Yes, the article points out that Eisenhower still got a large slice of the vote (and even Nixon in 1960). But the shift was by then well under way, and LBJ was simply the final point.
If what you're insisting is true, that blacks switched over en-masse, so they could get "something for nothing" under AFDC, then we would have seen a near 100% switch from Republican to Democrat
with LBJ. But no matter how much you try to make it
exclusively about LBJ and AFDC, that is just not how it happened.
Now, what I'll grant to some extent, is this article, mentioning blacks' anger
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30592
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=16957
and how this ends up leading to:
They therefore vote for the party most associated with policies (such as affirmative action) ostensibly designed to fight racism, and which frequently condemns alleged ongoing white racism. And blacks vote against the party they perceive as denying that America continues to be racist, the party that opposes race-based policies, and the party that celebrates America as if it isn't a racist country.
The problem with these memories is not that they are inaccurate; it is that they are no longer accurate.
What remains omitted, is also that a lot of the
rhetoric of the Right is also cause for concern, and keeps the fear and anger going; such as this whole business about blacks only wanting "something for nothing", and the other sweeping, generalistic rhetoric we see, like on the "State of the Blacks" thread, ("all their dysfunctional behavior", and "spiritual problems", etc) that makes them out to be single-handedly destroying the quality of life in the nation.
Plus, the "celebration" of the country often becomes
jingoism (including, as we see right here, bold claims of "
cultural superiority"), which of course is going to be lumped in with the same premise of "superiority" that led to slavery and discrimination in the first place.
He also omitted the flipside of this; the "Southern Strategy" that brought many of those racist Democrats over to the Republican Party in the 70's and afterward.
This is how the total swap in the reputations of both parties became complete.
(He's also dead wrong on antisemitism having been European only).
So this is what is going to keep the blacks from reconsidering the Republican party now.
(The article even mentions how "socially conservative" they tend to be, making it more ironic they aren't Republican, and in total contrast what the portrayals I saw on that other thread). Again, the Democrats seem to be the "lesser of two evils".
So even if the Democrats really are the true racists, trying to enslave the people with their programs, at least
they have the tact to hide this sentiment better. That's what "fools" the people, if you insist. (but many
ARE in fact suspicious of them too!) Many conservatives do nothing but openly blame the people for nearly everything wrong in the country (especially economic and crime), and then constantly try to "scold" them for it.
That is not going to win them back to your party.
So you can trash the Democratic Party all you want (and I and others could actually care less, or even agree with a lot of it), but it would do a lot of good if people stop using the blacks as a pawn in this battle against that party. Just keep them OUT of it already. They're not the ones making the Democrats that way. They're not getting all your tax money. They're just citizens just like you, being used by politicians, who you all seem to agree, care more about their own positions than they do the country.
