A true sign of progress

According to Wonkette, and a few other places, our old friend Alan Keyes has been nominated by the American Independent party of California as it's candidate for president. Why is a washed-up has-been wingnut being nominated by the shriveled up reminants of a wingnut third party a true sign of progress in America?

the answer below the fold.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a bad man named George Corley Wallace. He was governor of Alabama and he stood in front of a Schoolhouse door to stop little children from going inside. You remember that story, right? Good. Now in 1967, Wallace decided to run for President...again.

He had tried in 1964 to defeat Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination and did poorly, so he decided to run in '68 as an independent. However, in most states back then, you needed to have a part to do that. So he invented the "American Independent Party, or AIP. Wallace and the AIP did really, really well that year. Getting almost ten percent of the vote and winning seven states for a total of 46 votes.

Four years later, in 1972, Wallace ran for the Democratic nomination. Had he not been shot by Arthur Bremmer he would have most definitely won. (think about that, RFK fans!). But what of the AIP? They had a convention anyway, and were prepared to renominate Wallace, but he announced he wouldn't accept the nomination, so they nominated Congressman John G. Schmitz, "fondly" remembered today as the father of child molester Mary Kay Laturno. Schmitz was so far to the right he made Pat Buchanan look like a Liberal. His electoral total was zilch, but at one million, one hundred thousand votes, he had a pretty impressive outcome.

Then in 1976, the AIP split in two. One side went for Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox and the other side went for Schmitz running mate Thomas Anderson. Each got about a hundred thousand votes nationwide.

There might have been a candidate in 1980 and '84, but I don't remember. But the fact remains that the AIP was the racist party of the old south before the the bastards finally forgave the Republicans for it's origin and joined up. A few remnants here and there still remain, like in California, and here's the kicker...

The party of racism and segragation has nominated a BLACK man for President. That's got to be a step in the right direction.