Thursday open thread: A short discourse on "Republicans freed the slaves"

It is an historical fact that the Republican Party, in pursuing the war to bring the secessionist South back into the Union, ended slavery. That's not in doubt.

It is also an historical fact that these same Republicans, in the compromise of 1877, ended measures aimed at uplifting the former slaves so that its candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, would gain the presidency. As a result of this deal, Union troops were removed from the former slave states, and almost one hundred years of Jim Crow would rule the South.

It is an historical fact that up until the 1960s, Democratic state parties in the South were segregationist.

It is also an historical fact that after Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson shepherded the Civil Rights Act, the GOP saw this as a chance to corral disaffected, racist, white southern Democrats into its fold. The Dixiecrats of old are now solid Republicans.

These are the facts. They really are not in dispute. The modern GOP is the party of racism, no matter how many Uncle Ruckuses they dredge up to run for office to give a patina of being not-racist. 

Bloop.

This is your open thread.