Once again proving to the country their political platform consists primarily of racial demagoguery, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has ran an ad which basically states, “Vote Democrat because the other guy is a racist”. The fliers, which were not released until the day before the special election in Mississippi declare that Republican Greg Davis wanted to honor the founder of the KKK with a statue in Southaven. There is just one problem, the source cited by the DCCC never actually says that.

Davis campaign spokesman Ted Prill said the mailer is “a complete falsehood and a lie,” and maintained that Davis never said that he would have taken the statue of KKK organizer Nathan Bedford Forrest from Memphis, where it had become controversial.

“They called and asked Mayor Davis if he had any interest in any of the statues … and Mayor Davis basically said, ‘You know I’d take the statue of Jefferson Davis, because it’s part of history,’ ” Prill said. “The mayor next door in Horn Lake said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take ‘em all.’ One of those happened to be [Forrest].

“It’s completely untrue to say that Greg Davis wanted the [Forrest] statue in Southaven.”

The Memphis Commercial Appeal, which is cited in the flier, reported in 2005 that Greg Davis and Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker “said they would gladly accept the statues here in DeSoto (County) if Memphis didn’t want them.” The statues being referenced are those of Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but the story does not elaborate on who agreed to take which.

In a previous story, the Commercial Appeal specifically said Greg Davis would be willing to display the Jefferson Davis statue near City Hall in Southaven and that Baker said he would take the Forrest statue “in a heartbeat.”

The attack ad by the DCCC lacks any form of truth and is primarily used as a means to portray Greg Davis as a racist, although they lack any such evidence. The article they cite does not state that Davis would have accepted the Forrest statue, and the prior article on the matter said it was Baker who would accept that statue.

The DCCC purposely waited until the day before the election before releasing these fliers to avoid the truth from coming out prior to the election. However, since the DCCC is using these fallacies as an attempt to disparage Greg Davis by implying a fondness for Nathan Bedford Forrest, lets not forget where Forrest’s own loyalties lied:

“What is the character of the organization; May I inquire?”

“Yes, sir. It is a protective political military organization. I am willing to show any man the constitution of the society. The members are sworn to recognize the government of the United States. It does not say anything at all about the government of Tennessee. Its objects originally were protection against Loyal Leagues and the Grand Army of the Republic; but after it became general it was found that political matters and interests could best be promoted within it, and it was then made a political organization, giving it support, of course, to the democratic party.”

The inconvenient truth for Democrats who consistantly attempt to associate Republicans with the KKK, is that the KKK was an arm of the Democratic party.

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Dumb Dems, Election 2008, Features, Racism