Who will the Republicans run for President in 2008? This question came up during a recent argument with a Liberal (a waste of time, more or less, but sometimes useful for sharpening one's mental claws). My answer seemed to shock him. Personally, I'd like to see either Paul Bremer or Colin Powell in the Oval Office, but I don't think the latter will run. Condoleeza Rice would also make a good President, in my opinion, but she needs more public exposure, perhaps as Vice President first. The liberal was stunned by this.  He said that it seemed incredibly "progressive" for a Conservative, and that no Republican would ever elect a female or black President. I therefore took the opportunity to enlighten him.

The Liberals like to portray their pet political party, the Democrats, as "the party of inclusion" or "the big-tent party," while denouncing Republicans as anti-minority and anti-women. Historically, nothing could be further from the truth. It's just another Liberal lie.

The first woman in Congress was Jeanette Rankin, a Republican from Montana elected in 1916. Her platform included universal suffrage, Prohibition, child welfare reform, an end to child labor, and staying out of World War I. Does that sound like the anti-woman, warmongering Republican Party the Liberals like to describe? Not to me.

The first black Congressman was Joseph Hayne Rainey, a Republican from South Carolina and a former slave. Rainey's father purchased the family's freedom and became a barber. Rainey was one of the more conservative black leaders during Reconstruction; he favored a poll tax as a requirement for voting, with the revenues devoted to public education (the measure didn't pass). Elected to Congress in 1870, he supported an amnesty bill to remove remaining liabilities on former Confederates while simultaneously promoting a civil rights bill. Does that fit the Liberal profile of Republicans? No.

The first black Senator to serve a full term was also a Republican, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi. (Technically, the first black Senator was Republican Hiram Rhoades Revels.  He was elected to serve the remainder of Jefferson Davis' term, but did not run for re-election.)  Born a slave, he escaped at the beginning of the Civil War and tried to enlist in the Union Army. He was elected to the Senate in 1874, encouraging the government to be more generous in issuing western land grants to blacks and favoring distribution of duty-free clothing from England to needy blacks. Senator Bruce also worked for the desegregation of United States Army units. Again . . . does this fit in with the view of Republicans the liberals force-feed their adherents? Hardly.

The first woman to run for President on a major party ticket, as well as serve in both houses of Congress, was Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine. Elected in 1940, she supported appropriation for childcare and helped women in military service by establishing WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) and the Army-Navy Permanent Nurses Corps. She worked for retirement benefits, equal pay, and equal rank for women. She then ran for the Senate in 1948 and won, serving for 24 years. During that time, in 1964, Senator Smith ran for President on the Republican Party ticket and received 27 nominating votes at the Republican Convention. Is that the anti-women Republican party the Democrats like to portray? Nope.

After the Democrats blocked the passage of the Republican-backed civil rights bills of 1957 and 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was finally passed despite a Democratic filibuster led by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WVa), a former Klansman and still a US Senator.  It was the Democrats who fought against civil rights, not Republicans.  In the House, 79% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while in the Senate, 21 Democrats and only 6 Republicans voted against it.

Which political party is really the party of inclusion, and which pigeonholes people based on race, creed, or sex? Which party promotes people based on their individual merits, and which sees people only as representatives of a group? When you look fairly at the facts, the "big tent" the Democrats claim to be under is just a circus tent.