I saw this vid and write up tonight and it is making the rounds. See Gov. Walker In 1992 Said David Duke’s Issues Are Not Extreme.
I had to live and was in fact politically active through this difficult time period so I don't want the history played with.
I met David Duke several times during his two major runs for high office (Update- he actually had three major runs for Statewide Office but his last run for Gov was not a significant threat). When Duke came to town the town showed up to see the show. He was the only person I met when shook his hand I felt evil.
One issue we GOP "vote for the crook it's important" (Governors race) bumper sticker folks had was to convince people that Duke was a huge ole fraud. Duke was tapping into frustration and indeed his positions he was advocating for the most part were not extreme. His talking points on welfare reform, affirmative action, etc were "mainstream".
There were two David Dukes. At the local Civic center we would see Duke asking black people if they believe a man could repent of his past sins and views and pleading for them not to "hate" him. This was the Family values David Duke. He even passed the "collection" plate.
Then there was a David Duke I met the same day at the Frat house where Duke "thought" he was speaking to a friendly audience. This was a Duke that would talk how Frats came out of the KLAN and was trying to score with every coed in attendance.
Those quotes from "stormfront" show the real David Duke that many of us GOP/Conservatives thought was still there and showed up again.
So no in this period many of Duke's main issues and viewpoints were not extreme. He was not talking about mandatory segregation he was talking about welfare reform.
So in large part the Governor was correct. His views (publicly) were not that extreme or if viewed in isolation "hateful".
The problem was Duke was hijacking mainstream views in order to gain power. This has happened on both the left and right in our nations history.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Did Governor Walker Think David Duke's Views Were Not Extreme? A Response
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6 comments:
I just came upon your site while searching for Lenten readings, but I am a Wisconsin public employee, not unionized, and an Anglican, not a (Roman) Catholic. I think there's a great need for discussion among Christians as to how the country should be. Of course Catholicism has run the political gamut (e.g., liberation theology) in the last 50 years, and in the U.S. has settled on a couple of issues as politically and socially criterial (e.g., abortion, gay marriage). But there is no doubt that Walker was deceitful in his campaign by not mentioning plans to terminate collective bargaining. For this and his subsequent inflexibility he should be recalled.
I still cannot comprehend the fact that the right refuses to acknowledge that these people exist. I'm working on a Pink Flamingo post about wisdom in politics. The lack of recognition of what men like Duke stand for is, in my view, criminal.
Not to acknowledge evil is evil in itself, I don't care who is involved.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
Just caught up with your blog. Can you link to my new blog please? I will add yours to my links..
SJ I quite agree with you. I am just making the point and the one that I think the Governor was trying to me make was it was not so much Dukes views (public ones) that were extreme but the man himself.
That was the whole problem with Duke in the late 80's early 90's when he before he came out again
Hi Aniiblish
Well Let me say I am not familiar with what he ran on or not. I do agree that there needs to be a discussion among Christians on these issues. Especially where the answers are not that clear
Hey Jackie. I swear I thought I had added your new blog. I will add tonight. I got to redo a lot of these links
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