Gordon H. Smith Quotes
On issues carrying as much emotional freight as race - and there aren't many - a U.S. senator needs to speak with care and consistency. Otherwise, he could find people speaking at his own retirement tribute.
Smith, Gordon H. "Lott's Remarks Seen as a Problem for the GOP." The Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2002, p. A1.
Moynihan was actually not the political originator of the "benign neglect" phrase which became so controversial. It had been first used by The Earl of Durham in his 1839 Durham Report on the English policy towards Canada.
After Lyndon Johnson led the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Republican’s reached out to the Southern Racists who felt betrayed by the Democratic Party, and their Southern Strategy succeeded so that the overt racists of the nation became Republicans instead of Democrats. At the same time, liberal Republicans felt estranged from the “party of Lincoln” and over the years the Republicans drive out the liberals and then the moderates. The racists and white Supremacists became more and more influential in setting the policies, norms and language of the party and soon White identity code phrases became part of much of the Republican rhetoric. This offended liberals, and Blacks. The Republican rhetoric became more and more extreme in order to get enough votes from white males and some whit females while that demographic was shrinking as a percentage of the U. S. population. Roy felt that this made for an enthusiastic and rabid base, but the Republicans could no longer produce a majority coalition, and had one victory of the presidency with only George W. Bush who actually last the popular vote but won in the Electoral College.
Nixon, in his second attempt to win the Presidency was told by a small group of Southern Republican politicians that his support was wavering in the South. They had already left the Democratic Party in reaction to the Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They were concerned because in order to try and capture some of the more liberal anti-war Democrats, Nixon had been making speeches advocating the vigerous enforcement of of civil rights and improving the lot of the Negro. But Nixon could not afford to lose his political base inb the south. Hence the promise which did not keep very long after he was elected President. Nixon was not a strong civil rights President, but he was totally without principles and had no political idiology he would sacrifice any of his political capital for. So once he was elected, he didn't want to offend the centerists whose support he needed for his legislatrive program so he did pay lip service to the prinicples of equality when he himself was anti-Black, andti-Semitic and prejudiced in many areas including against intelelctuals.
Gordon Harold Smith is an American politician, businessman, and academic administrator who served as a United States Senator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009. On September 18, 2009, he was appointed president of the National Association of Broadcasters. As of 2021, he is the last Republican to represent Oregon in the Senate.
