Posted on 05/24/2005 1:35:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Black voters are upset with the Democratic Party for coming around just weeks before elections seeking their votes, party chairman Howard Dean said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.
Taking black voters for granted is a long-standing problem for the party that dates to the 1960s, said Dean, who promised changes in strategy even as he cited diversity at the top of the Democratic National Committee.
"African-Americans are annoyed with the Democratic Party because we ask them for their votes four weeks before the election instead of being in the community now and that's a mistake I'm trying to fix," he said. "There's a new generation of African-American leaders and a new generation of African-Americans. We can't go out and say could you vote for us because we were so helpful during the civil rights era."
Marking 100 days as the party's boss, the former presidential candidate addressed several issues in an interview with AP reporters and editors, including the compromise in the Senate on President Bush's stalled judicial nominees and the right of Democrats to filibuster.
Dean was hesitant to call the compromise a win for his party.
"It's a real test of whether this is a real long-term agreement. That will come when we find out if the president consults with the Democrats" before sending future nominees to the Senate, including a possible Supreme Court choice.
He was more forceful in describing the impact on the Republicans.
"The potential is that we loosened the death grip the right wing had on the Republican Party," Dean said. "It was clearly a loss for the president because he was getting accustomed to ramming things through the House and the Senate without any confrontation."
Dean has pushed to strengthen the party in heavily Republican states and to improve the party's outreach to women, Hispanics and black voters. In the last presidential election, Bush fared better than previous Republican candidates with several traditional Democratic voting blocs.
Dean said he was not concerned that there might be a major erosion in the black vote but was worried about people staying home on Election Day. "We're going to treat every vote as a swing vote," he said.
During the 2004 presidential race, Dean angered many blacks when he said he wanted "to be the candidate for the guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks." He later apologized and called the flag a "painful symbol" to blacks
During one Democratic debate, rival Al Sharpton criticized Dean, the former Vermont governor, for having had a Cabinet with no blacks.
Dean's presidential run also was marked by his use of the Internet to raise money, and he said the party is looking for ways to "empower people" to get involved the way they were initially drawn to Dean's presidential bid.
The Democratic chairman expressed admiration for one Republican: first lady Laura Bush, who has taken a more active role for the administration.
"She's an asset, it's a smart move on their part," Dean said. "People like her, I like her. She's frank, she doesn't toe the party line, she's not a captive of the right wing. She's probably the best salesman they've got."
After three months leading the party-out-of-power, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean wants to stengthen ties with key constituencies like women, Hispanics, and especially black voters, he said, during a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press in Washington, Tuesday, May 24, 2005. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Neither the President nor the majority of Senate Republicans agreed to this outlandish interpretation of the Constitution, so he is not bound to consult with the Senate before nomination.
how is a rich white guy from the whitest state in the union going to win black support?
I would think blacks would be annoyed by the Democrap party using them and not wiping them off when they are done. ;)
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If there's one person in America who's an expert on The Black Experience, it's Howard Dean.
He had virtually NO black support during his presidential run. Affluent white liberals were the only ones that liked him.
Dems only "reach out" to them, down there on the Plantation, when an election comes around. The hand then gets withdrawn,and they get tossed bits that will barely keep them alive, at the price of their dignity.
But they weren't helpful during the civil rights era, unless you count Sheets Byrd's filibuster as being helpful. It is a commonly held myth among democrats that they and not Republicans were the heros of the Civil Rights era, when, in fact, it was the Democrats who were trying desperately to keep the blacks out of the schools. Remember Ala Governor. When I point this out to Dems today, they say that these Dixiecrats changed party affiliation. But I was there and I remember, what happened by and large was the Dixiecrats stayed with the Democrat party but changed their outward appearance on civil rights. I personally believe they are the same on the inside.
Run to the left to shore up your minority base, alienate "moderates" and swing voters. Run to the right to appeal more to "moderates" and swing voters, lose the vote of your minority base. Take your pick, DUmmies.
There's a new generation of African Americans, smart men and women who are proud to be called Black Americans, and they do not trust the Democratic party anymore.
Also, since when did the Democratic party help out during the civil rights movement? This is such BS.
Dean is a baffoon.
Dean: "Taking black voters for granted is a long-standing problem for the party that dates to the 1960s"
...at which time "the party" was filibustering every piece of civil rights legislation, and Republicans broke those filibusters.
Qwinn
I was flipping through the channels the other day and ran across Chris Rock interviewing Phoenix Suns guard Kevin Johnson during the 2000 Election season.
They were snickering back and forth about how Clinton's best friend, Vernon Jordan, is black and he doesn't crow about it but "when you're a bad person", you have to pretend that you're not, which explained why Bush was sucking up to Colin Powell.
They both expressed some doubt that Powell (or any Persons of Color) would actually make it onto Bush's cabinet since, you know, he's all white and evil and stuff.
I'm glad to see that after 4 years of the most diverse cabinet in history, Chris Rock is willing to give Bush a break.
"what happened by and large was the Dixiecrats stayed with the Democrat party but changed their outward appearance on civil rights"
NC is still largely a one-party political machine, run by closet Dixiecrats, at the state level. Has been since Reconstruction, at least. And they call themselves "progressives," LOL.
""It's a real test of whether this is a real long-term agreement. That will come when we find out if the president consults with the Democrats" before sending future nominees to the Senate, including a possible Supreme Court choice."
Uhh. The President has no 'horse' in this race (agreement).
He is not obligated to 'consult' on Judicial nominees no matter what the RINO's agreed to.
It's up to the Senate to 'advise and consent' to his picks.
Not the other way around.
(reposted 'by me' from another thread with the same title)
Dean still has none. Russert read off a breakdown of who supports dean, its the leftist, white, affluentm chattering class types who are disconnected with reality and hate-America.
"Russert read off a breakdown of who supports dean, its the leftist, white, affluentm chattering class types"
Really? That sounds interesting, do you have the transcript or actual numbers?
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