GOP makes push to court African Americans

[TonyB06]

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

[SKEEphistAKAte]

Originally posted by TonyB06
Republicans stand for racial equality and freedom.

Laughable.

[nonchalant]

Originally Posted by SKEEphistAKAte

Laughable.

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

[TonyB06]

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

[Steeltrap]

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.

[TonyB06]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
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.

[TonyB06]

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

[ARTIC-U-LATE]

Originally posted by SKEEphistAKAte
Laughable.

Aren't Ward Connerly and JC Watts enough

[Honeykiss1974]

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."

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

[Steeltrap]

^^
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.

[AKA_Monet]

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...

[RedMusiq4U]

........shaking my head.....

[Lady of Pearl]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
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.

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!

[enlightenment06]

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

[TonyB06]

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