War Liberal

I remember seeing J. B. on cable television (a new-fangled invention at the time) when he was running for president in 1976. He sat at a desk with a huge confederate flag behind him and talked about the "jungle bunnies" -- what a charming term (insert sarcasm here) -- that were after our white women. At the end of the ad, the station management would come on and apologize. This was in the days of the Fairness Doctrine, so they had to take his ads if they took anyone else's, but it obviously pained them. I feel badly for his family, but for the rest of us, it's no great loss.

"Jungle bunnies?" in 1976?? Geez. Good riddance.

It is frightening that that he was able to poll votes out of the single digits, even in the 70s. It just reminds me that there are far to many people, who think like he did, but would not dare say it in public.

Well, David Duke nearly won the governorship of Louisiana, and did win the white vote there, about twenty years after Stoner's run. But at least he had to pretend in public occasionally.

I hope it hurt. A lot.

Musings on David Duke: My mom lives in the district that put him in the state House. I remember driving up to her house in '89 when he was running and seeing the neighborhood plastered with yard signs, etc. When I expressed my outrage, she said something like "Oh, honey, this can't possibly be that man. Duke is a very common name." It took a bit of work to convince her that yes, this was the same David Duke.

"Pretend in public": during that election, a friend heard a radio message, something about working together, personal responsibility, blah blah. She was nodding, thinking "Well, that sounds reasonable," and then the announcer said, "This message brought to you by David Duke." She was horrified.

OK, I've been telling this story wrong for years. It was 1972, and he was running for US Senate in Georgia, not President. Which doesn't make the "jungle bunnies" remark any more palatable.

Didn't Archie Bunker create, or at least popularize, the term "jungle bunnies"? And his racism was supposed to be so extreme as to be comic.

I love the part about the station manager coming on afterward to apologize.