How did this history get so twisted?

Neo neocon refers her readers to Wikipedia for some history of the Republican Party. Then she decides to take on Joy Behar:

"And then there's Joy Behar, who notes that "the Republican Party hasn’t been black friendly over the many centuries in this country." It would be hard to find a more Orwellian comment anywhere, and if Behar isn't even aware of the actual history of the Republican Party and its noble fight against slavery and racism, than we can add abysmal ignorance to her resume.

For those of you who, like Behar, may have slept through the entire American history curriculum, here's a teeny introduction:

Founded in Northern States in 1854 by anti-slavery activists, modernizers, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers, the Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know Nothing Party. The main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil.

But perhaps Behar knows all that, to give her the benefit of a doubt she doesn't probably deserve. And perhaps this is her reasoning, somewhat akin to Finney's twistings: the Democrats in the South who were actually the racists for lo nigh those "many centuries" were really closet Republicans, and the Republicans were really closet Democrats."

The link to neo neocon: http://neoneocon.com/2011/10/29/the-lefts-view-of-the-racist-right-and-the-problem-of-herman-cain/
The Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29