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Kemp Changed GOP Forever

By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff

Posted May 3, 2009 1:03 PM CDT

(Newser) – For Adam Clymer, writing in the New York Times, Jack Kemp won’t be remembered as just a Bills star and Buffalo congressman. He’ll be remembered as the player who boycotted a New Orleans game to protest segregation, and the politician who “moved the Republican Party to a commitment to tax cuts as the central focus of economic policy.” He was, in Sen. Joe Lieberman’s words, “an American original.”

President Barack Obama also mourns Kemp as a man who understood “that bitter divisiveness between race and class and station only stood in the way.” Former President George W. Bush remembers Kemp for “his steadfast dedication to conservative principles,” while RNC chair Michael Steele laments the passing of “a dear friend and mentor.” The Buffalo News writes that Kemp “will be remembered as the GOP’s strongest voice for greater inclusion of minorities.”

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (3)]

In this Sunday, Nov. 3, 1996 picture, Jack Kemp talks to the congregation at Templo Calvario church in Santa Ana, Calif. Kemp died Saturday, May 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

Jack Kemp arrives for the Plaza Hotel 100th birthday celebration tribute in New York on Monday, Oct. 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Rick Maiman)

In this April 3, 1995 picture, former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, flanked by House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, gives a news conference on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette, File)

In this Saturday, Aug. 10, 1996 picture, Republican vice presidential hopeful Jack Kemp looks out over a crowd gathered for a rally in Russell, Kan. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

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The party of Lincoln needs to rethink and revisit its historic roots as a party of emancipation, liberation, civil rights and equality of opportunity for all. - Jack Kemp

I think there is no doubt that he had a greater impact on conservative and Republican economic philosophy than anybody else. More than Laffer, more than Reagan. - American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman J. Ornstein

Jack Kemp’s commitment to public service and his passion for politics influenced not only the direction of his party, but his country. - President Barack Obama

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