former Ku Klux Klansman known for making bigoted slurs on national television
•Jesse Jackson: Jackson was the featured prime time speaker at the 2000 Democrat Convention. Jackson has a history of using anti-Semitic slurs and derogatorily calling New York City “Hymietown.”
•Rev. Al Sharpten, Democrat activist and perennial candidate and race hustler known inciting anti-Semitic violence in New York City
•Cragg Hines: Hines is one of the most rabidly partisan DC based Democrat editorial columnists to work for a major newspaper, and he makes no attempts to hide it.
•Orval Faubus, Democrat Governor of Arkansas and one of Bill Clinton's political heroes opponents of school integration
•Lester Maddox, Democrat Governor of Georgia opponents of school integration
•J. William Fulbright, Arkansas senator and political mentor of Bill Clinton filibustered against 1964 civil rights act.
•Albert Gore Sr., Tennessee senator, father and political mentor of Al Gore Jr. has been known to lie about his father's opposition to the Civil Rights Act.
•Sam Ervin, North Carolina senator of Watergate hearings fame filibustered against 1964 civil rights act.
•Richard Russell, famed Georgia senator and later President Pro Tempore filibustered against 1964 civil rights act.
Facts about the civil rights act: 40% of the House Democrats VOTED AGAINST the Civil Rights Act, while 80% of Republicans SUPPORTED it. Republican support in the Senate was even higher. Similar trends occurred with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was supported by 82% of House Republicans and 94% of Senate Republicans.

So, I was wondering how this history of conservatives being this big group of racist, fascist Nazi’s has become mainstream. It seems that the media is successfully omitting the historical facts of the Democratic Party. Plus, they are doing a very good job of insinuating that Republican are and have always been affiliated with various racial group or movements. They are using the ignorance and the lack of history being taught plus a poor education system to make younger Americans (younger than me 50 yrs) believe that Republicans are the party of racist Nazi fascist. Wow, they are doing a good job of it I must say. Plus, the people spouting this information believe it and many are younger Americans. I think most Democrats older than 50 know the truth about the party’s well documented history as being a party with strong ties to racist organizations and policies. As my son would say Dad when the world was black and white (he thinks that because of old black and white TV shows) we would have link this new Democratic party or Progressives as a left wing Marxist, communist radical political party. Today I would just categorize many Progressive as NUT BARS and to be fair there are some Republican NUT BARS.

I do believe it is time that Democrats or Progressive embrace their rich history and celebrate these truths:

•Democrats work hand-in-glove with the Ku Klux Klan for generations; they started the KKK and endorsed its mayhem.
•KKK was honored at the 1868 Democratic National Convention, no Democrats voted for the 14th Amendment to grant citizenship to former slaves
•The records of Congress reveal that not one Democrat in either in the House or the Senate voted for the 14th Amendment.
•Three years after the Civil War, and the Democrats from the North as well as the South were still refusing to recognize any rights of citizenship for black Americans.
•South Carolina Gov. Wade Hampton at the 1868 Democratic National Convention inserted a clause in the party platform declaring the Congress' civil rights laws were "unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void."
•It was the same convention when Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the KKK, was honored for his leadership.
•Eisenhower (Republican) signed the GOP's 1960 Civil Rights Act after it survived a five-day, five-hour filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats.
•1964, Democrat President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act after former Klansman Robert Byrd's 14-hour filibuster, and the votes of 22 other Senate Democrats, including Tennessee's Al Gore Sr., failed to scuttle the plan.
•As recently as 1960, Mississippi Democratic Gov. Hugh White had requested Christian evangelist Billy Graham segregate his crusades, something Graham refused to do. "And when South Carolina Democratic Gov. George Timmerman learned Billy Graham had invited African Americans to a Reformation Rally at the state Capitol, he promptly denied use of the facilities to the evangelist. (Is this why the left hates Christians because they are still racist).
•Until 1935, every black federal legislator was Republican, and it was Republicans who appointed the first black Air Force and Army four-star generals, established Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday, and named the first black national-security adviser, secretary of state.
•Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said: "The first Republican I knew was my father, and he is still the Republican I most admire. He joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. My father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I."
•John F. Kennedy's (Democrat) brother, Robert, in 1964 assisted the FBI's efforts to destroy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by approving the wiretapping of the man considered the heart and soul of the civil rights movement.
•Sen. John F. Kennedy (with an eye on the Democrat presidential nomination for 1960) voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the law that really got the ball rolling on federal civil rights legislation.
•1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would never have become law if not for Republican senators and congressmen whose overwhelming support offset extreme Democrat opposition.
•President Nixon who implemented the first affirmative action program with the Philadelphia Plan in the late 1960s. The plan required government contractors to set goals and timetables for hiring minorities. Nixon was a Republican and a crook.
Recognition to Paul Brooks and IrishMike for summary of historical information. Plus, the encyclopedia Britannica that mom and dad gave me many years ago. And the Democratic party for conveniently skipping over so much of its rich history. I wonder why? Ethics and integrity would really be a great concept for both Republican and Democrats to embrace.

It is a fact that the liberal news media and democrats are just bunch of racist trying to point the finger at a group that they fear. Since I am not a member of the Tea Party, not a member of the Democratic Party, or any political party I will let you in on another fact. All races, creeds, colors, religions, ethnic backgrounds have a percentage of humans that are racist bigots. It has always been that way and always will be that way. The best we can do it try to prevent these humans from being placed in a position where they are able to influence falsely beliefs on others. Unfortunately good and evil do not have any political boundaries or affiliations. Good and evils are represented equally in both parties.

Reposted from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38303950/ns/politics/, this is a comment to the reference article, the comment is a wonderful piece of work. Rick-1103139 is the author.