Andrew Rosenthal Quotes
An Op-Ed by a Republican criticizing the Democrats, or vice versa, is easy to come by and not that interesting. But a Democrat who takes issue with his or her party, or a Republican who does that, is more valuable.
Rosenthal, Andrew. "Talk to the Newsroom: Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal." The New York Times, 28 Apr. 2008.
At the time most of the racists in the country, especially in the South were Democrats. The liberal Republicans were in favor of Civil Rights along with most non Southern Democrats, but the very conservative Republicans were also opposed to Civil Rights. When Lyndon Johnson, pushed through the Civil Rights Act, the Southerners were furious at their Democratic party. The Conservative Republicans, seeing an opening, courted and pandered to the anti-civil rights Democratic members of Congress, and promised minimal civil rights enforcement. Soon almost all the Southern Democrats became Republicans and the Democratic Party was weakened at the Presidential level and the new conservative Republicans shifted American politics until Bill Clinton and Barack Obama with Congressional Democratic majorities regained power. Nixon’s accurate observation about the Democrats began to be true for the Republicans while the Democratic party no longer had a civil rights struggle every time the party developed a platform or had a convention.
This was a new political phenomenon where a President was perceived as more important, more powerful, and preferable to his party. Note that the base of the scale is labeled “Public Opinion”.
Andrew Mark Rosenthal is an American journalist and former editorial page editor of The New York Times. He is the son of A. M. Rosenthal, a longtime New York Times senior executive and executive editor.
