Unabashed Racist Leads Tenn. GOP Primary MEMPHIS, Tenn. - An unabashed racist will represent the Republican party in the November election for a congressional seat after a write-in candidate failed to derail his effort. With 86 percent of the primary vote counted Thursday, write-in candidate Dennis Bertrand had just 1,554 votes compared to 7,671, or 83 percent, for James L. Hart, a believer in the discredited, phony science of eugenics. In November, the GOP candidate will oppose Rep. John Tanner (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat who has represented the northwest Tennessee district for 15 years. Hart, 60, vows if elected to work toward keeping "less favored races" from reproducing or immigrating to the United States. In campaign literature, Hart contends that "poverty genes" threaten to turn the United States into "one big Detroit." "I didn't expect to win," Hart said. "I thought their network would beat my ideas." He has run for the 8th District seat before and drawn little attention. But people began to notice this time because he was the only Republican on the ballot. Since the deadline for getting on the ballot had passed, Bertrand, also a Republican, began a write-in campaign, saying he wanted to protect the party's honor. "I think his beliefs are not beliefs of any party that I know of," Bertrand said Thursday night. "I knew it was going to be a really long shot, but in good conscience, I had to at least give it an attempt." Bertrand, a financial analyst and former military officer, was on active duty with the National Guard when the deadline to get on the primary ballot passed. Hart said he will have lots of time to campaign for the general election since he was forced Wednesday to resign from his job as a real estate salesman because of the attention he drew during the primary. "They didn't say 'You're fired' in exactly those words, but it was pretty clear what they wanted," Hart said. While campaigning, Hart sometimes wears a protective vest and carries a .40-caliber pistol, but he said he has run into no trouble. "When I knock on a door and say white children deserve the same rights as everybody else, the enthusiastic response is truly amazing," he said. If a black person opens the door, he says he simply drops off campaign literature and leaves.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/08/04/569137-ap.html 'And that's the news from Tennessee...'
lol....this is the best line In campaign literature, Hart contends that "poverty genes" threaten to turn the United States into "one big Detroit."
what the hell?? this guy is seriously on the ballot? is there nothing the GOP could have done to prevent this, there?? i can't imagine that most republicans anywhere think this is a good representative of their party.
exactly it seems Republicans in Tennessee are only concerned with the letter by your name, not in what you believe in - much like a lot of Republicans on this board - only concerned with 'scoreboard'
except i don't think it helps republicans win in general. it might deliver them someplace like tennessee, once. but the effect it has on the party at large can't be good. if i were a GOP operative, i'd be distancing myself from this guy big time...and doing what I could to have him removed from the ballot or have the R by his name removed on the ballot.
exackery mr max! just how did this nutjob win the primary? Was nobody else available? This confuses me.
EXACTLY. This is not good at all. Not only does it FURTHER alienate minorities from the party, you can be sure the Dems are going to milk this for all its worth. And just when Republicans were starting to shake the racist label...
Send him the HATE BUSH t-shirt when you suggest this to him... I heard that this guy is the bastid child of Strom Thurmond...
Does anyone know how you list your party on a ballot? What if I said I was a member of the Yellow Antelope Party? Would they just believe me and add that beside my name? Do I have to prove I'm a Democrat if I want a D by my name on a ballot? Do I have to prove I'm a Republican if I want an R instead?
I would think that you have to register with the party to claim them. The party, then, can support you to whatever extent they choose... with no obligation.
Damn, how did this guy get this far? Are heads of the Ten. GOP asleep at the wheel? You know what's far more sad than this guy, is that there a few thousand people in one district who support him.
With Tanner being a <i>Blue Dog</i> Democrat, it seems that the GOP didn't bother contesting him and this allowed Hart to slip in.
<a HREF="http://www.house.gov/tanner/">Tanner Home Page</a> At the very bottom is a link to the <i>Blue Dog Democrats</i> web site. <a HREF="http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/what_bluedog.htm">What is a Blue Dog</a> <i> The Blue Dog Coalition has built a reputation as a serious player in the policy arena, promoting positions which bridge the gap between ideological extremes. Many of the group's policy proposals have been praised as fair, responsible, and positive additions to a Congressional environment too often marked as partisan and antagonistic. The 38 conservative and moderate Democrats in the group hail from every region of the country, although the group acknowledges some southern ancestry which accounts for the group's nickname. Taken from the South's longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat, the "Blue Dog" moniker was taken by members of The Coalition because their moderate-to-conservative-views had been "choked blue" by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election. The Coalition was formed in the 104th Congress as a policy-oriented group to give moderate and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives a common sense, bridge-building voice within the institution. Most agree that, since then, the Blue Dogs have successfully injected a moderate viewpoint into the Democratic Caucus, where group members now find greater receptiveness to their opinions. In fact, the continuing political success of "Blue Pups" in the 1998, 2000, and 2002 elections points to the public's approval of the centrist, fiscally responsible message represented by The Coalition. The Coalition has been particularly active on fiscal issues, relentlessly pursuing a balanced budget and then protecting that achievement from politically popular "raids" on the budget. Past Coalition budgets have won the endorsement of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition and multiple newspaper and magazine editorials. As one column pointed out, the Blue Dogs have proven that "common sense, conservative economics and compassion aren't necessarily mutually exclusive." The Coalition also played a significant role in welfare reforms signed into law in recent years. Their proposals served as middle-ground markers which laid the foundation for the bipartisanship necessary to bring about fundamental reforms, and helped set into law policies reflecting the "common sense, conservative compassion" so often attached to the group's efforts. The Coalition has also worked on common sense solutions to our energy, health care, and homeland security problems. In the 108th Congress, the Coalition intends to continue to make a difference in Congress by forging middle-ground, bipartisan answers to the current challenges facing the Country. A top priority will be to refocus Congress on truly balancing the budget and ridding taxpayers of the burden the national debt places on them. The group also expects to be involved in education, regulatory reform, taxes, defense and veterans affairs. </i> <a HREF="http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/mbr_profiles.htm">List of Blue Dog Members</a> Seems to be mainly Southern and Midwestern Democrats. A few from California.............but very few from the Northest U.S. If the GOP thought they had a viable chance to beat Tanner, don't you think they would have found a more suitable candidate than Hart?
Thanks Mango. still amazes me they wouldn't strive to get somebody, ANYBODY, without this lunatic's baggage. There must have been a copy clerk, used car salesman, student, failed mining exec/baseball owner, random man on the street, or ANYONE that they could have selected that wouldn't shine such a negative the national spotlight on them.
I'm sure the Repubs aren't too concerned with this district, but would they really stand by and let a racist run in their name? I'm pretty sure they weren't aware of his views, hence my "asleep at the wheel" remark. Again, to me, the scary part in all of this is the support he has from a few thousand voters.
