Ex-KKK leader David Duke says he plans to run for U.S. Senate
By The Associated Press
07/22/16 11:35 AM EDT
BATON ROUGE, La. — Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke announced Friday on his website that he plans to run for U.S. Senate in Louisiana.
A registered Republican, he would be seeking an open seat vacated by Republican David Vitter.
Duke's announcement came as the state is grappling with deep racial tensions after the shooting death of a black man by white police officers and the killing of three law enforcement officers by a black man. It also came one day after Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president.
The white supremacist Duke is a former state representative who represented suburban New Orleans for one term more than two decades ago and was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. His failed bid for governor in the 1991 race against former Gov. Edwin Edwards was one of Louisiana's most high-profile elections, with Duke opponents proudly showing bumper stickers supporting Edwards that read "Vote for the crook. It's important."
In a posting on his website, Duke said he'd been "urged by enormous numbers of people his district to run for United States Congress."
"With the country coming apart at the seams and no one willing to really speak the truth about what is happening, the majority population in this country needs someone who will actually give voice to their interests in the face of an increasingly violent hatefest launched by the media and political establishment against them," Duke's website says.
Duke is a convicted felon, pleading guilty in 2002 to bilking his supporters and cheating on his taxes. He spent a year in federal prison, but later denied any wrongdoing.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
Convicted felons can be barred from voting in some states, under certain conditions. But the rules are a little various on that and often the right to vote is restored. If I recall that was one of the problems with Kathleen Harris' (Fla. right wing voter registrar) barring (mostly black) voters in Florida whose alleged felonies were in other states.
In 1980, I said that I have no tolerance for what the Klan represents, and would have nothing to do with any groups of that type. If anything, my feelings on this subject have only grown stronger. The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood. Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse.
I firmly believe that there is no room for partisanship on this question. Democrats and Republicans alike must be resolute in disassociating ourselves from any group or individual whose political philosophy consists only of racial or religious intolerance, whose arguments are supported only by intimidation or threats of violence.
We must, and will, continue our unified rejection of such elements of hate in our political life, for while there are many issues which divide us, it is fundamental principles such as this which will always draw us together.
And yet Reagan was such a weak moral example that his voters are nearly all Trump voters today. You know, racists, the kind of people who change the law to make it harder for minorities to vote. The kind of people who you can lie to about the dangers of immigrants and Muslims, and they'll believe the lie.
Maybe ol' Ron was only a 'great communicator' when he wanted something?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
