Sorors and sisterfriends, if you are following this campaign, let's not get fooled by all the hype. This week the GOP launches a new "compassionate convention" as George W. Bush tries to sell himself as "a different kind of Republican." When you scratch beneath the new moderate talk to find the policies and platform, this is still the same old tobacco-loving, gun-toting, race-baiting, gay-bashing, Bible-thumping Republican Party of yesteryear. Never mind that Republican policies are anti-black, anti-women, anti-youth, and anti-gay. They are so desperate to win, that they will not allow a little thing like consistency to stand in their way. They will do everything they can to make you forget they're still Republicans. . . The Republicans won't tell you that "compassionate" Bush is the nation's leading executioner. They won't tell you that Bush opposed hate crimes legislation in Texas. They won't tell you that Bush opposes increasing the minimum wage to a living wage. They won't tell you about Bush's appearance at Bob Jones University or his position on the confederate flag. They won't tell you that the man who wants to be the "education president" chose as his running mate a man who voted against creating the Department of Education. They won't tell you that Dick Cheney voted against affirmative action, against Head Start, against South African sanctions, against releasing Nelson Mandela from jail, against the Clean Water Act, against the Safe Drinking Water Act, against restrictions on cop-killer bullets, against the Equal Rights Amendment, and against abortion even in cases of rape and incest. Far too much weight has been placed on style instead of substance in this campaign. We've heard a lot about Dick Cheney's "moderate image" and George Bush's relative youthfulness. And George W. Bush may
not have been born in the same generation as President Bush, but this is still his father's Republican Party. . . No matter how much kinder and gentler the campaign may appear, if Bush and Cheney win, we're screwed.
So, I agree this was a very important topic to start. At the same time, I believe that the love/non-intellectual topics are important as well. They are all issues that impact us as Black women.
[This message has been edited by SkeeBunny (edited August 14, 2000).]
|