March 13, 2008

The Hart of the Matter

The Tennessean, and probably other newspapers across the state, are carrying this AP story today: White separatist had run as Paul delegate in Tenn..

The story is about a Ron Paul supporter whose white separatist views were not widely known when he ran in the recent Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary seeking to be a delegate for Paul to the Republican National Convention. (Delegate candidates got on the ballot by collecting a handful of signatures. Paul didn't come close to winning enough votes in Tennessee to earn even a single delegate.)

I spoke with AP reporter Erik Schelzig Wednesday afternoon as he was preparing the story and we discussed two hypothetical scenarios. 1. A candidate with known racist views tries to run as a Republican. 2. A candidate whose racist views are unknown runs, and wins a spot on the ballot.

The case of the Ron Paul delegate wannabe is the latter. Had Ron Paul garnered enough votes to earn delegates from Tennessee, and had the Tennessee Republican Party become aware of this delegate candidate's racist views, it would have taken steps to prevent him from actually going to the convention as a delegate.

In 2004, a racist candidate by the name of James Hart sought the GOP congressional primary to challenge Democratic incumbent Rep. John Tanner. Once his views became known - Hart advocated discouraging "what he called "less favored races" from reproducing or immigrating to the United States - the TRP disavowed him and actively backed a write-in candidate. Hart came in second.

Like a bad penny, Hart popped up again in 2006, seeking the same nomination. This time the TRP's State Executive Committee officially decertified Hart, declaring him to be not a bonafide Republican, stripping him of his party affiliation and kicking him off the ballot.

I've heard Hart may be running again this year. He should look forward to the same result.

The Tennessee Republican Party belongs to the party of Lincoln - the political party that freed the slaves, the political party that, three years after the end of the Civil War, passed the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting United States citizenship to African-Americans. Not one single Democrat in the U.S. House or Senate voted for the 14th Amendment.

The Republican Party is the political party most responsible for the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 - over the heated objections and efforts of such Democrat luminaries as then-Sen. Albert Gore Sr. of Tennessee, and West Virginia's Sen. Robert Byrd, the ex-Klansmen many Democrats today refer to as "the conscience of the Senate."

In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, deployed the 82nd Airborne Division to desegregate the Little Rock, Ark., schools over the resistance of Democrat Gov. Orval Faubus.

That's the heritage of the Republican Party, and the Tennessee Republican Party does not and will not welcome candidates with racist views and platforms.