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Subscribe to RSSWhen former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) announces for president with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop next week, he won't be the first to do so.
Watchers of the 1996 presidential campaign will remember that former California Gov. Pete Wilson also did so, as NBC's Chuck Todd reminds. And, as NBC's Andrea Mitchell points out, the site was also used as Ronald Reagan's kickoff in 1980, following his official announcement in 1979. (Here's video of Reagan's speech.)
On Aug. 6, 1995, the Washington Post's Paul Taylor and David Broder wrote the following under the headline, "Wilson Chooses Lady Liberty As Symbol for Campaign."
"Let the smart alecks croak that California Gov. Pete Wilson (R) is trying to ride an anti-immigration wave to the White House. He's just picked up the crown jewel of pro-immigration endorsements: the Statue of Liberty. Miss Liberty's picture now appears on the official Wilson campaign stationery, with the words 'Pete Wilson President' superimposed over her left shoulder. She's also expected to serve as the backdrop when Wilson launches his campaign in New York shortly before Labor Day."
The statue, with its references to the "tired" and "poor" and "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" -- courtesy of poet Emma Lazurus -- has taken on different meanings for different people.
Wilson, at the time, was embroiled in a controversy over immigration having just pushed through the Prop 187 ballot initiative a year earlier that "cuts off welfare and education services to illegal immigrants," per the Washington Post.
Some found the site as Wilson's choice for an announcement ironic because of the statue's message, but Wilson's campaign manager told the Washington Post then of Lady Liberty: "She symbolizes the fact that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things in America. The right way is to come with nothing but the clothes on your back, apply legally and accomplish great things. The wrong way is to come illegally."
Today, she has become a hero for the Tea Party, with "liberty" becoming a catch phrase and foam green-pointed head gear at Tea Party rallies. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) made a stop at the statue during her family bus tour through the Northeast last week.
Huntsman, however, is no hero of the Tea Party. His campaign hearkened back to Reagan.
Spokesman Tim Miller, in a Tweet today cited this Reagan quote from when he appeared with the statue in the background: "Let us pledge to each other with this Great Lady looking on, that we can and so help us God we will make America great again."
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Let's hope Huntsman studied up more than Palin! lol
It's been proven history is NOT a stong point with Teapublicans! lol
And using the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop will earn him how many votes? The answer is zero. Huntsman and Romney are alike in some ways; both moderate, both Mormon, both about the same age. Will his entering split the moderate vote and make room for a Tea Party candidate? Perhaps so.
This is real news. Huntsman not the first to use the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop. Yep real journalism there. Like a candidate wearing a flg pin on his lapel. Is this all the news they have to report today??
Statue of Liberty, Greek Columns, You-Tube.....Really, who is going to care in a year and a half?
Political candidates all choose some sort of backdrop for photos - often the Capitol steps, or the Lincoln Memorial, perhaps a Marine Corps chopper. To the extent that the symbolism may assist in connecting with particular voters, it's a marketing decision.
Huntsman seems to be marketing himself to the Tea Party right now. His recent remarks have followed their line. As the article notes, the Statue of Liberty is one of their favorite icons, and is also much loved by the people of the U.S. generally.
He may be setting himself up for a backfire, of course. There's not that much general support for Tea Party positions and the officeholders aligning themselves with them are risking repelling voters. Just imagine a shot of some Liberty crown-topped, shouting, snarling Tea Party supporter fading into the image of John Huntsman. Not pretty.
And, as the article also notes, there is the irony of the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty as a welcoming sight for immigrants, and Emma Lazarus' noble words. What's in it for immigrants of any kind, for the poor and the hungry, the "teeming masses yearning to be free" in any of the Tea Party platform points? Nothing.
The commission for the statue was awarded Bartholdi in France, but the actual project was a joint American-French effort. The U.S. provided the pedestal base, France the statue. It was financed almost entirely by private donations and the yield of various fundraising projects in both countries. Among the more notable donations in France were the pennies of schoolchildren. Intended at first as a celebration of the U.S. centennial, fundraising and construction delays meant it was "delivered" ten years late.
history is NOT a stong point with Teapublicans
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That's why they're rewriting it.
EXCELLENT catch Indy! ;o)
Hey, Red ... imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
But sometimes we don't really WANT some folks' compliments .....
Heck, I never could figure out the Wasilla Village Idiot hangin' out in the National Parks with those good for nothin' civil servants/Park Rangers, etc., giving her the special treatment!
Yeah, and besides, it's socialism. And not in the Constitution. And someone ought to be chopping those trees down, to make more toothpicks. And for cryin' out loud, don'tcha just WISH for some of those bearskins, deer antlers, and eagle feathers? I mean, you betcha that's a giant waste of good money, lettin' those critters just wander all over the place.
You betcha' but how could a Mama Grizzly feel comfortable around all that granite......
Slip sliding away.........Mama Grizzly on Granite!
David Brooks tells it like it is to both pathetic "parties"...
"The Republican growth agenda — tax cuts and nothing else — is stupefyingly boring, fiscally irresponsible and politically impossible. Gigantic tax cuts — if they were affordable — might boost overall growth, but they would do nothing to address the structural problems that are causing a working-class crisis."
snip
"As for the Democrats, they offer practically nothing. They acknowledge huge problems like wage stagnation and then offer... light rail! Solar panels! It was telling that the Democrats offered no budget this year, even though they are supposedly running the country. That’s because they too are trapped in a bygone era."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/opinion/14brooks.html?ref=opinion
What did the 'line up' of unusual suspects offer last night? 'One liners about Obama'? Those will create LOTS and LOTS of jobs, won't they? Can't wait!
Poor David Brooks: he is lost in his own time warp -- Dick VanDyke coming home for cocktails before dinner, worrying about his suburban grass. What's wrong with light rail and solar panels? David Brooks is trapped in a bygone era where he thinks somehow our steel plants will be bustling with happy right-to-work employees. What kinds of jobs does he think the future holds? In China, in India, in Brazil, they are happy to work on solar panels and light rail.
Thanks kate. I read that David Brooks column this morning and wish I could have commented on it as well as you did. Brooks is a smart man, but he makes the most ridiculous statements, including calling the Republican fondness for tax cuts stupefyingly boring as if these were moves played in a mock economic conference by graduate students.
I will listen to what the man has to say. Maybe he will have some ideas we have not heard before. I am open to new ideas about fixing our economy and solving our debt.
The first candidate to come out with a REASONABLE economic plan will definitely gain a nice little bump.
Indy Lib, I agree with you. I still believe that American's have more in common then either party wants to let on. Most of us want this country to succeed.
Amen sister!
x
Okay, whose the smart alec that voted up "x"?
Funny!
3 votes? Wow, I'm more profound than I thought.
I would be mad, but that was actually pretty funny.
Pay NO attention Indy - some ass wipe thinks it's cute to impersonate me!
I knew it wasn't you, you have a big blue bar thingy on your posts.
Cool! Just wanted to make sure! ;o)
This isn't the first time they've done this... lol
Feisty and Indy, You guys are funny.
Feisty, I don't understand why you are being deleted. Could someone explain
lisa - look at the spelling between the two.
lisa - look at the spelling between the two.
American, Thanks for information.
I'd like to thank all the enlightened souls who voted up my comment and gave me a cute little green star. There is a special place in Heaven for all of you.
Can't even imagine why Feisty would get deleted. LOL
lisa s-1749992
I will listen to what the man has to say. Maybe he will have some ideas we have not heard before. I am open to new ideas about fixing our economy and solving our debt.
That is the smartest, most nonpartisan comment I've read here in a very long time.
It's about ideas and what's best for the country and NOT about D's and R's.
I'm with you 100%.
Groucho, Thank you. I hope that we as a country can come together and solve our problems.
If I was advising him (yeah I know I'm laughing too) I would tell him to go left of the all the crazy, speak respectfully of the POTUS even when he strongly disagrees, tell the country that everybody gets sick, rich, poor, democrats, republicans, everybody needs healthcare that is a fact, so we are not going to abandon medicare and we can fix that problem, and that it will take an increase in revenue as well as spending cuts, including military cuts. If he can get to the middle, he has a shot, he has not said anything so stupid as to disqualify himself as some of the others who will never escape their past positions. If the republicans don't let him get to the middle, if they make him do the crazy talk to stroke the base he gets ruined. People want some new ideas from republicans even more than new faces, that is what I would tell him. Oh and don't mention all those American companies partnered with the communist Chinese government, to provide them with slave wage labor, on top of skirting US taxes, republicans don't like communists.
he smartest thing about Huntsman is that he APPARENTLY thinks he can move ahead without buying into the litmus tests of the teaparty folk. If he can sound like and point to a history of centrism and common sense, he might have a shot. But I doubt he can just be another of the seventeen dwarfs and stand out.
He needs to be different they are all stocked up on crazy.
".... with "liberty" becoming a catch phrase and foam green-pointed head gear at Tea Party rallies"
More First Read liberal snark ....did you ever snark at the tacky Obama souvenirs sold at his rallies, along with the catch phrase "hope and change"?
Actually I did. I can't ever let a good set-up for snark slide by. But it was over at HP.
Failin palin is after the money again, I guess she is looking for a new house to buy. Let's pray she NEVER lives in the WH.