It kind of amuses me that Newsbusters is upset with Chris Matthews for asking the following questions:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: When we return which party would Abraham Lincoln join today? Would he still be a Republican after all the talk about state’s rights and honoring the Confederacy? Would they like him? You’re watching Hardball! It’s choosing up sides time for Abraham Lincoln. Only on MSNBC.
You know, forget Lincoln’s probable reaction to a party that consistently garners less than 10% of the black vote. Forget all the talk about state’s rights. Forget how he might feel about being assassinated. If you brought Lincoln back to life and he saw Dick Cheney and the rest of the neo-conservatives, he would oppose them. How do I know this? Because he opposed them in 1848 when they attempted to retroactively justify the war on Mexico. Starting wars of aggression on flimsy or faked evidence was not something Honest Abe was down with. So, no, President Lincoln would have no part of the modern GOP.
Herbert Hoover – Yes.
Honest Abe – No.
Herbert Hoover is every state governor’s patron saint.
Eisenhower= no
Nixon= Maybe
Ike=Yes. Finished out his years encouraging and backing that unnecessary war in VN. Failed to publicly back the 64 Civil Rts bill too, if dim memory serves. Appointing librul Earl Warren the “biggest damn fool mistake I ever made.”
Nixon=Absolutely. He never cared about all that liberal domestic legislation that he was compelled to sign by a Dem Congress.
Abe=NO. Much more of a liberal temperament than many are aware of. Quick with a forgiving pardon and wanted, generally (with important Reconstruction exceptions), to let the South down “easy.” Early environmentalist too, at least w/r/t loving nature and hating hunting and fishing.
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Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."He used to be a Republican, too.
This is a great question and I can’t dispute anything I’ve read concerning why Lincoln would not be a Republican. That doesn’t mean he’d be a Democrat. Lincoln’s life was, in great part, about personal responsibility. I don’t think he’d be for the ever increasing size of government that the Democrats seem to stand for today.
Here’s another question for you: Would JFK be a Democrat?
I don’t think so. He cut taxes and one of his most memorable statements was “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. A far cry from today’s Democrats that ultimately just want all money sent to, and then distributed by, Washington.
Yeah, we all want your money!
Seriously, I do not think that J.F.K. would be a Republican today. Medicare? Civil Rights?