Wordless Wednesday: Long Live the Queen

Black Republicans Must Be Lonely...

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.

I wonder how lonely and embarrassing it must be to be a Black Republican in this election year? I watched a Black guy at a Wisconsin rally for McCain sitting up in the front row as he dissed Obama. He seemed to be enjoying his notoriety as the token brother in the room. Is that the thrill?

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?

I Want to be Proud of My Next President

I've voted Democratic for all of my adult life. Ronald Ray-gun was enough for me to realize that the Republicans had no love for me or others of African descent here in America. I enjoyed the Bill Clinton years. What wasn't to enjoy. The federal deficit built up by Reagan and the first George Bush was wiped out during Clinton's administration. I don't need to go through all of the good things that happened during his 8 years as president. His record speaks for itself. The sad thing is that Newt Gingrich, Special Prosecutor Starr and others were so jealous (envious?) of his success that they used a sexual indiscretion with Monica Lewensky to go through an entire impeachment process. As a result, Clinton limped through the final years of his administration.

Fast forward to 2007. Does it seem that karma is in full effect?

Not only is George Bush limping through the final years of his administration. The party that Bush leads loudly proclaims that it is the bastion of 'family values'. What a joke that turned out to be.

• Republican Larry Craig - one of the 100 senators that serve at the top levels of our government ... was arrested at Minneapolis airport in June. Arrest document reportedly alleges Craig signaled desire for "lewd conduct". Craig pleaded guilty to the charges and is currently serving on probation for his efforts to engage in male restroom. Craig had to quit his leadership position in the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.
• Louisiana Sen. David Vitter - was a client of the 'D.C. Madam' was the way in which the senator himself disclosed it. Vitter was outed by Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. Vitter's relationship with prostitutes in Washington DC is not unusual. After all, he was accused by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee of carrying on a lengthy affair with a prostitute in New Orleans's French Quarter in his first Senate campaign. Anyhow, Vitter had to quit his leadership position in the presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani.
• Florida congressman Mark Foley after being outed as a quasi-pedophile inappropriately reaching out to teenage pages in the House of Representatives. - resigned
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield after the Republicans got run out of the congressional leadership as result of the November 2006 mid-term elections. It is likely that Rumsfield will be remembered as the worst Secretary of Defense in the nation's history based on his running of the Iraq War. -fired/resigned
• US Attorney General Albert Gonzales/resigned today after having his honesty and credibility questioned on a daily basis for the past 18 months. My Hispanic brothers and are likly ashamed of Gonzales in much the same way that most Black folks are ashamed of Clarence Thomas. The one advantage that my Hispanic brothers and sisters have is that Gonzales wasn't appointed to a lifetime position, therefore, he can now fade ingloriously into the past. At best, Gonzales was a simple puppet of the White House. At worst, he was a conniving, lying lawyer for George Bush who knowingly lied and connived for purposes of helping his sugar daddy (President George Bush). - fired

Personally, I'm waiting for the next presidency in the hopes that karma is finished and we can have a president that will make all of us proud. My preference would be Barack Obama. I would be comfortable with Clinton or Edwards. I just want the next president to be someone we can look to with pride.

Villagers, what do you think?