Comments on: GOP Candidates Snub Black Debate

By: tsw 2.0 » Blog Archive » Very Disappointed in my Party

tsw 2.0 » Blog Archive » Very Disappointed in my Party — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:51:25 +0000

[...] just read about the top tier Republican candidates’ plans to skip this Thursday’s debate on PBS to cover issues of importance to “people of color.” Giuliani, Romney, [...]

By: baldilocks

baldilocks — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:37:17 +0000

Mentioned it here and here.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:14:33 +0000

Kevin Drum passes along a reminder of where people got these wild-eyed notions of the GOP from. (Hint - rhymes with "Fee Batwater.")

By: floyd

floyd — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:41:53 +0000

The term "people of color" is clearly devisive and evidences a tinge of racism.
The political left is the only group that benefits by keeping racism alive in this country and the cowardly political right has refused to face this obvious truth head-on.

By: DaveD

DaveD — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:39:08 +0000

Well, if one looks at GW Bush specifically, I don't think he avoids communicating his message to blacks but I think he correctly perceives what type of reception he will get from the NAACP vs. the Urban League so why waste his breath on the former. But as far as GOP candidates go (since Bush is soon history), I agree. I think they need to suck it up and get their message to black voters in person irrespective of the reception the media will portray. I don't think the GOP message resonates with inner city blacks at all and never will so I kind of understand why GOP candidates say why bother. Most inner city blacks have struggled under Democratic mayors forever. Like in Philly, it's virtually a Pavlovian response to vote that party line. So I believe that sector of the black population has basically lost any clout due to its predictable voting behavior. But with middle class and upwardly mobile blacks I think it is very important for the GOP to listen and directly compete with the Democratic agenda.

By: M1EK

M1EK — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:02:20 +0000

It might, though, help at the margins of dispelling the silly notion that Republicans don’t care about black people.

Portraying the party of the Southern Strategy as just unfairly tarred as "not caring about black people" is why it's very difficult to call you anything but a partisan hack.

By: Scott Swank

Scott Swank — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:01:50 +0000

This will be perceived as the same old Southern Strategy. The question is: will it alienate more blacks and/or liberal white votes than the number of conservative white votes that it accrues. I'm not convinced that any, much less all, of the GOP candidates are intentionally engaging in racist politics -- but I'm very closely watching to see whether any of them campaign in Philadelphia, MS or at Bob Jones University.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:59:33 +0000

The only explanation I saw was some consultant's fretting that the candidates would be booed.

Who knows, they might've been as astonished as Bill O'Reilly at Sylvia's.

But & moreover, SO WHAT? Anyone who wants to be President of the U.S. had best be able to handle a little booing, and even to have a pretty good chance of getting an audience on his side.

There's probably nothing I despise more about George W. Bush than his personal cowardice in avoiding any audience that's not either friendly (pre-screened Repubs) or captive (active-duty military). What better indication of his unfitness.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:26:00 +0000

Ah, he had me up until he quoted Kanye West. Seriously though, even if you are going to write off the black vote as lost, doesn't mean burning that bridge won't also cost you other votes. Most white folks don't think to highly of racists, so getting labeled the anti-black party is likely to cost you non-black votes as well. Besides, it's not like any of the major GOP candidates don't care about issues important to African Americans, they just feel that their solutions to those problems are better than the Democratic party's solutions. The debates would be as good a forum as any to make their.