Not surprisingly, Senator and Democratic Presidential nominee is playing the race card. African Americans aren't so stupid as many Democrats think. They know it was the Republicans that fought hard to end slavery and that a Republican President emancipated them along with other Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens. They know Republican Theodore Roosevelt irked Democrats when he invited African American Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House actually causing some Democrats to instruct TR to throw out the dinnerware Washington used. They know Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson had to enlist the aid of the Republicans to pass the Civil Rights bill. They know it was Democrats in the South that opposed, vigorously, integration and that it was Democrats who murdered, lynched, bombed, raped, and tortured African Americans in the South. They know Republicans like George Romney, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bob Dornan supported Martin Luther King, Jr., in his struggles for equal rigths for all. They know Republican President George W. Bush has appointed more African Americans to high positions than any other President in history. They know it was Bush who proposed to combat AIDS in Africa with $15 billion dollars. Democrats talk, Republicans act. Yes, I know the GOP has far right fanatics. But, no one can deny the GOP is the Party that liberated African Americans and continues to look out for their best interests while the Democrats enslave them with social programs that keep them from rising to a level of dignity and self-esteem rather than in the throes of the vicious welfare cycle that continues to pass from one generation to the next. Instead of welfare and the programs of the Great Society actually lifting people it has kept them down embroiled in a system designed to further the political career of Democratic politicians who have said, "See, we helped you. We fed you. We care." But they don't care enough to offer opportunity and advancement, only stagnation.
Gee, the sun is brightly shining through my window and reflecting off my screen and I see I made numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the last post.
I agree, Jimmy. We know a fraud when we see one, too (in the form of Mr. Kerry). It's amazing to me though how many of "us" (myself excluded) are still going to vote for Kerry despite what we think of him...just to get Bush out of the White House. I was taught from an early age that the Democratic party is "our" party but I did lots of research and I disagree. I doubt that the president is going to be able to count many of "us" in this election.
Jimmy, your definitions of Republican and Democrat are cloudy, as you are stretching back to the days of slavery. The modern view of Republicans and Democrats when it comes to civil rights really began in the 1960's. And it was a Republican, Barry Goldwater, who set the modern stage for the Republican's policy towards blacks in this country. This in contrast to the Democratic stance defined by Kennedy, which began the modern Civil Rights movement. How many Republican nominees have had the endorsement of the NAACP since the 1960's? I'm going out on a limb, since I haven't researched it, but I'd say the answer is zero. I know I know. The NAACP has been duped all these years.
The problem for African-Americans collectivelly is that by voting so strongly Democratic we have lost political capital. Think about it, African Americans vote Democratic at a higher rate that any other demographic group (90+%) yet it is only recently that Kerry has begun to speak on issues specific to his most loyal base. Why did Senator Kerry now chose to speak on these issues, to reward their loyalty? Nope. He chose to because polls showed that his support among African Americans was slipping and George Bush's was rising (a poll showed support for bush among blacks at 11-12% up from the 6-7% he recieved during the 2000 election). While the numbers don't seem huge, consider this: George Bush's father got about 10% of the African-American vote in 1992. If he had recieved 20% of the African-American vote, he would have beaten Bill Clinton easily. If a larger percentage of African-Americans voted Republican (not necessarily the majority, perhaps 20%) or showed the willingness to vote Republican. Both parties would put forth much more effort to gain their vote. In the past some Republican canditates have put forth platforms more appealling to African-Americans, but were not rewarded in the elections. Although Bush has not recieved the amount of African-American Support that he should, the fact the his support appears to have doubled is, I believe, partially a result of his faith based initiatives. Bill Clinton did something similar when he ran. Rather than kissing Jesse Jackson's ring as a potential presidential candidate, he went directly to black churches. If the President became even more active in recruiting black churches (perhaps by providing more funding to those programs and sending someone out to personally speak with the Pastors of those large churches to inform them of the new program) he could push those numbers up to the 20% mark for the next Republican candidate. This would work even better if the people presenting the programs were local moderate republican politicians. Gotta go now, Jon
