I'm really tired of hearing that bullshit!

Civil Rights Act was passed because of Republicans

Last night Michael Steele, the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, substituted for Sean Hannity on Hannity & Colmes and in an exchange with guest, Geraldine Ferraro, he said, 'if it wasn't for Republicans, we wouldn't have had the Civil Rights Act'. That's total bullshit!

Do you know how many ignorant wingnuts have said or written that? It's astounding how some can repeat a lie enough times that the intellectually uninterested and the comically misinformed, accept it as the truth.

Well, what Michael Steele said is untrue and here are the voting results to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prove it;

By party
The original House version
Democratic Party: 152-96 (61%-39%)
Republican Party: 138-34 (80%-20%)

The Senate version:
Democratic Party: 46-21 (69%-31%)
Republican Party: 27-6 (82%-18%)

The Senate version, voted on by the House:
Democratic Party: 153-91 (63%-37%)
Republican Party: 136-35 (80%-20%)

As you can clearly see, the Act would have passed handily, 69%-31% in the Senate and 63%-37% in the House, without a single Republican vote.

But whoa you say, look at those 91 Democrats in the House and 21 in the Senate that voted against it. Yeah, those were 'Dixiecrats' and they call them, 'Southern Republicans' now. Most of them left the Democratic Party and their 'descendents' in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas, now comprise the vast majority of today's Republican Party.

Here's another breakdown of that vote from 1964;

The original House version:
Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)
Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)

The Senate version:
Southern Democrats: 1-20
Southern Republicans: 0-1
Northern Democrats: 45-1
Northern Republicans: 27-5

Not a single Southern Republican voted for the Act.

And another thing you need to remember, the 'Eisenhower' Republicans of the 1960's were not the Newt Gingriches, the Tom Delays, or the Trent Lotts of today.

And if you don't believe that, then explain how there were only '10 Southern Republicans' in the House and 'one Southern Republican' in the Senate in 1964 but Republicans now dominate those same states. There's only one explanation and you know what it is.

I'm proud to be a Northern Democrat.