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Mitt defends MLK march remark
Boston Herald. ^ | December 21, 2007 | Jessica Van Sack

Posted on 12/22/2007 7:04:49 AM PST by Leisler

Mitt Romney continued to cite a 1967 book reference as proof his father marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. even as the author insisted he has no evidence to back up the claim.

“In 1963, George Romney did participate in Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Freedom Marches’ in Grosse Pointe,” said Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom yesterday, citing the book titled “The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the GOP.”

But Stephen Hess, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution who wrote the book with Washington Post columnist David S. Broder, said the reference to Romney’s father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, marching with King was “meant totally symbolically.”

“The point we were making was that the issue of Mormonism had to do with its civil rights record. Did he walk with Martin Luther King? Today I have no idea,” Hess said.

The book, lacking footnotes and references, says in a chapter about George Romney, “He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit and he is on record in support of full-coverage Federal open-housing legislation.”

But two members of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society said yesterday King never set foot in Grosse Pointe in 1963 and they woud have known if George Romney marched with him.

A member of the committee that invited King to appear at Grosse Pointe High School on March 14, 1968 - the only time historians say King appeared in the Detroit suburb - says George Romney wasn’t at the event and there was no “march” at that time.

“Dr. King was flown into Detroit and rushed into Grosse Pointe under heavy security, gave his address and then left very shortly thereafter,” said Russell Peebles, 88, who was a member of the Grosse Pointe school board’s Human Relations Committee, which invited King to speak. “George (Romney) was not in the audience. He certainly wasn’t on the stage.”

Romney claimed in his widely watched speech on religion earlier this month in College Station, Texas, and in a Sunday appearance on ‘Meet the Press’ that he “saw” his father march with the leader of the civil rights movement. In Iowa today, as his campaign tried to wriggle out of questions, Romney parsed definitions of the word “saw” and claimed his use of the term was “figurative.”

Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics called Romney’s parsing “Clintonian,” adding, “He just thought no one would ever check.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; mlk; romney
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To: NittanyLion
Hey pepperhead, can you link to the original source of that photo?

I can link to the source of that photo.

Here.

161 posted on 12/22/2007 8:38:25 AM PST by Petronski (Reject the liberal superfecta: huckabee, romney, giuliani, mccain)
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To: pepperhead
Dang! You took the wind out of my exposition's sails! ROFLMAO!!!

Well done! (not the Photoshop job, that was terrible, but the trap you set!)

162 posted on 12/22/2007 8:38:28 AM PST by Squeako (Clothespin Republicans: Holding our noses for lousy candidates since 1988.)
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To: Dionysiusdecordealcis
No that one is real. But this one is fake.


But I have to tell you, I called up the Re-Animator and he said he can get me two corpses that will claim that the meeting actually did take place.

163 posted on 12/22/2007 8:39:53 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Squeako

and 148 is also photoshopped?


164 posted on 12/22/2007 8:40:46 AM PST by Dionysiusdecordealcis
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To: colorcountry
Hilarious, pepperhead. Did you realize this might make you famous.....you were there...ROTFLMAO

Well with Walter's help we can all be there just like Mitt.

165 posted on 12/22/2007 8:41:11 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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Comment #166 Removed by Moderator

To: Leisler

Missouri - The “Show Me” state :-)


167 posted on 12/22/2007 8:42:44 AM PST by TheDon (The DemocRAT party is the party of TREASON! Overthrow the terrorist's congress!)
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To: Squeako
Well, for one thing, I'm a graphic designer and that is as horribly obvious a "Photoshop" (which I use daily) as the phony smoke over Lebanon.

We can't all be pros. ;)

168 posted on 12/22/2007 8:43:16 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: colorcountry

Hard to tell. LOL


169 posted on 12/22/2007 8:45:14 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Squeako
Well, for one thing, I'm a graphic designer and that is as horribly obvious a "Photoshop"

I'm not a graphic designer and it was obvious to me too.

170 posted on 12/22/2007 8:46:55 AM PST by Graybeard58 ( Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: pepperhead
We can't all be pros. ;)

Yeah, but you fooled some people on a well-known web forum! That's resume material my friend!

Seriously, if I were you, just for fun I would follow to see where else that photo ends up.

171 posted on 12/22/2007 8:48:06 AM PST by Squeako (Clothespin Republicans: Holding our noses for lousy candidates since 1988.)
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To: Ron in Acreage

I think I understand, thousands of people marched in Grosse Pointe and all but two are dead.


172 posted on 12/22/2007 8:49:30 AM PST by razorback-bert (Remember that amateurs built the Ark while professionals built the Titanic.)
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To: pepperhead
I can attest that #163 is real, I was with "beer guy" that day and as a matter of fact, I took the picture.

(No, my real name is not Mitt Romney.)

173 posted on 12/22/2007 8:51:02 AM PST by Graybeard58 ( Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Leisler

There are quit a few more sources than just that book which back up Romney. Go to http://thepage.time.com/romney-campaign-on-george-romney-and-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/

Even Time Magazine is now backing up Romney.


174 posted on 12/22/2007 8:54:21 AM PST by David In Staten Island
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To: JCEccles
The real story is, the Romneys have distinguished themselves as passionate and stalwart supporters of civil rights for blacks--long before it was popular.

And when it got even more popular Mitt Romney tried to pretend he'd been marching in the streets with Dr. King himself.

175 posted on 12/22/2007 8:54:32 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: Dionysiusdecordealcis
Yes, MLK was at the June 23rd march. Accounts are divided as to whether Romney was. Romney definitely was at the June 29th march, accounts are divided over whether MLK was.

No they're not. Martin Luther King was not there at Grosse Pointe on June 29.

176 posted on 12/22/2007 8:58:01 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: SpringheelJack
And when it got even more popular Mitt Romney tried to pretend he'd been marching in the streets with Dr. King himself.

Reminds me of someone else who remembered the black church burnings as a child.....

177 posted on 12/22/2007 8:58:12 AM PST by 2nd amendment mama ( www.2asisters.org | Self defense is a basic human right!)
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To: Graybeard58

Great I won’t have to rely on the Re-Animator then....


178 posted on 12/22/2007 8:58:28 AM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: TheDon

MLK was not at the Grosse Pointe event of June 29.

How many times do the Mittmen need to be told that?


179 posted on 12/22/2007 9:00:27 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: JCEccles
Ex-Klansman and Democrat Senator Byrd of WV, on the other hand, was doing everything in his power to keep Blacks second-class citizens.

Was he taking pointers from Romney's church?

180 posted on 12/22/2007 9:02:37 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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