Comments on: Republican Michael Steele Getting Help from Republicans

By: Black Girl

Black Girl — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:08:09 +0000

not to derail the genius... but the offense about Bennett is that his analogy claims that Black people have an inborn propensity towards crime (aborting black BABIES...yeah i clutch my purse every time i see a little black child WHAT?!)... the offense was not particularly about aborting black babies. u.s. government was quite efficient about that in the 60s when they sterilized dozens of black women without them knowing.

carry on.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:13:02 +0000

Lets just say it was people who were buying klansman David Dukes mailing list that were supporting a black candidateâ�¦should black people know about that?

Absolutely. Now demonstrate what the question has to do with this?

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:08:14 +0000

And how can you call those people 'professional race mongers' but not people like Floyd Brown and Alex Castellanos? Jackson, Sharpton, et.al. essentially make their living exploiting racial tensions on a daily basis. If that's what these two do, then I'll gladly apply that label to them. I don't know anything about Brown (indeed, I never knew his name, I don't think, before this piece) and little about Castellanos. My guess is that they're just political hitmen, going after an opponent's weakness. The Horton thing, at least, was about Democrats/Dukakis being "soft on crime" rather than race. Clearly, the Castellanos ad was about race, although within the context of a specific public policy dispute.

By: legion

legion — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:54:18 +0000

Reagan was still president while Bush 41 was campaigning, so I kinda lump that time period together. And the Horton ad wasn't controversial nationwide because it wasn't shown nationwide. If I recall, it was only shown in the NE region (possibly only around MA), since only those locals would be familiar enough with both Dukakis' history and the Horton case. I don't remember if it was pulled or just had a short run by design, but word spread in the black community - yes, due to the NAACP, et al - but the damage was done (at least regarding the GOP's image among black). And how can you call those people 'professional race mongers' but not people like Floyd Brown and Alex Castellanos? Finally, I don't think it's anything sinister either, but incredibly tin-eared for someone who's supposedly trying to bring black voters into the GOP...

By: madmatt

madmatt — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:03:00 +0000

Lets just say it was people who were buying klansman David Dukes mailing list that were supporting a black candidate...should black people know about that? Oh wait they are the same people!!!!!

By: Jim Maner

Jim Maner — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:02:05 +0000

I remember watching the Willie Horton ad. I did not know he was black until the NAACP said so. I have yet to understand how his race was important. Few women would want to be raped by a white.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:01:31 +0000

I heard Steele's opponent was supported by people in a party that overwhelmingly opposed the civil rights legislation of the 1960's and Steele is getting money from people in a party that overwhelmingly supported the legislation.

Part of the Steele campaign is that you can be black and politically think for yourself. Radical idea, but I think it might catch on.

By: Fersboo

Fersboo — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:01:08 +0000

JJ: A little off topic, but I understand there is a set of videos here that are making (liberal)heads explode.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:12:28 +0000

legion:

Well, the ad was for Bush 41, who followed Reagan, so I'm not sure how emblematic it was of the Reagan era.

The ad has been made "appaling" in retrospect only because of the effectiveness of the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and other professional race mongers. At the time, the ad was largely non-controversial.

It's much the same as the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas story. At the time, the polling rather clearly showed that most people believed Thomas and thought Hill uncredible. Thomas went on the bench and his supporters went away. The professional feminist machine kept going and, before long, the tide turned.

I mention the Daou-Clinton story because it's an interesting development in the intermingling of blogging and political campaigning, not as a sign of anything sinister.

By: legion

legion — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:09:04 +0000

Well, let's take a look at the previous story for a comparison... Hillary Clinton hiring Peter Daou as a blogging consultant isn't big news. If she'd hired, say, Hugh Hewett or Michelle Malkin as her blogging consultant, or Jeff Gannon as her PR flack - that would be news. Likewise, Steele getting help from Republicans isn't news. But Steele getting help from the guy who created an incredibly divisive ad, which became pretty much a symbol of the 'vote Republican to defend yourselves from black folks' subtext of the Reagan era, is. Yes, it's been a long time since then. And yes, the article harps on GOP names in general. But I don't think you realize just how appalling that ad was to a lot of blacks.