John McCain Bids for African-American Support
July 17th, 2008 at 09:26am Mark Noonan
Perhaps the most forlorn of political efforts, but still well worth the attempt - John McCain at the NAACP:
Perhaps with more charity than was always deserved, it was Dr. King who often reminded us that there was moral badness, and there was moral blindness, and they were not the same. It was this spirit that turned hatred into forgiveness, anger into conviction, and a bitter life into a great one. He loved and honored his country even when the feeling was unreturned, and counseled others to do the same. He gave his countrymen the benefit of the doubt — believing, as he wrote, that “returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
I remember first learning what had happened in Memphis on the fourth of April, 1968, feeling just as everyone else did back home, only perhaps even more uncertain and alarmed for my country in the darkness that was then enclosed around me and my fellow captives. In our circumstances at the time, good news from America was hard to come by. But the bad news was a different matter, and each new report of violence, rioting, and other tribulations in America was delivered without delay. The enemy had correctly calculated that the news of Dr. King’s death would deeply wound morale, and leave us worried and afraid for our country. Doubtless it boosted our captors’ morale, confirming their belief that America was a lost cause, and that the future belonged to them.
Yet how differently it all turned out. And if they had been the more reflective kind, our enemies would have understood that the cause of Dr. King was bigger than any one man, and could not be stopped by force of violence. Struggle is rewarded in God’s own time. Wrongs are set right and evil is overcome. We know this to be true because it is the story of your cause, and the story of our country.
As much as any other group in America, the NAACP has been at the center of that great and honorable cause. I’m here today as an admirer and a fellow American, an association that means more to me than any other. I am a candidate for president who seeks your vote and hopes to earn it. But whether or not I win your support, I need your goodwill and counsel. And should I succeed, I’ll need it all the more. I have always believed in this country, in a good America, a great America. But I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause.
Earlier in the speech, McCain directly challenged Obama on his education and economic policies - pointing out that Obama is wedded to the worn out ideas of the past when the times call for new efforts and new ideas in dealing with our nation’s problems. For the most part, no doubt, this speech fell upon deaf ears - polite ears; ears willing to be respectful of a great American…but ears, none the less, which were not inclined to hear the message. The NAACP does have a long and honorable history but over the past 10-20 years, it has turned itself more and more into a mere adjunct of the Democratic National Committee…devoted to party above country and, indeed, above the real needs of black Americans. If Obama wins in November, this will probably just become more ingrained - but if McCain wins, it will hopefully be a time for black Americans to reconsider their views, and their loyalty to a party which gives much lip-service to the needs of black Americans, but little in the way of actual help.
There is one black lady I know who likens President Bush to the devil - an absurd position to hold, but there was no doubting her sincerity when she was first shocked to discover that I was a Republican and she then blurted out her heartfelt opinion about the man I supported in 2000 and 2004 and still think is one of the best Presidents we’ve ever had. And when I said “shocked”, I meant it - apparently, the concept that a Republican could be on her socio-economic level and, also, clearly non-racist was something outside her common experience. Not that I’m the only middle-aged white guy she knows, but I’m probably one of the few she’s had politics come up with. We’re still friends - and we are, also, brother and sister in Christ…and we share many of the exact same values, especially as regards basic morality. But that this intelligent, kind and knowledgable lady can have such a different view about President Bush - and Republicans - shows the very high mountain we GOPers must climb to gain the trust and support of black Americans.
It is a challenge which John McCain clearly accepts, and one in which I wish him the best of luck - even getting the normal GOP 10% or so of the black vote will count as some sort of triumph in 2008, and I think he might very well be able to do that. The certain thing about this is that for the sake of the United States, black Americans and our Republican party, we’d better do whatever we can to bring black Americans back to their original political home.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Racial Issues, Republicans
48 Comments Add your own
1. Kahn | July 17th, 2008 at 9:55 am
No way they’re voting for the white guy.
But hey, retreating in the face of victory, stifling any new energy sources, and wildly increasing taxes to pay for socialism is why they’ll vote for Obama (Ted Baxter).
2. Tractatus | July 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
But that this intelligent, kind and knowledgable lady can have such a different view about President Bush - and Republicans - shows the very high mountain we GOPers must climb to gain the trust and support of black Americans.
Of course, conservative attitudes and actions have nothing to do with it. Of course not. It’s not as though Black people remember how conservatives acted during the Civil Rights era or anything. And hell, in the Jesse Helms thread, you couldn’t even bring yourself to admit to Helms’s racism (prattling about “primary sources” as though Jesse Helms isn’t the most primary of sources on Jesse Helms), much less repudiate it. That definitely helps your case.
But if it makes you feel better to believe–as you do with everything else–that it’s a big liberal conspiracy, knock yourself out.
Kahn: Please get your anti-paranoia meds refilled. Or perhaps a dose of reality will at least get you to drop your “Tax hikes for socialism! Oh noes!” and “No new energy sources! Oh noes!” delusions, for starters. Probably not though–reality seems to have no effect on you.
3. Bigfoot | July 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
It’s not as though Black people remember how conservatives acted during the Civil Rights era or anything.
The GOP voted in larger percentages than Democrats for the Civil Rights bill of 1964 in both Houses of Congress. Just something else that might be worth remembering.
4. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
June 12, 1929 First Lady Lou Hoover invites wife of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest (R-IL), an African-American, to tea at the White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country
August 17, 1937 Republicans organize opposition to former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black, appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by FDR; his Klan background was hidden until after confirmation
June 24, 1940 Republican Party platform calls for integration of the armed forces; for the balance of his terms in office, FDR refuses to order it
October 20, 1942 60 prominent African-Americans issue Durham Manifesto, calling on southern Democrats to abolish their all-white primaries
April 3, 1944 U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Texas Democratic Party’s “whites only” primary election system
August 8, 1945 Republicans condemn Harry Truman’s surprise use of the atomic bomb in Japan. The whining and criticism goes on for years. It begins two days after the Hiroshima bombing, when former Republican President Herbert Hoover writes to a friend that “[t]he use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”
February 18, 1946 Appointed by Republican President Calvin Coolidge, federal judge Paul McCormick ends segregation of Mexican-American children in California public schools
July 11, 1952 Republican Party platform condemns “duplicity and insincerity” of Democrats in racial matters
September 30, 1953 Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education
December 8, 1953 Eisenhower administration Asst. Attorney General Lee Rankin argues for plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education
May 17, 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren, three-term Republican Governor (CA) and Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948, wins unanimous support of Supreme Court for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education
November 25, 1955 Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel
March 12, 1956 Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation
June 5, 1956 Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law
October 19, 1956 On campaign trail, Vice President Richard Nixon vows: “American boys and girls shall sit, side by side, at any school – public or private – with no regard paid to the color of their skin. Segregation, discrimination, and prejudice have no place in America”
November 6, 1956 African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
September 9, 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
September 24, 1957 Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
June 23, 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower meets with Martin Luther King and other African-American leaders to discuss plans to advance civil rights
February 4, 1959 President Eisenhower informs Republican leaders of his plan to introduce 1960 Civil Rights Act, despite staunch opposition from many Democrats
May 6, 1960 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
July 27, 1960 At Republican National Convention, Vice President and eventual presidential nominee Richard Nixon insists on strong civil rights plank in platform
May 2, 1963 Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
June 1, 1963 Democrat Governor George Wallace announces defiance of court order issued by Republican federal judge Frank Johnson to integrate University of Alabama
September 29, 1963 Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School
June 9, 1964 Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate
June 10, 1964 Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirkson, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.
June 20, 1964 The Chicago Defender, renowned African-American newspaper, praises Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) for leading passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act
March 7, 1965 Police under the command of Democrat Governor George Wallace attack African-Americans demonstrating for voting rights in Selma, AL
March 21, 1965 Republican federal judge Frank Johnson authorizes Martin Luther King’s protest march from Selma to Montgomery, overruling Democrat Governor George Wallace
August 4, 1965 Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose
August 6, 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
July 8, 1970 In special message to Congress, President Richard Nixon calls for reversal of policy of forced termination of Native American rights and benefits
September 17, 1971 Former Ku Klux Klan member and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black (D-AL) retires from U.S. Supreme Court; appointed by FDR in 1937, he had defended Klansmen for racial murders
February 19, 1976 President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII
September 15, 1981 President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
June 29, 1982 President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
August 10, 1988 President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties Act of 1988, compensating Japanese-Americans for deprivation of civil rights and property during World War II internment ordered by FDR
November 21, 1991 President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 20, 1996 Bill authored by U.S. Rep.
Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
April 26, 1999 Legislation authored by U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) awarding Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is transmitted to President
January 25, 2001 U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee declares school choice to be “Educational Emancipation”
March 19, 2003 Republican U.S. Representatives of Hispanic and Portuguese descent form Congressional Hispanic Conference
May 23, 2003 U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduces bill to establish National Museum of African American History and Culture
February 26, 2004 Hispanic Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX) condemns racist comments by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL); she had called Asst. Secretary of State Roger Noriega and several Hispanic Congressmen “a bunch of white men…you all look alike to me”
5. Tractatus | July 17th, 2008 at 11:32 am
The GOP voted in larger percentages than Democrats for the Civil Rights bill of 1964 in both Houses of Congress. Just something else that might be worth remembering.
As sure as night follows day, conservatives love to bring this up.
Of course, either out of actual ignorance or carefully protected ignorance, they never get to the part about which party was conservative where. Those conservative southern Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights bill? Became Republicans. You know, the realignment? The Southern Strategy? All that happy stuff? No, seriously, do you know it? I’m trying to figure out if your ignorance is actual or intentional here.
It’s nice that you’ve all decided to run with this little bit of trickery amongst yourselves, but the Black community knows better. Particularly the members who were, you know, there for the Civil Rights movement. And in that regard, please, continue trying to push this line–preaching to the choir is an oh-so-effective strategy. Really.
6. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S’s: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism.
7. OhioOrrin | July 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
lets talk issues shall we boyz n girls.
johnny mac spoke of the value of education, rewarding good teachers, school vouchers, & correctly stated that obama agreed w the NEA.
however, who shall admonish inner city parents for their lack of involvement in their childrens’ sub-standard educational performance? low expectations equals low performance.
as a single parent myself, my involvement is as important as any facility, textbook, or teacher. I communicate my expectations to my children and enforce those standards as to reward or discipline. and I bring resources to bear if an educational obstacle proves persistent.
lastly, re vouchers. as I’ve previously stated, vouchers are a property rights issue first & foremost (tho that remains unlitigated for now). the local voters MUST be allowed to vote as to the transfer of local property taxes to private schools. the govt ONLY HAS THE AUTHORITY THE LOCAL TAX PAYERS GIVE THEM.
8. Jonathan | July 17th, 2008 at 11:50 am
And you wonder why this is? It’s becasue Republicans, frankly, haven’t tried building up a coalition for the black vote, much less given a damn about the needs of African Americans such as myself, or our issues. Oh, and having bigoted talking heads like Sean Hannity and Jesse Helms championing the conservative agenda doesn’t help much either.
9. Jonathan | July 17th, 2008 at 11:52 am
As a side note: As a young African-American voter who wouldn’t vote for John McCain, I do commend him for at least making an attempt to talk and listen to the black community.
10. '08ama | July 17th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Yesterday’s racist Democrats are today’s racist Republicans.
Blacks see it, whites see it, everyone sees it.
11. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Yesterday’s racist Democrats are today’s racist Republicans.
That is just a blatant, bald-faced lie; one that is continually perpetrated by ignorant and/or intellectually dishonest people like you, but one that is also easily refuted with a couple clicks of the mouse. The VAST MAJORITY of racist southern Democrat Congressmen and Senators remained Democrats until the day they died.
12. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
And yesterdays Democrats are todays socialists
I get it….this is a fun game.
neocon
13. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
So what explanation do you give to the fact that African-Americans overwhelmingly support Democrats today over Republicans?
I think, after the Civil Rights Act passed, only thanks to the overwhelming support of Republicans, the Dems saw the handwriting on the wall and decided that the only way to keep Blacks on the plantation (so to speak) was to offer them free gov’mint cheese. Not enough, mind you, to let the majority of blacks actually get ahead, just enough to keep the majority of blacks beholden to their benevolent Donk masters. It was a brilliant strategy, and it’s worked for over 40 years. And to prevent Blacks from becoming educated and discovering how they’ve been snookered, the Dems do everything within their power to perpetuate failed school systems, fighting school choice plans and teacher accountability with every fiber of their being.
Now, all that said, the GOP, during that same 40 years has done little to attempt to counter the Dems strategy. And why should they? The strategy has resulted in electing Democrats to the WH only twice during that 4 decades. It reminds me a little of the competition between my mother and my mother-in-law when my daughters were little. My mother-in-law bribed them with cookies and candy. My mom decided she couldn’t (and wouldn’t) compete with that approach, and, as a result my daughters never really got to know my mom. Now that my mother-in-law has passed away, my daughters (both in their 30’s) have gotten closer to my mother, but my mom missed out on much of their childhood, something she’ll never get back.
It may take a while, but I suspect that, at some point, the pendulum will swing the other way, and Blacks will no longer put all their votes in one basket. All you have to do is drive through the inner city of any metropolitan area to see what their loyalty to the Democrat Party has bought them — not much.
14. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“So what explanation do you give to the fact that African-Americans overwhelmingly support Democrats today over Republicans?”
The pandering and promises made to that community by the Democrats, of which they have yet to deliver.
Look at New Orleans. Lousiana and the city, have been Democrat strongholds for years, and yet those people continue to live in abject poverty and Landrieu, Nagin and Blanco have not accomplished in years what Jindal is going to accomplish for them.
Stay tuned.
Lousiana and New Orleans will soon be Republican.
15. Electro | July 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
It warm my heart to learn you guys understand the plight of African-American.
We got rid of that affirmative action racism. Goodness knows the abuse of that program. I am still appalled at the number of white Americans who were affected by this.
When will they understand its the Democrats who want to keep them down, and the Republicans (the real republicans like you guys, not the country club types) want to get them off their hineys and back to work.
See it all goes back to entitlement programs. Need I say more?
For some reason the MSM did not believe that all the other candidates had prior commitments.
Dixiecrats be damed!
16. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“The resulting photo of Tancredo–standing on a stage of empty podiums–sums up the Republican party’s commitment to civil rights in America: the only Republican interested is the guy running to deny immigrant workers their rights.”
I am wondering what worker rights an illegal immigrant has. Maybe some liberal can help me out.
17. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
We got rid of that affirmative action racism.
We did? When?
the only Republican interested is the guy running to deny immigrant workers their rights.
And just exactly what would those rights be?
18. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Heh, great minds think alike, neo. Did you know we had gotten rid of Affirmative Action? I would have thought that would have been all over the news.
19. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I saw you caught that one…….
Yea you would have thought the MSM would have been all over that.
You never know what to expect from the mind of a liberal. Such a terrible thing to waste, LOL
20. Electro | July 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
The one photo the GOP does not want anyone to see was snapped at yesterday’s NAACP GOP Presidential Candidate Forum. The NAACP invited all 9 Republican candidates to the forum, but only one showed up: Tom Tancredo. All the Democratic Presidential hopefuls showed up for their forum.
The excuses given by the Republican campaigns mostly had to do with scheduling conflicts–just too busy to make it.
Psst…smart guys…I’m turning the sarcasm key off now. Back to your regular ALL AMERICAN viewpoints now.
21. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Electro,
That must have been last year’s NAACP Convention to which you were referring. Here’s a video from a few hours ago at this year’s Convention.
22. africa | July 17th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
There is only one thing to say. Keep up good work.
23. Treeline | July 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Fourty four years after the passage of the Civil Rights act the Democrtic Party will have as its leader an African American.
Repugs could have put up Alen Keyes for President, but he just quit the GOP in April. I wonder why?
24. js | July 17th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
the best way to deal with obama is to expose his lies…
like these;
Barack Obama in 2003, talking to the AFL/CIO:
“I happen to be a proponent of single-payer universal healthcare coverage. That’s what I’d like to see.”
In January, 2008, Obama claimed in a nationally televised debate:
“I never said that we should try to go ahead and get single-payer.”
———————————–
Responding to questions about his intent to serve out the six year senate term, Obama says, in this video, (link removed), that he will not run for the presidency in four years.
Notice: The video has disappeared. Using WayBackMachine, I found two links — both played empty videos — a lot of stuff is being scrubbed from the web.
Here is what he said in the video:
“I think I’ve been very clear. Ah-ah-mumble-mumble, there’s a presidential election in four years. I’m not running for president in four years.”
Here is a backup story — during a meeting with reporters at his Illinois campaign headquarters after his election to the U.S. Senate, he ridiculed as “a silly question” whether he would run for president or vice president before his term ends in 2011. “I’ve never worked in Washington,” he said. “I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I’m the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois.”
—————————-
On July 28th, the day after his speech at the Democratic convention catapulted him into the national spotlight, Barack Obama told a group of reporters in Boston that the United States had an “absolute obligation” to remain in Iraq long enough to make it a success.
“The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster,” he said at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, according to an audiotape of the session. “It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. . . . It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective.”
In late winter, 2008, on the campaign trail, Obama says he wants to bring the troops home yesterday — you decide — was he lying then or is he lying now?
————————————
On the January 22nd edition of “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert and Obama had the following exchange:
Russert: “When we talked back in November of ‘04 after your election, I said, ‘There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?’”
Obama: “I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.”
Russert: “So you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?”
Obama: “I will not.”
——————————–
Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys — Jack and Bobby — decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about America. His grandfather heard that call and sent his son, Barack Obama, Sr., to America.
The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So, if his African grandfather heard words that “sent a shout across oceans,” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America, it was not Democrat Jack Kennedy he heard, or his brother Bobby, it was Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Actually, Senior was awarded an American sponsored scholarship in economics to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was selected by a former Kenyan cabinet minister, the late Tom Mboya, who was earmarked as the successor to Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first prime minister.
The presumption was that Senior would return to Africa and use his “Western-honed skills in a new Kenya.”
————————-
and the lies keep coming and going…it just proves that obama is a pathological and compulsive liar…
25. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 12:25 am
What southern Democrats became Republicans? Names please.
Blacks don’t like Republicans because we didn’t sign onto LBJ’s addictive and destructive welfare programs. You know, when he bought back the black vote?
26. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Tractatus,
Obama opposes oil, coal, and nuclear. Whats viable, and left?
Obama proposes massive tax hikes for what he defines as rich Americans. BUT, he also proposes massive hikes in the Social Security taxes. Now maybe you’re not aware of this, but the money collected for Social Security just goes right into the same pot as everything else. You should read up on it. This tax will affect everyone making over $100K…. is that rich now?
27. test » Blog Archive&hellip | July 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
[…] Grant Jones wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIt is a challenge which John McCain clearly accepts, and one in which I wish him the best of luck - even getting the normal GOP 10% or so of the black vote will count as some sort of triumph in 2008, and I think he might very well be … Read the rest of this great post here […]
28. Max Power | July 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Funny stuff.
I grew up and live currently in Alabama.
My maternal grandmother would have never voted for the “party of Lincoln.” Certain attitudes regarding race were socialized into her because of the time she grew up in.
Most of her twelve children are Republican. Most of my 60+ cousins are voting McCain.
Most of them are motivated by race.
I love them, but still…
There’s very little anyone can tell me about the “Southern Strategy” that I don’t already know.
29. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Max, well - so name some governors, mayors, attorney generals, sheriffs, district attorneys, senators and congressmen, and judges who switched from dixicrat to Republican.
You sure its not the plan for no energy and the tax to socialism (maybe the retreat in the face of victory) positions of Obama?
Meanwhile, blacks WILL vote based on race.
30. Max Power | July 18th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Quiz question:
Which of Alabama’s two Senator’s was not always a Republican?
31. Mark Noonan | July 18th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Max,
You’ve got an odd family, then.
32. Mark Noonan | July 18th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Tract,
And you’ve yet to prove that Helms ever made a racist statement in his life…nor do you acknowledge that it was Helms who first made a big deal out of the revival of chattal slavery in Africa…
You’ve got a worldview entirely at odds with the facts…
33. Mark Noonan | July 18th, 2008 at 1:28 am
‘08ama,
If that is so, then why did the very large majority of white Democrats vote for Hillary?
34. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Max, that’s it? Which former KKK member filibustered the Civil Rights Act and is still serving in which party?
Look, YOU dismissed our posts, so YOU prove it. Oh that’s right, who needs facts when hatred fills the gaps so nicely?
35. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Truth is, far more Democrats will vote based on race than will Republicans.
That’s the way the Democrat Party is. It promotes identity politics.
36. Max Power | July 18th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Kahn,
You didn’t answer my question, but I’ll answer yours.
Sen. Robert Byrd (D)… just guessing ..
BTW-I’ve forgiven my family members who had Klan affiliation.
(They are my family, and Mark will just have to bestow me with Christian forgiveness for their oddness)
Quiz question: who is the only Supreme Court Justice from Alabama?
Here’s a hint: He spent the first part of his career in white robes scaring black people, and the second half of his career in black robes scaring white people.
37. Pain | July 18th, 2008 at 4:10 am
6. neocon | July 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Because in Dr King’s time neocon liberals were mostly Southern members of the GOP and Northern Catholics and Jews that were Democrats. In those times partisanship was not as clear an indicator to ideology. When it suits you to trumpet the ideals of conservatism you do but you cannot apply that label in those times or you will trip yourself up.
To try to say that all those Southern Democrats were liberals in the 1940 to 1970 era would the greatest political lie in recorded history. Those angry white people were the most conservative America has ever known they fought desegregation and the Civil Rights act with the same vitriol and fervor that conservatives now call for drilling in ANWR and the OCS.
Conservatism could only be wedded to religion through the same means that it was merged with racist sentiment to racial equality and fear based anti-communism in the 1950s. Men like Barry Goldwater were tough on national security issues but slow to take up the mantle of social issues. The number of truly vociferous racists in America has declined as racial assimilation has meant more threats to the jobs and way of life of the average white worker, middle class homeowner and small business man, but of course there are still place where Jesse Helms’s ideas of what conservatives should think still rule the day.
38. Fredrick Schwartz | July 18th, 2008 at 4:35 am
11. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Put down the Kool-Aid and just read what you wrote with the proper ideological modifiers.
That is just a blatant, bald-faced lie; one that is continually perpetrated by ignorant and/or intellectually dishonest people like you, but one that is also easily refuted with a couple clicks of the mouse. The VAST MAJORITY of racist southern Conservative Congressmen and Senators remained Conservatives until the day they died.
Now if you can warp your spin module enough to stand there and tell me that Southern Democrats who fought against civil rights were Liberals then we’ve got a donnybrook on our hands boyo.
The Democrat/ Republican labels didn’t mean half as much then as your worldview which meant you were a conservative “white is right” candidate no matter whether you were country club member of the GOP in Rhode Island of a KKK member of the Democratic Party in Mississippi. It was all the same. Conservatism meant white rule in many ways that Apartheid government’s power was enforced in South Africa. Liberals after almost being drummed out of politics in the days of HUAC in all fifty states were more akin to the ANC of the 1970s. Using a title to make a point is meaningless when 40 MM Souls know what your party stands for. To the vast majority of black voters in America Retired Spook the modern man who calls himself a conservative is expressing in the only way that he can without fear of material loss his white pride.
39. Pain | July 18th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Southern Democrats
Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the U.S. South. In the early 1800s, they were the definitive pro-slavery wing of the party, opposed to both the anti-slavery, Republicans (GOP) and the more liberal Northern Democrats. After the loss of their territory in the American Civil War and the Republican-led Reconstruction which followed, Southern Democrats regrouped into various vigilante organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White League; eventually “Redemption” was finalized in the Compromise of 1877 and the ensuing institutionalization of Redeemers throughout the South. As the New Deal began to liberalize Democrats as a whole, Southern Democrats largely stayed as conservative as they had always been, with some even breaking off to form farther right-wing splinters like the Dixiecrats. After the civil rights movement successfully challenged Jim Crow and other forms of institutionalized racism, and Democrats as a whole became the symbol of the mainstream left of the United States, the form, if not the content, of Southern Democratic politics began to change. Most Southern Democrats defected to the Republican Party at that point and helped accelerate the latter’s transformation into more progressive party Republican organization.
–Source: Wikipedia
40. Sarah Bloch | July 18th, 2008 at 4:56 am
14. Retired Spook | July 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
That entire comment is an insult to not only the black race but the entire Human Race.
41. Fredrick Schwartz | July 18th, 2008 at 6:22 am
31. Kahn | July 18th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Morriss W Elliss GA legislature 1970
Herb Jones GA legislature 1970
Francis Doyle TN legislature 1970
Doy Daniels Jr TN legislature 1972
Aaron Lambert MS legislature 1975
John mamloy FL legislature 1975
Geo Williamson GA legislature 1978
Bert Booth MD legislature 1978
Neal Small TN legislature 1978
42. poobah | July 18th, 2008 at 7:11 am
seems like a waste of time. Unless you can find some emotional argument that will override their failure to judge others by the content of their character.
43. Retired Spook | July 18th, 2008 at 9:01 am
That entire comment is an insult to not only the black race but the entire Human Race.
You need to grow a thicker skin, Sarah. I don’t deny that my comment may be an insult to some such as you, but what should offend you is not what I said or how I said it, but the fact that it’s true. Just as an aside, in the early 70’s, when I was released from active duty in the Navy, my wife and I moved back to Indiana and bought our first house in an integrated neighborhood between two black households; both of whom became friends. The lady on one side was the widow of a successful insurance agent and was reasonably well off. The guy on the other side of us worked 2 jobs to be able to afford to escape the inner city and live in a nice neighborhood. What is truly an insult is the way the Democrat Party has exploited and destroyed the black family since that time.
Impressive list, Fredrick — all state legislators and all well after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. About the only notable Democrat from the historic 1964 Senate vote who switched was Strom Thurmond. I don’t have time to go research a full list of politicians at the NATIONAL level, but just in the Senate, and off the top of my head, William Fullbright, John Stennis, Earnest Hollings, Al Gore Sr., Robert Byrd, and Richard Russel, as well as President and former Senator, Lyndon Johnson all remained Democrats till the day they died.
BTW, if you go back and read my posts, I never said anything about any of the Southern Democrats being Liberals. I suspect it’s you who’s drunk too much cool-aid.
44. Tractatus | July 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
And you’ve yet to prove that Helms ever made a racist statement in his life…
You’ve got a worldview entirely at odds with the facts…
See? Classic. You can’t even admit to Helms’ well-known racism–even after it was presented to you very plainly in the thread about him–you continue to pretend he didn’t say the things he said, and in pretending it didn’t exist, you certainly aren’t repudiating it. You embrace a horrendous racist as a standard-bearer of your party and attempt to whitewash (pun intended) the ugliness of his racial views. And then you complain that black people don’t vote Republican.
You honestly don’t understand any of this? I think that you do, actually…you’ve just come up with these lines to make you feel better about your rather weak position.
45. Retired Spook | July 18th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Since you claim your previous text to be the truth, you have to now explain why African-Americans have not switched allegiance to the party you believe will help them.
nhak, you totally misunderstood my comments, even though you noted that I “admitted - not actually doing anything”. Then you continue, “that they actually care about African-Americans more than Democrats and that they can provide a better future for them, yet African-Americans obviously have not bought into this argument either. Why not?”
I never said that Republicans care about African-Americans more than Democrats. It’s pretty obvious that the GOP doesn’t care about the votes of African-Americans enough to figure out how to appeal to them. It’s a real enigma. In polls, Blacks overwhelmingly favor school choice, and yet they vote overwhelmingly for the party that has fought school choice tooth and nail. Beyond that, every other GOP initiative to appeal to Black voters has been weak and short-lived.
Until the black community overcomes the pathology that becoming educated is not cool, they are going to continue to vote for the politicians that give them the most free stuff. Republicans may decide, at some point, to play that game, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
What’s going to be interesting to see is if anything changes dramatically if Obama is elected.
46. Fredrick Schwartz | July 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
45. Retired Spook | July 18th, 2008 at 9:01 am
“I don’t have time to go research a full list of politicians at the NATIONAL level . . .”–Retired Spook.
That right there earns you a STFU Award from Uncle Fred.
You see RS, I do have time to that kind of thing because it’s those kinds of details that people depend on both in the right and left to skew the opinions of undecided voters and reinforce concepts in the minds of those on their side. Liberals and Conservatives alike do this.
The whole two black families in your neighborhood is a bushel of hokum. You told a nice story but what you didn’t tell me is what conservative state legislatures in the South did for blacks in the first generation after the Civil Rights Act was passed. How many prisons got built in the South? How many of those corporations that OWN prisons where minors are housed with adults are run by the sons and grandsons of conservatives from the Good Ole Days?
The point of my comment about Southern Democrats and Liberals is the whole cognitive point of this argument. You guys are conservatives, status quo socially, powerful military, small government low taxes, Christian values in public whatever gets you over in private. These are the same things that Southern Democrats held onto in the 40s 50s and 60s and only in the 70s did republicans start to run on these ideals in the South.
The point is RS the people here who call themselves conservatives would not have been supporting Martin Luther King on the marches. Those people many of whom were Republicans were social Liberals. All those people who called themselves conservatives either stayed at home or went out and helped Bull Connor or George Wallace or Orval Faubus. The values of the white South in those days are the VERY SAME VALUES YOU HOLD DEAR NOW CHURCH, MILITARY, FLAG, PATRIOTISM ALL AS STRAW MEN FOR RACE, PRIVILEGE AND HATRED OF LIBERAL IDEAS, SCIENCE AND EQUALITY.
47. Retired Spook | July 18th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
You know that they think education is not cool, and that they like free stuff; how did you come to these conclusions?
nhak, the pathology among young blacks that becoming educated “is not cool” has been widely reported for a number or years. Bill Cosby has railed on about it for some time. Just Google “anti-education pathology among black youth”, and you’ll see what I mean. The fact that you seem to be unaware of this leads me to believe that you are either an uneducated black youth in total denial or you just don’t get out much. Since you write pretty articulately, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that it’s the latter. As for the “free stuff”, well, if you aren’t aware of all the welfare, set-asides and quotas aimed at the Black community that grew out of the Great Society and War on Poverty , then I guess you’re just hopelessly dense and out of touch.
48. FmrMarine | July 18th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
johnathan
>>>As a young African-American voter who wouldn’t vote for John McCain, I do commend him for at least making an attempt to talk and listen to the black community.>>>
Of course NOT.
from the people who thought OJ was innocent and CHEERED when acquitted what else is new?
vote for the black guy no matter how bad he is or will be….remember marion berry?.
The inner city is what is is by your peoples own undoings…keep up the great work>
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