Consider source on GOP equality record

[Ian David]

The following is a letter to the editor I found in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, Mass:


Consider source on GOP equality record

To the editor:

Thanks to Harold Crowell of North Attleboro for naming his source of "facts" about the Republican record on civil rights in America. The only potentially slanderous statements are the ones made by the extreme right, evangelical wing of the Republican National Party.

Crowell cites David Barton's book "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White, A Primer on African American Political History." Is this the same David Barton named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals and who wants to merge church and state? Is this David Barton the former co-chair of the Texas Republican Party? Perhaps it's the David Barton whose only qualification as an historian is that he once taught "science" in a Christian school. The same David Barton who was pegged as a fraud by legitimate scholars and who has perpetrated this fraud on many of America's homeschoolers through the use of his materials? Maybe it's the David Barton listed in promotional literature as a "new and special speaker" at a 1991 retreat sponsored by Scriptures for America, a far right ministry that is anti-Semitic and racist, spreads hysteria about Jews, calls for the death penalty for homosexuals, and has been linked to neo-Nazi groups. The same David Barton who said Strom Thurmond switched from Dixiecrat to Republican in 1964 because he had a "change of heart" about civil rights? Yes, the same David Barton who has, on numerous occasions, faked quotes from historical sources.

These past eight years have shown the extreme right wing will say anything, including lie, for power. When Sarah Palin incites fear and hate in her followers at rallies and accuses Barack Obama of being a domestic terrorist, she is saying anything to win. It is shameful in 2008 that we hear people judging a person on the sound of his middle name and color of his skin, but inspiring that others will vote for Barack Obama because of the content of his character and his vision for America.

More:
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2008/10/17/opinion/3795677.txt