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Showing posts with label Black Republican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Republican. Show all posts
It seems that Davis is now lost and confused. He must not have the will to hold down a job in the private sector. Instead he is exploring another run for political office. This time he wants to be a Republican in either the Virginia state legislature or a republican candidate for congress from some community in Virginia. He currently lives in a heavily-Democratic district ... so he is willing to move his family to another district that is gerrymandered in favor of Republicans.
Isn't that the description of a Civil War carpetbagger? Artur Davis has not shown himself to be a good politician. He is simply a publicity-whore and I can't believe that the voters of Virginia would reward his carpetbagging ways. What is your take on the Artur Davis story?
I see that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley chose Rep. Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the Senate. The nation’s second Indian-American governor appointed the only African American who will be serving in the Senate come 2013.
I don't agree with Tea Party politics or politicians ... but, I have to admit that I ain't mad at either Nikki Haley or Tim Scott. The two of them made history today! Tim Scott is the first Black senator from the South since Reconstruction.
Scott burst onto the national scene in 2010, when he defeated Paul Thurmond in a runoff election for the Republican nomination in the state’s 1st Congressional District. When he won his seat in Congress that November, Scott made history, becoming the first black congressional Republican from the Deep South since Reconstruction. I encourage all 'villagers' to give him the benefit of the doubt. Take a moment to learn more about Tim Scott. From all I can see he will represent the citizens of South Carolina much better then Sen. Roland Burris represented the state of Illinois. Anyhow, I 'spose that he and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) are going to become good buddies, huh?!
We gather here at a time of significance and challenge. This young century has been a difficult one. I will never forget the bright September day, standing at my desk in the White House, when my young assistant said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center – and then a second one – and a third, the Pentagon. And then the news of a fourth, driven into the ground by brave citizens that died so that many others would live. From that day on our sense of vulnerability and our understanding of security would be altered forever. Then in 2008 the global financial and economic crisis stunned us and still reverberates as unemployment, economic uncertainty and failed policies cast a pall over the American recovery so desperately needed at home and abroad.
And we have seen once again that the desire for freedom is universal – as men and women in the Middle East demand it. Yet, the promise of the Arab Spring is engulfed in uncertainty; internal strife and hostile neighbors are challenging the fragile democracy in Iraq; dictators in Iran and Syria butcher their own people and threaten the security of the region; China and Russia prevent a response; and all wonder, “Where does America stand?”
Indeed that is the question of the moment- “Where does America stand?” When our friends and our foes, alike, do not know the answer to that question – clearly and unambiguously -- the world is a chaotic and dangerous place. The U.S. has since the end of World War II had an answer – we stand for free peoples and free markets, we are willing to support and defend them – we will sustain a balance of power that favors freedom.
To be sure, the burdens of leadership have been heavy. I, like you, know the sacrifices that Americans have made – yes including the ultimate sacrifice of many of our bravest. Yet our armed forces remain the sure foundation of liberty. We are fortunate to have men and women who volunteer – they volunteer to defend us on the front lines of freedom. And we owe them our eternal gratitude.
I know too that it has not always been easy – though it has been rewarding – to speak up for those who would otherwise be without a voice – the religious dissident in China; the democracy advocate in Venezuela; the political prisoner in Iran.
It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies– or to help the world’s most desperate - the AIDs orphan in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia; the world’s poorest in Haiti. Yet this assistance – together with the compassionate works of private charities – people of conscience and people of faith - has shown the soul of our country.
And I know too that there is weariness – a sense that we have carried these burdens long enough. But if we are not inspired to lead again, one of two things will happen – no one will lead and that will foster chaos --- or others who do not share our values will fill the vacuum. My fellow Americans, we do not have a choice. We cannot be reluctant to lead – and one cannot lead from behind.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan understand this reality -- that our leadership abroad and our well being at home are inextricably linked. They know what needs to be done. Our friends and allies must be able to trust us. From Israel to Poland to the Philippines to Colombia and across the world -- they must know that we are reliable and consistent and determined. And our adversaries must have no reason to doubt our resolve -- because peace really does come through strength. Our military capability and technological advantage will be safe in Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s hands.
We must work for an open global economy and pursue free and fair trade – to grow our exports and our influence abroad. In the last years, the United States has ratified three trade agreements, all negotiated in the Bush Administration. If you are concerned about China’s rise – consider this fact – China has signed 15 Free Trade Agreements and is negotiating 20 more. Sadly we are abandoning the playing field of free trade – and it will come back to haunt us.
We must not allow the chance to attain energy independence to slip from our grasp. We have a great gift of oil and gas reserves here in North America that must be and can be developed while protecting our environment. And we have the ingenuity in the private sector to tap alternative sources of energy.
And most importantly, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild the foundation of American strength – our economy – stimulating private sector led growth and small business entrepreneurship. When the world looks at us today they see an American government that cannot live within its means. They see a government that continues to borrow money, mortgaging the future of generations to come. The world knows that when a nation loses control of its finances, it eventually loses control of its destiny. That is not the America that has inspired others to follow our lead.
After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history. That is the true basis of “American Exceptionalism.” The essence of America – that which really unites us -- is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea -- and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going.
Ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement. We have not believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well. We have not been envious of one another and jealous of each other’s success. Ours has been a belief in opportunity and a constant battle – long and hard -- to extend the benefits of the American dream to all – without regard to circumstances of birth.
But the American ideal is indeed endangered today. There is no country, no not even a rising China, that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we fail to accomplish the tasks before us here at home.
More than at any other time in history –the ability to mobilize the creativity and ambition of human beings forms the foundation of greatness. We have always done that better than any country in the world. People have come here from all over because they believed in our creed – of opportunity and limitless horizons. They have come from the world’s most impoverished nations to make five dollars not fifty cents– and they have come from the world’s advanced societies – as engineers and scientists -- to help fuel the knowledge based revolution in the Silicon Valley of California; the research triangle of North Carolina; in Austin, Texas; along Route 128 in Massachusetts – and across our country.
We must continue to welcome the world’s most ambitious people to be a part of us. In that way we stay perpetually young and optimistic and determined. We need immigration laws that protect our borders; meet our economic needs; and yet show that we are a compassionate people.
We have been successful too because Americans have known that one’s status at birth was not a permanent station in life. You might not be able to control your circumstances but you could control your response to your circumstances. And your greatest ally in doing so was a quality education.
Let me ask you, though, today, when I can look at your zip code and can tell whether you are going to get a good education – can I really say that it doesn’t matter where you came from – it matters where you are going. The crisis in K-12 education is a grave threat to who we are.
My mom was a teacher – I have the greatest respect for the profession – we need great teachers – not poor or mediocre ones. We need to have high standards for our students – self-esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise. And we need to give parents greater choice – particularly poor parents whose kids – most often minorities -- are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights struggle of our day.
If we do anything less, we will condemn generations to joblessness, hopelessness and dependence on the government dole. To do anything less is to endanger our global economic competitiveness. To do anything less is to tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement a turn toward grievance and entitlement.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild us at home and inspire us to lead abroad. They will provide an answer to the question, “Where does America stand?” The challenge is real and these are tough times. But America has met and overcome difficult circumstances before. Whenever you find yourself doubting us – just think of all the times that we have made the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect.
America’s victorious revolutionary founding – against the greatest military power of the time; a Civil War – hundreds of thousands dead in a brutal conflict – but emerging a stronger union; a second founding – as impatient patriots fought to overcome the birth defect of slavery and the scourge of segregation; a long struggle against communism – that ended with the death of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Europe, whole free and at peace; the will to make difficult decisions, heart-wrenching choices in the aftermath of 9/11 that secured us and prevented the follow-on attacks that seemed preordained at the time.
And on a personal note– a little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham – the most segregated big city in America - her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant – but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter – she can be President of the United States and she becomes the Secretary of State. Yes, America has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect. But of course it has never been inevitable – it has taken leadership, courage and an unwavering faith in our values.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have the experience and the integrity and the vision to lead us – they know who we are, what we want to be and what we offer the world.
That is why this is a moment – an election – of consequence. Because it just has to be – that the most compassionate and freest country on the face of the earth – will continue to be the most powerful!
May God Bless You – and May God continue to bless this extraordinary, exceptional country – the United States of America."
The Democrats’ negative ads convince me that Governor Romney can’t sing, but his record convinces me he knows how to lead, and I think you know which skill we need more.
Now, America is a land of second chances, and I gather you have room for the estimated 6 million of us who know we got it wrong in 2008 and who want to fix it.
Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with styrofoam Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don’t end well.
Maybe the Hollywood stars and the glamor blinded us a little: you thought it was the glare, some of us thought it was a halo.
But in all seriousness, do you know why so many of us believed? We led with our hearts and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever
spoken so beautifully.
But dreams meet daybreak: the jobless know what I mean, so do the families who wonder how this Administration could wreck a recovery for three years and counting.
So many of those high-flown words have faded.
Remember the President saying of negative politics and untrue ads, “not this time?”
Who knew “not this time” just meant “not unless the economy is still stuck and we can’t run on our record?”
Remember, too, when he said, “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal?”
Who knew the plain English version of it was, “middle America, get ready to shell out 60 bucks to fill up your car?”
And in terms of their crown jewel legislative achievement: who knew that when asked, “will government impose a new federal mandate requiring middle class Americans to buy health
insurance whether they can afford it or not?”
The answer would be “Yes we can!”
So, this time, in the name of 23 million of our children and parents and brothers and sisters who are officially unemployed, underemployed, or who have stopped looking for work, let’s put the
poetry aside, let’s suspend the hype, let’s come down to earth and start creating jobs again.
This time, instead of moving oceans and healing planets, let’s get our bills in order and pay down the debt on that wall so we control our own future.
And of course, we know that opportunity lies outside the reach of some of our people.
We don’t need flowery words about inequality to tell us that, and we don’t need a party that has led while poverty and hunger rose to record levels to give us lectures about suffering.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are Americans who are listening to this speech tonight who haven’t always been with you, and I want you to let me talk — just to them – for a moment.
I know how loaded up our politics is with anger and animosity, but I have to believe we can still make a case over the raised voices.
There are Americans who voted for the president, but who are searching right now, because they know that their votes didn’t build the country they wanted.
To those Democrats and independents whose minds are open to argument: listen closely to the Democratic Party that will gather in Charlotte and ask yourself if you ever hear your voice in the clamor.
Ask yourself if these Democrats still speak for you.
When they say we have a duty to grow government even when we can’t afford it, does it sound like compassion to you — or recklessness?
When you hear the party that glorified Occupy Wall Street blast success; when you hear them minimize the genius of the men and women who make jobs out of nothing, is that what you teach your children about work?
When they tell you America is this unequal place where the powerful trample on the powerless, does that sound like the country your children or your spouse risked their lives for in Iraq or
Afghanistan?
Do you even recognize the America they are talking about? And what can we say about a house that doesn’t honor the pictures on its walls?
John F. Kennedy asked us what we could do for America. This Democratic Party asks what can government give you. Don’t worry about paying the bill, it’s on your kids and grandkids.
Bill Clinton took on his base and made welfare a thing you had to work for; this current crowd guts the welfare work requirement in the dead of night.
Bill Clinton, Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson reached out across the aisle and said meet me in the middle; but their party rammed through a healthcare bill that took over one-sixth of our economy, without accepting a single Republican idea, without winning a single vote in either house from a party whose constituents make up about 50 percent of the country.
You know, the Democrats used to have a night when they presented a film of their presidential legends: if they do it in Charlotte, the theme song should be this year’s hit, “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
My fellow Americans, when great athletes falter, their coaches sometimes whisper to them “remember who you are.” It’s a call to their greatness at a moment when their bodies and spirit are too sapped to remember their strength.
This sweet, blessed, God-inspired place called America is a champion that has absorbed some blows.
But while we bend, we don’t break.
This is no dark hour; this is the dawn before we remember who we are.
May it be said of this time in our history: 2008 to 2011: lesson learned.
Let me tell you about the America I know. My parents immigrated to the U.S. with ten dollars in their pocket, believing that the America they had heard about really did exist. When times got tough they didn’t look to Washington, they looked within.
So the America I came to know was centered in personal responsibility and filled with the American dream.
The America I know is grounded in the determination found in patriots and pioneers, in small business owners with big ideas, in the farmers who work in the beauty of our landscape, in our heroic military and Olympians.
It’s in every child who looks at the seemingly impossible and says, “I can do that.” That is the America I know!
President Obama’s version of America is a divided one — pitting us against each other based on our income level, gender, and social status. His policies have failed! We are not better off than we were 4 years ago, and no rhetoric, bumper sticker, or campaign ad can change that.
Mr. President I am here to tell you that the American people are awake and we are not buying what you are selling in 2012.
The American Dream is our story. It is a story of human struggle, standing up and striving for more. Our story has been told for over 200 years with small steps and giant leaps; from a woman on a bus to a man with a dream; from the bravery of the greatest generation, to the entrepreneurs and the innovators of today.
This is our story. This is the America we know because we built it.
With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan we can restore the America we know and love. The world will know it, our children will tell it and our grandchildren will possess it for years to come!
Not surprising I guess. But, it is very disappointing as I thought that Davis was going to achieve great success in the wake of the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama. We sure got that one wrong!
What is your take on Artur Davis? Will he ever be more than a sideshow in the Republican Party?
There was a time when I thought that Artur Davis was going to be a historic African American politician. He looked like he was going to follow the lead of President Barack Obama by doing what had never been done before ... in this case, being a Black man elected to serve as the governor of the state of Alabama. However, things went sidewise for former congressman Davis and he lost in the Democratic primary.
The experience soured Davis on the Democrats. That is the only explanation for his recent support of voter suppression laws around the nation. These laws have a negative impact on voter turnout for African Americans ... and so it was odd to see Davis supporting them.
I can understand Mr. Cain feeling cocky this week. He's this week's GOP fad in the 2012 presidential campaign cycle. Rick Perry was the the most recent fad. Michelle Bachmann was the fad before that. Heck, even Donald Trump was a fad for awhile.
I cannot understand Mr. Cain being so arrogant and uppity as to indicate that Black people are 'brainwashed' because they don't vote for Republicans. That is how he responded when asked to explain why the Republican Party basically poison for so many African Americans?
Godfather Cain's reply, "Because many African Americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple."
Herman Cain is a business man who wants to be the next President of the United States. He is exploring a run for the presidency as a Republican in the 2012 election cycle. He was a speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). One blogger infamously noted that Herman Cain appeared to be playing the Race Minstrel for CPAC.
The vote for the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) takes place in two months. The current GOP chairman, Michael Steele, indicates that he will be running for re-election. However, a significant bloc of Republican National Committee members wants embattled chairman Michael Steele to step aside, but the rank and file have failed to settle on a clear alternative. [SOURCE]
More than four dozen interviews with members of the 168-member central committee found fear that a badly damaged Steele could emerge from the wreckage of a knockdown, drag-out fight to head the party as it challenges President Barack Obama in 2012. While most agree that Steele’s time has been rough — and costly — the members also recognize that a leadership fight could overshadow gains that Republicans made in the midterm elections. [SOURCE]
“You can’t keep spending the kind of money they’re spending every month just to operate the RNC,” said committee member Ada Fisher of North Carolina. “I would hope he would step aside.”
“The question is who should be hired for the next two years, It’s not a matter of firing anybody,” said James Bopp, a committee member from Indiana who holds great sway among social conservatives on the panel. “I just don’t think Steele has performed at the level we need for the presidential cycle.”
Steele appears to have delivered for the Republican Party. Didn't they just win a historic landslide victory in the mid-term elections earlier this month? Shouldn't Steele get some credit for the fact that Republicans won at least 63 new seats in the House. Republicans picked up 10 governorships and added six Senate seats. The party also gained control of 19 state legislative chambers and now hold their highest level of state legislative seats since 1928.
I think that the Michael Steele served his ONLY PURPOSE for the Republican Party. He was an African American face for the GOP elected in January 2009 to serve as a counterbalance for the remarkable election of Barack Obama ... the first African American president in our nation's history.
Be honest. That is the ONLY reason that Michael Steele was elected GOP chairman in the first place. The Republicans couldn't afford to have another old white man as their 'talking head'. Michael Steele became the puppet.
Steele didn't mind. In fact, he enjoyed it. Steele did his 'Bojangles' best to entertain the media and the public when he first got elected.
But, it's not January 2009 any longer and the Republican Party is now powered by the Tea Party ... and the GOP doesn't see any need to pretend like they are a diverse political party. They are very comfortable being the party for white folks in America as evidenced by the prominent role that Senator McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) have as party spokesperson.
Michael Steele served his role. The Republicans are now laying the groundwork to remove him in January 2011.
“He’s a wonderful man. He’s done a good job,” said Cindy Costa, a committee member from South Carolina. “But it would be better for him — and I want the best for him — to step down knowing he gave an honest shot and did a good job this election cycle.”
I've always wondered what could possibly drive an African American man or woman to join the Republican Party. As I watch the extremists in the Republican Party fan the flames of racism it makes me wonder what goes through the minds of Black GOPers?
Rep. John Lewis is called the 'n-word' ... Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver is spat on ... President Obama is depicted with Hitler-like mustache and worse in Tea Party signage ... George Lambus and Alan Keyes have demonstrated that they are racially confused ...
... and now we have some self-hating fool, CoreyPoitier, jumping on the racist bandwagon in a recent speech to a mostly-white audience:
"Listen up, Buckwheat — this is not how it is done!" Poitier blurted out, obviously in an attempt to win points with the mostly white audience.
Poitier knew what he was doing when he made the comparison of our nation's first African American president with the character in the 1920 'Little Rascal' ... just as others in the GOP know what they are doing as they seek to recreate the environment that existed in our country when Reconstruction was brought down over a century ago.
It is one thing when closet-supremacists like John Boehner, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others start ranting and rallying the racist fringe elements of the Republican Party ... but for a Blackman to be an agent for this racism is sad and dangerous.
"The press has run amok with this, and turned me into a racist," Poitier told reporters complaining of receiving no media attention prior to his irresponsible comments. He added, "I've never seen Buckwheat as a disparaging character. People love Buckwheat."
Villagers ... do you know anyone that loves Buckwheat?
In another interview, the confused candidate stared down at his own hands to further demonstrate he meant no racial slight.
"This isn't a spray tan," Poitier said of his skin tone. "This is real."
I imagine that Jesse Lee Peterson is heading down to support Poitier's campaign as you're reading this. I 'spose that Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are shakin' their head as they see what this Black GOP candidate is doing.
Do you know any Black Republicans? What do you think they are saying about the 'Buckwheat' comment?
In Episode 3 of the 2nd Season of 'This Week in Blackness' Brooklyn Comedy Company's Elon James White discusses the Sarah Palin's sudden departure from politics and a possible new Black charismatic GOP Presidential hopeful.
The Republican Party is deeply in trouble. We shared the top ten blunders of GOP leader Michael Steele earlier this month. Now we have a member of Steele's Republican Party who wants to bring back the hanging noose. [SOURCE]
George Lambus a 62-year-old, Black Republican mayoral candidate has released campaign flyers that note 'crime can only be alleviated by a noose and a stout tree limb.'
This jerk is someone's grandfather ... but, we are glad to note that his chances of winning the June election are slim: the majority-Black city of about 180,000 is so heavily Democratic that no Republican has won the mayor's race in modern history. Yet, Lambus hopes to stand out in a crowded field by packing a silver pistol and talking bluntly about crime.
"Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished," Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "Blacks went on a crime spree. Other blacks got tired of it ... and they formed vigilantes and they killed people. It brought the crime down."
His pistol nearby as he peered out a window at his decaying Jackson neighborhood, Lambus added: "When you cut your yard, carry a gun. When you go to church, carry a gun. When you go to school, carry a gun."
Most of Bro. Steele's problems are self-inflicted. He holds the world record for the least amount of time between (a) making a public statement on some political issue and (b) publicaly apologizing for making the statement. His political will appears to be made of taffy, not steel.
However, I have to give him credit for one thing. He gives a much more interesting interview than GOP leaders of the past.
Here are the top 10 blunders from Michael Steele randomly selected from his first six weeks in office:
Villagers ... what do you think? Has Michael Steele been treated unfairly in these first few weeks as the GOP leader? Any estimates on when he will be either removed or forced to resign?
I don't have much regard for the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were both scary people to have in the White House. One of the GOP candidates for president last year was Alan Keyes. I tend to agree with the assessment by the folks at A Political Season ... Alan Keyes is an idiot. You be the judge ... listen to his rant in the following video:
This is an example of the leadership that the GOP provides to America. Is it just me that gets scared when I see folks like Palin, Jindal, Steele and Keyes?
The Republican Party has a new face. Gone are the faces of old white guys. The new leader of the Republican Party is Michael Steele.
We talked about him earlier this month when he was one of five candidates for the office. He won the GOP chair on the 6th ballot today against the South Carolina GOP chair (Katon Dawson). Dawson was a member for 10 years at a whites-only country club. Jim Geraghty sums up the fears of some in the room when the final vote was taken:
there are already murmurs of, "Can you imagine how the MSM's coverage will be if the guy who was in the country club with a whites-only charter beats an African American on the final ballot?"
What are your thoughts about this selection of the first African American to chair the Republican Party?
I must admit that I couldn't name the last Republican Party chair. However, it is interesting to see the competition taking place to become the next RNC chair. It turns out that there are two African American candidates for the vacancy.Ken Blackwell and Michael Steele both want the job.
Michael Steele doesn’t think Republicans take Black voters seriously. In a November interview with the Washington Times, the chairman of the 31-year-old Republican training outfit GOPAC claimed that Republican leaders “don’t give a damn” about Blacks. At last week’s debate between Steele and five other candidates for Republican National Committee chairman, Steele, almost unbidden, accused his party of “rolling out” Black members as tokens, for media consumption.
“We’ve had this conversation for 15 years,” Steele said after the debate, “about bringing black folks out. Well, do it. Don’t just talk about it. Do it.”
Ken Blackwell started his political career in my current hometown of Cincinnati, OH. His wife recently left after a number of years as the superintendent of the Cincinnati Public Schools. I've attended a number of presentations at which Ken Blackwell was the keynoter. Most recently, I have watched him become very active on Twitter and Facebook.
All of these are good things and would cause me to hope for him to be successful in his campaign to be appointed chair of the Republican National Committee. It would be nice to have a Black man as the face of the Republican party at the same time that a Black man is the face of our nation.
However, I cannot get around Ken Blackwell's role in screwing up the presidential election when he was Ohio Secretary of State back in 2004. It was that screw-up that cost him any chance of being elected Ohio governor when he ran in 2006.
For most of my adult life I thought that my Dad was a Republican. He voted for Ronald Reagan during the 1980 election. I never asked him about it until last year. He told me that he voted for Reagan because he didn't like how Jimmy Carter was running the country. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter that year. I guess that alot of folks agreed with my Dad that year.
Anyhow, it turns out that my father was not a Republican. He laughed out loud when I told him that I always thought he was republican based on his vote for Reagan.
The odd thing was that we never had that conversation from 1980 thru 2007. It wasn't until the advent of Barack Obama's candidacy that I broached the subject with him. I think that I was embarrassed with the (incorrect) knowledge that my father was a Republican. I loved that he was in a 50-year marriage with my Mom. I loved that he worked as an aeronautical engineer on the Space Shuttle program. I loved that he was tight with his high school and college buddies from Oklahoma. I loved that he was corny enough to show us the Super-8mm films of past family vacations whenever I was in town. I loved that he listened to jazz and Malcolm X speeches on reel-to-reel tape. I loved many things about my father ...
....but, it embarrassed the heck out of me to think he was a Black Republican.
The New York Times wrote an article about a young Republican blogger in New York recently. Is that the thrill ... getting publicity for being unique?
Michael Steele almost became a US Senator ... he invented the 'Drill Baby Drill' chant ... and he recently substituted for Hannity on the Fox News television show. Is that the thrill ... getting speaking engagements at right wing shindigs?
Ken Blackwell almost became governor of Ohio ... and he is a hero of right wing zealots for his role in stealing the election for George W. Bush in 2004 ... and he is seen regularly on Fox News as a political analyst. Is that the thrill ... having an open invitation to barbeque outings down in Crawford TX?
African Americans in this country are likely to give over 95% of our vote to Barack Obama next month. Can someone tell me why any self-respecting brother or sister would vote for the Republicans this year? What is the thrill for nubians in a party that never respects them?
