Why do Republicans take credit for civil rights legislation being passed?

It is true that the great majority of politicians that voted against the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights legislation were indeed Democrats.





It is also true that those Democrats came from virtually all of the exact same states and districts as today's Republicans (mostly the deep south).





Why do Republicans take credit for civil rights legislation being passed?|||Your lie about republicans suddenly becoming democrats is easily proved false...





In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 percent of the votes.





[See http://www.congresslink.org/civil/essay.鈥?/a> and http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/uni鈥?/a>








It was appalling the other day to watch former Democratic Senator Bob Kerry totally gloss over Republican efforts in the name of civil rights. He implied that Lott's foot-in-mouth statement was representative of Republican views about civil rights since forever.





Kerry knows better. Yet being a loyal and predictable Democrat, Kerry can create the big lie with the best of them. The media are so in sync with that effort that they don't challenge him.





Kerry also maintained that all the Dixiecrats became Republicans shortly after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, another big lie. Richard Russell, Mendell Rivers, Clinton's mentor William Fulbright, Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings and Al Gore Sr. remained Democrats till their dying day.





Most of the Dixiecrats did not become Republicans. They created the Dixiecrats and then, when the civil rights movement succeeded, they returned to the Democratic fold. It was not till much later, with a new, younger breed of Southerner and the thousands of Northerners moving into the South, that Republicans began to make gains.





I know. I was there.





When I moved to Georgia in 1970, the Democratic Party had a total lock on Georgia. Newt Gingrich was one of the first "outsiders" to break that lock. He did so in a West Georgia area into which many Northerners were moving. He gained the support of rural West Georgians over issues that had absolutely nothing to do with race.





In fact, very few party switches came about right after the Civil Rights Act was passed. Some exceptions who did switch were Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms.|||It was during a time when the party was great. It was filled with Liberals who did amazing things for this country. Now it is just filled with ignorant fools who don't know anything.





Republican can take credit for it. Conservatives can not. Not in any way shape or form. That includes Conservative Republicans.|||Because the Republican Party voted for civil rights and Democrats voted against it. simple as that. I was a Republican then and am a Republican now|||Without Republicans the legislation would never have passed.|||@ Trekky: JFK was a Democrat.|||got me