Last week, Rick Santorum was a guest on Ed Gordon's NPR radio program. Gordon asked Santorum about Affirmative Action and the Republican Party's perceived hostility towards it. Rick claimed that "Affirmative Action is an old battle, it's on its way out in most areas." Santorum then characterized Affirmative Action as "a government set-aside program for 5% of contracts."
Gordon suggested that African-Americans view Affirmative Action as a much broader issue than a set-aside program. To which, Santorum laughed dismissively and said "Yeah, I know it is to some African-Americans."
During the interview, Rick also made the claim that "more Republicans, by the way, voted for the Voting Rights Act, voted for the Civil Rights Act than Democrats did." Sorry Rick, that's just plain wrong. You can find vote totals by party at the bottom of this post.
Here's the audio of that segment of the interview.
After Rick's appearance, Ed Gordon held a roundtable discussion with participants whose opinions on Affirmative Action all differed dramatically from Rick's. Gordon's guests were George Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service; Laura Washington, Chicago Sun-Times columnist; and Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, co-director of immigration studies at New York University.
Click here to hear the roundtable.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
| Civil Rights Act of 1964
|
U.S. House Vote Total = 328-74
217 Dems - 111 Repubs for passage
| U.S. House Vote Total = 290-130
152 Dems - 138 Repubs for passage
|
U.S. Senate Vote Total = 79-18
49 Dems - 30 Repubs for passage
| U.S. Senate Vote Total = 73-27
46 Dems - 27 Repubs for passage
|
The clocking is ticking, Senator Rick...
Has anyone asked of Joe about the dead girl under his desk?
Thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964 Has a good over view with vote statistics. Not by individuals , but by region.
Good over view of the Dixiecrats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat
Sorry, don’t have time to find the documentation, but start by checking out the bios of the U.S. SENATORS that are linked in this article---
For more Rick foot-in-mouth commentary, see: I Feel a Foul and Frigid Wind (Every time Rick Santorum Opens His Mouth)
http://www.eyewitnessmuse.com/commentary.php?p=131
Keep the faith people, we're going to avenge Tom Daschle next year!
Sure seems that way.
We need to start ResignSantorum.com
I laughed so hard. I wish it weren't so painfully true...Wait a sec...No I don't!
I want the stupid fuck to run for President! Can you imagine him in an "unhandled" live TV debate? FUN!
Not to worry...this frothy guy is going down in 2006.
Like most instances, the media will not bother to make a correction or amendment. This is how the pukes such as Santorum sway public opinion with bald faced lies.
Some accountability must be in place for any public servant who distributes bullshit on public airwaves.
Yes, there were more Democrats who voted for both acts, when counted individually. However, as a percentage, Republicans voted for the bills in greater number than Democrats.
It's a deliberate mischaracterization of the facts to suit his needs. He's not entirely wrong, but he clearly uses our common assumptions, that when he says "more" he means body count, to his advantage.
It's typical politics.
Yes a greater percentage of R's voted for the measures, but that is absolutely NOT what he said and I don't (nor do you) have any evidence that it is what he meant. He specifically says MORE R's than D's, there is no deeper meaning in that. The man is a U.S. Senator I'm relatively sure that he knows the difference between raw numbers and percentages.
Whether he knew he was referring to a percentage or a sum is irrelevant because he is not the only one quoting this misleading account of history. Someone, at some point, deliberately created this misleading talking point and it has now become gospel within the Republican party. Very few Republicans actually realize they are referring to percentages and not sums.
Essentially it is an argument that relies on peoples assumptions. The Senator is not wrong, per se, in saying more Republicans voted for the acts than Democrats. He is, however, relying on our assumptions to come to a conclusion that is advantageous to him. In other words, it makes for a better soundbite then saying, "Republicans, as a percentage, voted in higher numbers for the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Acts than Democrats."
They should hang their heads in shame, but of course they won't, because they run on the POWER OF PRIDE, #1 of the seven deadlies.
Perhaps that's why they are so lethal to people and other living things . . .