Historical revision by Howard Dean

Not to pick on the Democrats too much, but the new chairman of the DNC makes it too easy. Powerline reports that during Dean's speech before the DNC today, he noted that Democrats need to find a new way to get their message out, without considering the possibility that it is the message itself that is failing to attract voters. In the course of the speech, Dean said that Democrats "are the party that has always believed in equal rights under the law for all people." Well, mostly. This is from the Senate's website on the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

"To cut off debate required a two-thirds vote, or sixty-seven senators, and since southern Democrats opposed the legislation, a substantial number of Republican votes would be needed to end the filibuster. Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic whip, who managed the bill on the Senate floor, enlisted the aid of the Republican minority leader, Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois. Dirksen, although a longtime supporter of civil rights, had opposed the bill because he objected to certain provisions. Humphrey therefore worked with him to redraft the controversial language and make the bill more acceptable to Republicans. Once the changes were made, Dirksen gained key votes for cloture from his party colleagues with a powerful speech calling racial integration 'an idea whose time has come.'"

Among the Democrats who filibustered the landmark civil rights legislation? Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Albert Gore, Sr. of Tennessee. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina also opposed the legislation, and launched the longest filibuster in Senate history. He was, at the time, a Democrat, and later changed his registration to Republican.