GOP makes push to court African Americans
 

RNC Chair Mehlman Brings GOP's Pro-Black Pitch to Howard
Date: Monday, April 04, 2005
By: Emily Brown, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Howard University students last week they should consider joining the GOP because Republicans stand for racial equality and freedom.

“No matter how much we win elections, if the party of Lincoln does not have more African-Americans come back home, we can’t call ourselves the majority,” Melhman told about 30 students who gathered on Howard University’s Washington, D.C. campus. “I’m proud to belong to the party founded to eliminate slavery in this country.”

Howard was Mehlman’s latest stop on his “Conversations with the Community” tour. He has already visited a number of black communities in recent weeks, including at Prince George's Community College and the New Jersey African-American Chamber of Commerce, plus made an appearance on “The Tavis Smiley Show.”

www.blackamericaweb/site.aspx/bawnews/mehlman405

Re: GOP makes push to court African Americans
 

Laughable.

I don't know if they will make serious inroads, however, just because of the recent history (Southern Strategy, "welfare queens," etc.)

And I speak as a registered independent who is dissatisfied with both parties. If the Rs make any inroads, it will be with, as documented, the very religious AfAms and the super-suburbanized AfAms.

Interesting, Steeltrap. And you've selected, accurately I think, two of the sub-demograpics (religious AfAMs/super-surburbanized AfAms) which I think are growing. But because we're as diverse a minority community as any other, a "one size fits all" or a "pick us because we're not them" approach, whether done by Rs or Ds, will not be successful.

I would think our diversity should put more of our votes "in play." After all, many of us tend to think conservatively on some issues and perhaps, more liberally on others. From a national party operational perspective, I guess you do your best to grab "a working 51 %" and try to blur the rest.

Throw in political regionalism which occurs in both parties (Northeast Republicanism (more liberal/moderate) vs. Southern (conservative) Repubicanism or Big-city liberal Democrats vs. environmentally focused far West Dems) and you've added still another big factor that both parties have to navigate.

RNC leader says ....."My bad"
 

RNC Chief to Say It Was 'Wrong' to Exploit Racial Conflict for Votes

By Mike Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page A04

It was called "the southern strategy," started under Richard M. Nixon in 1968, and described Republican efforts to use race as a wedge issue -- on matters such as desegregation and busing -- to appeal to white southern voters.

Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman, this morning will tell the NAACP national convention in Milwaukee that it was "wrong."

"By the '70s and into the '80s and '90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out," Mehlman says in his prepared text. "Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

Mehlman, a Baltimore native who managed President Bush's reelection campaign, goes on to discuss current overtures to minorities, calling it "not healthy for the country for our political parties to be so racially polarized." The party lists century-old outreach efforts in a new feature on its Web site, GOP.com, which was relaunched yesterday with new interactive features and a history section called "Lincoln's Legacy."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean spoke to the NAACP yesterday and said through an aide: "It's no coincidence that 43 out of 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are Democrats. The Democratic Party is the real party of opportunity for African Americans."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071302342.html

Re: Re: GOP makes push to court African Americans
 

Aren't Ward Connerly and JC Watts enough:confused:

Re: RNC leader says ....."My bad"
 

Is he kidding me? I swear, they are just as full of shenanigans as anyone else. :rolleyes: Apparently, everyone thinks we suffer from "group-think".

^^
That's why I'm registered independent. I don't always buy into the group-think mentality on every issue. Both parties irritate the crap out of me.

When we collectively all suffered from segregation, we did have group-think mentality. That issue i.e. stereotyped and pidgeon-holed us for many years. Then when the nations urban warfare started and predominantly African American communities were doused with the "nuclear option" of crack, very few folks deviated from "group think tactics"--for the common good. Some ideas worked, however many lives were lost in the process.

Now in this post 9/11 terroristic world that we ALL live in, someone is "drawing a line in the sand" and "telling us which side we need to stand on..." Ironically, some lunatics in the "group think mentality" still like the "slave mentality" Massa so-n-so isa aiite...

Interestingly, that CNN did an expose' on how the Spainairds [sp?] dealt with their terrorism issues from last year--saying that the majority of the people voted the entire government out of office, chose more socialistic government that decided to "treat" the ills of poverty and disenfranchisement in all communities and they haven't had a terrorist threat yet... The reason Spain chose this option over war was because they said 400+ years of religious war was enough and that "we" are all in this together--trying to peacefully coexist...

I hear Londoner's saying the same thing... Treat the religious fanaticism--EVERYBODY'S religion--not just one group's religion... Including Christian fanaticisim...

Interesting how the Europeans are handling this after 1000s of years of religious infighting at the beginning of the last millenia...

:rolleyes: ........shaking my head.....

:rolleyes: Is there really any difference between the two, as far as African Americans are cocerned, under Clinton I was barely making it now under Bush I seem to be doing a lot better but I'm having to relocate to do so. As someone once said it doesn't matter who is in the white house, Black folks need God!

independence
 

Ya'll should check out African Americans for Democracy:

http://www.africanamericansfordemocracy.com

It's a group that I got involved with during the last presidential election.

We have a blog called the Underground Railroad: http://www.africanamericansfordemocracy.blogspot.com

Check it check it check it out

ajc.com>Opinion>Tucker

MY OPINION
GOP wields a poll ax against voters of color
Published on: 10/30/05

Last week, an ugly bit of business transpired in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives, where Republican hardliners succeeded in passing a measure that would limit the ability of nonprofit groups to conduct voter registration drives. It was one of those moments when you don't have to wonder what the jihadist faction of the GOP is up to: they want to restrict the franchise to people who think as they do.

This heavy-handed step was of a piece with other Republican efforts to place obstacles in the way of voters they fear may favor Democrats. In Georgia, the GOP-dominated Legislature passed a law earlier this year requiring all voters to have a state-sponsored photo ID, such as a driver's license. Because it may be an unconstitutional impediment to voting, a federal judge halted implementation of the law. In South Dakota, Republican legislators were more successful with their onerous voter ID requirement, passed in 2003 and apparently aimed at Native Americans, who also tend to support Democrats. Last year, though, two Republican senators, Kit Bond of Missouri and Richard Shelby of Alabama, failed in their attempt to sneak a provision into law that would have prohibited public housing sites from hosting voter registration initiatives and get-out-the-vote drives.

Last week's partisan power play took the form of an amendment tacked onto a piece of legislation intended to increase regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage financing companies recently plagued by accounting scandals. The House bill included a sorely needed provision to create a fund for affordable housing, prompted by calls for federal aid to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. But to placate an ultraconservative group called the Republican Study Committee, an amendment was added that prohibits any nonprofit group from receiving any of the federal affordable-housing funds if it has conducted a voter registration campaign in the past year, even if it has used its own funds to do so.

This is not a poll tax. This is a poll ax. If this measure becomes law — the Senate has not yet acted on it — it will penalize countless organizations, including churches, that have run voter registration drives and also built high-rises for the elderly and low-cost apartment complexes that accommodate store clerks, janitors and fast-food workers.

Republicans seem to think that residents of low-cost housing, especially black and brown residents, have a tendency — one they find troubling — to vote Democratic. You'd think the GOP would find a way to appeal to those voters. But that would require the party to forsake its allegiance to Big Business and the wealthy. So, instead, it has decided to try to suppress the vote among citizens of color.
— Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor.

read the rest here:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/o...ker/index.html

Is this part of W's STRATEEGERY?!?
 

Melhman told about 30 students who gathered on Howard University’s Washington, D.C. campus. “I’m proud to belong to the party founded to eliminate slavery in this country


Uhhhh, yeah.... but that was not out of the kindness of your heart, Mel. The Rebs were about the turn the White House Black; Abe had to get some Soul Soldiers to get that Gray Boot out of the Fed's grass..... Nice to see that Compassionate Conservative crap in full effect.


.....Still waiting on that 40 acres and a mule; second thought, hold the mule...got enough in office right now!


A. P. B. is OUT!

I'm conflicted. I'm a moderate, however, I'm a life-long democrat. In the past, I've been very involved with various Demo campaigns. Frankly, I'm TIRED of Dems. At the same time, I can't really get with Republicans. They make my skin crawl.

Dems and Republicans are both full of @#$%

Abaici both sides make my skin crawl :(

I am new to this board. I found this topic interesting. I thought this was a site for intellectual discussion on topics by educated people. Not lude one liners.

I am a Conservative Democrat. I think more mainstream African Amercians need to join the Republican party because we need a voice there like we have i the Democratic party. Before FDR's time, The Republican party was "friends" to Black people. AFter the New Deal is when it all changed. But we need a voice to inthe GOP to let our issues come forth. I like Republicans becaus eof their stance of Defense. I aminthe military and I always get a raise every year. I also like their stance on pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and not relying on the government to do it. Democrats practice what I like to call economic slavery. They trhow money to the poor but dont teach tthe poor how to get money for themselves. By that the Dems own the poor and they are at the mercy of the governemt.They become dependant on the government. We need to learn to depend on ourselves and make our own money.

Given that my father, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is a GOP member, I think I can pretty much say what I think about this Grand Olde Party... It sucks...

But Dems aren't that far either...

Dubya has been bought a paid for by the corporate greeders... Pimp Mack Daddy Clinton did make folks plenty of money... Which side would you choose?

Yeah, I think there needs to be representation on both sides of the aisle. But, I also think that this heerah Untied State Government is not meant for us few, the brave, the proud group of those that actually call themselves of African descent...

I have also heard those black folks in the military being called governmental slaves. But that's a my terrorist organization friends saying that...

How can I be a slave if I enjoy what I am doing? I enjoy the military. I enjoy leading soldiers and influencing others.Its what true leadership is all about. Flying jets and leading and managing resources is my idea of enjoyment. SO, no I dont feel lie a government slave.

There were African American General Officers long before there were Black CEO's of predominantly white corporations.

I agree: Laughable!
 

Wolves in sheep's clothing!!!:mad:

And that came from someone with a college education

...someone with a college education
 

Actually, I borrowed that from Jesse Jackson--he went to college as well. ;)

You are very fortunate that PHA/Shriner1906 hasn't posted up in here in awhile because well, I leave it to you to search this board...

Either way, good for you and your enjoyment. You should feel so fortunate that your CO's allow you to fly billion dollar aircrafts for a living.

Because African Americans are rather conservative, the GOP wouldn't necessarily have to fight an uphill battle for our votes. The problem, IMO, is their perceived stance against civil rights and affirmative action measures.

I also believe that African Americans need to shake things up a bit. What's the worse that could happen? As a minority among minorities, we are frightfully close to becoming irrelevant in big-time politics. :(

That pretty much has happened in California, even though the state leans Democrat now.

Cali's total AfAm population is only 7% and has become spread out because many of us are at least middle-middle-class and can move out of historically black areas (such as what happened in Los Angeles post-Rodney King). There are virtually no blacks in the state Senate or Assembly now.

Also the Latino population is growing and the dominant minority in all aspects of life -- not just politics -- in San Diego, my city, the putative R&B/hip-hop stations play reggaeton. That wouldn't happen in Atlanta, but I digress.

...interesting article
 

Bringing back party of Lincoln
By Clarence Page
Originally published June 20, 2006
WASHINGTON // An intriguing debate has broken out among Republican elites over how to treat black folks.

On one side, you have those such as Jack Kemp, the former New York congressman and 1996 Republican vice presidential candidate, who would like to break the Democratic Party's 9-1 lock on black voters by reaching out with positive and meaningful gestures. Mr. Kemp wrote a commentary published in late May in Human Events and newspapers that called on the GOP to "get on the right side of history" on racial matters.

He suggested two ways to do this: by extending all of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, parts of which are set to expire next year, and "by extending the voting franchise to the residents of District of Columbia," which is predominantly black and lacks voting representation in Congress.

"Slander," responded conservative essayist Steven M. Warshawsky. "Mr. Kemp's article is an outrage." His article appeared under the headline "Jack Kemp's White Guilt" in The American Spectator. Mr. Warshawsky does not necessarily disagree with Mr. Kemp's suggestion, but with the justification: "His premise - that the Republican Party is on the 'wrong' side of history on racial matters - is deeply flawed, both as a matter of historical fact and political philosophy."

Mr. Warshawsky cites historical examples of the GOP's "strong support for black Americans" dating to its origins before the Civil War, often with Democrats on the other side, defending slavery and segregation.

Who's right? As with many other questions about race and rights, that depends on what part of history you're talking about.

read the rest:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opi...0,941830.story

Right now, I find great irony in these matters of state...

All this for jockeying votes? And some Negroes will do that you know... GOP is beginning to fracture upon itself. Plenty of folks are beginning to see the true nature of this beast.

And why do you think "they" (the powers that be) let Karl Rove (of the 3rd Reich) go essentially, "Scot Free"? Shall we say, let the "spin doctors" on the "F" channel in???

All to save seats in the 2006 November election--owned and operated by Diebold cash machines...

And folks are posting up crazy stuff as propositions and ballots in every state in the Union that has nothing to do with poor people and improving the Untied States...

What will it take for the US to be United? Another 9-11 attack? But this time, from Kim Jung-Il and his nuclear missile launches...

In the immortal words of Prince from his 1999 song: I don't wanna die, I'd rather dance my life away...

Yeah, yeah...
 

I was on the Juneteenth Celebration Conference Call with Mehlman, Alphonso Jackson et al to discuss minority homeownership and business development. Looks like if you aren't directly affected by Katrina... your pickin's may be slim and non. It is best to try to get our own ON our own.... The Only Thing the collective Donkey's and Pachiderm's have at the top of their agenda is....getting re-elected.

WAR: Tip O'Neil...All politics are local

Just to clarify:

The GOP didn't historically represent the wealthy and conservative (nor the Dems the working/underpriviledged and liberals until the 1960s). It disturbs me to see Blacks talk about the GOP like they were Satan's son, even though historically that was not the case. Case in point, FDR was a GOP.

But it is indeed interesting to see more Blacks joining the GOP in recent years (and in the '04 presidential election, special interest groups such as America's PAC was pushing hard for Blacks to go GOP).

Myself? I find neither of the major parties appealing to me, and once it is recognized on Ohio's ballots, I am going the Libertarian route.

If by "FDR" you're referencing Franklin D. Roosevelt, your statement is incorrect. FDR was first elected to the NY State Senate in 1910, Governor of NY in 1928 and President of the United States in 1932 (all as a Democrat.)

You may be referencing Theodore Roosevelt, who was a Republican.

You're right; I keep getting the two confused.

Ditto!! The things people say to attempt to win you over.

....so what do we think?
 

G.O.P.'s Bid for Blacks Falters
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: July 18, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 17 — Even for some Republicans, the notion was hard to take at face value: the Republican Party would make an explicit play for black votes, a strike at the Democratic base and a part of a larger White House plan to achieve long-term Republican dominance.

Starting after President Bush’s re-election in 2004, the party chairman, Ken Mehlman, filled his schedule with appearances before black audiences. He apologized for what he described as the racially polarized politics of some Republicans over the past 25 years. And the White House, in pressing issues like same-sex marriage to appeal to social conservatives, was also hoping to gain support among churchgoing African-Americans.

Mr. Mehlman’s much-publicized apology to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People seems to have done little to address the resentment that built up over what civil rights leaders view as decades of racial politics practiced or countenanced by Republicans.

That perception of Republicans as insensitive to racial issues was fed again by the opposition mounted by some House conservatives to an extension of the Voting Rights Act. The House approved the extension last week.

Coming as the immigration fight on Capitol Hill has undercut Republican efforts to appeal to Hispanic voters, the disappointing results of the outreach to black voters is bad news for a White House that once viewed the 2002 and 2004 elections as a platform to achieve a long-term shift in the balance of power between the two parties. Forcing Democrats to fight to hold on to black voters and Hispanic voters was a crucial part of that strategy.

“I take my hat off to Ken; what he has done is unprecedented in the time I’ve been a Republican,” said J. C. Watts Jr., a former congressman from Oklahoma, who is black. “However, I remain unconvinced that it is in the DNA of our party to get it done. There are just too many things out there that I think Americans of African descent have concerns about.”

Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, who attended Harvard Law School with Mr. Mehlman and who is black, said: “Ken was sincere in wanting to reach out to the African-American community, and it would be a healthy thing if both parties actively competed for the African-American vote. Unfortunately, the agenda of the Republican Party keeps getting in the way of that outreach.”

For all the emphasis that Mr. Mehlman has put on this drive, Mr. Bush — who is highly unpopular among blacks — has not made this effort a public priority of his administration, though Mr. Mehlman said the president shared his desire to expand the party’s appeal to blacks.

As evidence of what has become one of the hallmark initiatives of Mr. Mehlman’s chairmanship, his office said he had made 48 visits to African-American audiences since becoming chairman in January 2005. At the same time, Republican strategists have appealed to socially conservative blacks by emphasizing social issues like same-sex marriage. Mr. Watts, the former Republican congressman, called that a “lame strategy” and said the top concerns of African-American voters were racial and economic issues.
“It’s a little bit insulting to all those pastors out there and people who stand with the party on the social issues,’’ Mr. Watts said, when the party then does “nothing” to help blacks on opportunity issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/wa...ewanted=2&_r=2