I have to believe my liberal Dem parents voted for Nixon in 1960

[Anonymous]

How could they have voted for the other candidate? After all, his party included those horrible racist southerners who believed in segregation and the poll tax. This was the most important moral issue of the day, and the Democratic candidate didn't even denounce these racists inside his own party.

Indeed, he was considered a bit of a flip-flopper, having been staunchly anti-communist during McCarthy then flipped on foreign policy--and had a mixed civil rights record. Blacks were suspicious of him and Nixon was fairly (for a republican at the time) progressive on civil rights.

No, I have to think my folks swallowed hard and voted for Nixon. Their moral fiber was just too strong to allow otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Or they might have swallowed their hopes for gay marriage and voted for the hopeful obama, hoping he'd be able to make change.

Johnson used Kennedy's legacy to pass the civil rights act. Also, the 1950s repubs were not exactly progressive either.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:How could they have voted for the other candidate? After all, his party included those horrible racist southerners who believed in segregation and the poll tax. This was the most important moral issue of the day, and the Democratic candidate didn't even denounce these racists inside his own party.

Indeed, he was considered a bit of a flip-flopper, having been staunchly anti-communist during McCarthy then flipped on foreign policy--and had a mixed civil rights record. Blacks were suspicious of him and Nixon was fairly (for a republican at the time) progressive on civil rights.

No, I have to think my folks swallowed hard and voted for Nixon. Their moral fiber was just too strong to allow otherwise.

Your parents could have been afraid that Democratic candidate had a secret plan to impose his religion on the country. After all, the Republican Party had its own batch of racists and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had endorsed the Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Your parents grew.

[Anonymous]

so far 3 for 3 in unwillingness to appreciate a bit of irony--well done! And MLK at first endorsed Nixon, so while he ended up preferring JFK still he saw something early on he liked.

[Anonymous]

Wow, talk about interpreting the past through the lens of the present!

[Anonymous]

Actually my folks voted for Nixon in every national election he ran in because they were liberal Republicans. They only shifted leftward during the 70s. I think Vietnam had a lot to do with that. My mom became a diehard liberal and the anti-war movement had a lot to do with that.

But you're not really talking about that election, are you? You're taking an old election out of context in order to prove a point about the current election. It's kind of a pointless exercise considering that Nixon would be far too liberal to get the Republican nomination these days.

[Anonymous]

Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and Ford would be far too liberal to win the Republican nomination today. Heck, I think even Bush I would fail to get the bid in this Republican climate.

[Anonymous]

the point I'm making, intentionally lost on you smart folks, is that while we express surprise, outrage, villification, sanctimony, shock and awe, at Romney's pandering to his wingnut end of the party, there's plenty of precedence for this through political history on both sides.

there are no virgins here.