Terrance Heath's Profile

As James Oakes notes in this astute and polished study, Douglass's speech in 1876 "mimicked his own shifting perspective" on Lincoln over the previous two decades. Born a slave on Maryland's eastern shore, Douglass escaped to the North and freedom in 1838 and soon emerged as one of the nation's leading abolitionists. During the Civil War he spoke out eloquently and repeatedly to urge expansion of the war for the Union into a war for black freedom. Because Lincoln seemed to move too slowly and reluctantly in that direction, Douglass berated him as a proslavery wolf in antislavery sheep's clothing. "Abraham Lincoln is no more fit for the place he holds than was James Buchanan," declared an angry Douglass in July 1862, "and the latter was no more the miserable tool of traitors than the former is allowing himself to be." Lincoln had "steadily refused to proclaim, as he had the constitutional and moral right to proclaim, complete emancipation to all the slaves of rebels.... The country is destined to become sick of...Lincoln, and the sooner the better."^[1]

otal equality was another matter. He did not say they had a right to complete equality with white American citizens. In the September 18, 1858 debate, Lincoln said:

I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.^[14]

However, this may have been a strategy speech used to gain voters too, as Douglas had accused Lincoln of favoring negroes too much as well. ^[15]

n his second term as president, on April 11, 1865, Lincoln gave a speech supporting a form of limited suffrage extended to what Lincoln described as the more "intelligent" blacks and those blacks who had rendered special services to the nation.^[16] In analyzing Lincoln's position historian Eugene H. Berwanger notes:

During his presidency, Lincoln took a reasoned course which helped the federal government both destroy slavery and advance the cause of black suffrage. For a man who had denied both reforms four years earlier, Lincoln's change in attitude was rapid and decisive. He was both open-minded and perceptive to the needs of his nation in a postwar era. Once committed to a principle, Lincoln moved toward it with steady, determined progress.

^[17]

After enduring another self immolating Bill Maher monologue on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Alec Baldwin was asked if Rush Limbaugh is a racist. To which Alec fell into that trap so many of his peers have in recent days:

“I think you need to always distinguish the rank and file of the Republican Party and conservatives and voters from their media representation and media stars and I believe that the people who are in the media and prominent in the media in the conservative community, speaking on behalf of the Republican Party, have a very clear racist stripe through their commentary, consistently. Not just Limbaugh but all of those people. But I don’t think that their rank and file Republicans are like that.”

Well, at least he didn’t accuse all Republicans. I guess he wanted them to keep some of them watching his show.

If white people were so racist they never would have abolished slavery, in fact, it’s an insult to the many who fought and died to end slavery. Oh, and by the way, the Republican party was founded on an abolition platform. President Abe Lincoln was a Republican.

If whites were so racist, they wouldn’t have voted for civil rights. Oh, and by the way, civil rights laws wouldn’t have passed without the help of Republicans. Many Democrats voted against the bills.

Oh, and by the way, it was progressive President Woodrow Wilson who segregated our military in the early 20th Century. He was a Democrat. Don’t you hate it when that happens? So was President Johnson who enslaved a several generations to the welfare state, which among other things devastated the black family. Progressives, and their social engineering. It has fail written all over it.

Calling Republicans racist when their current leader is black is as lame as calling Limbaugh a racist based on fabricated quotes that were already retracted.

On HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday night, host Bill Maher posed a simple question to his panel (which included Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, actor Alec Baldwin and MSNBC's Chris Matthews): "Is Rush Limbaugh a racist?"

"I think you need to always distinguish the rank and file of the Republican Party and conservatives and voters from their media representation and media stars and I believe that the people who are in the media and prominent in the media in the conservative community, speaking on behalf of the Republican Party, have a very clear racist stripe through their commentary, consistently. Not just Limbaugh but all of those people. But I don't think that their rank and file Republicans are like that," Baldwin said.

O'Malley declined to call Limbaugh a racist but said, "He certainly says lots of insensitive things."