Many of us old people find it difficult to be angry with President Johnson, for he gave us Medicare.
So we think that he should be forgiven for his use of that racial epithet.
He was accustomed to using that word, so it just came naturally to him.
Today, of course, few people use it. As new generations come along, that word will become extinct.
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IMHO, we should stop wasting time arguing about the past policies of the Democrats and Republicans.
This is 2018. Let's see how both parties seek to handle our Achilles heel (i.e., the changing population profile of the United States of America).