Posted on 07/26/2007 4:25:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton said Thursday black voters should punish Republicans who fail to show for presidential candidates' forums hosted by the National Urban League and the NAACP.
"We can only assume you weren't courting us," Sharpton said. "Republicans have to lay out their policies and court the African-American vote. We need to have our interests debated in the market place."
Sharpton noted there won't be another NAACP or Urban League conference before the presidential primaries.
"When I was in high school, I may not have gone to the prom with the girl I wanted, but with the girl I could get," he said, suggesting Republicans leave black voters little choice but to vote for a Democrat.
Sharpton was among a panel of black leaders, political strategists from both major parties and journalists who discussed the black vote in the 2008 presidential election at the Urban League's national conference here.
Five presidential candidates - four Democrats and one Republican - are scheduled to address the conference Friday. Among them are top-tier Democrats Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, and John Edwards. The lone Republican is Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.
Earlier this month, all eight Democratic candidates participated in a forum at the NAACP meeting in Detroit. The only Republican was Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a long-shot candidate.
Shannon Reeves, director of state and local development for the Republican National Committee, said his role in the RNC was to get them to understand the black community.
"There are some in our party who don't want to associate with our community," he said to groans from the crowd. He added that "black folks had to kick the door open. The Democratic Party didn't open it wide and say come on in."
Urban League president Marc Morial said black voters deserve more than "drive-by politics and last-minute appeals to churches." But, he admitted, "sometimes we aren't good about getting out to vote." He said no candidate has talked about black economic development, which is the civil rights organization's major thrust.
After all, look at what the democRATs have done for them ... oh, wait
Amen
It takes two to dance and those folks just refuse
Republicans have done a good job reaching out to the minorities and women. A the obvious example look at the President’s cabinet and their deputies.
Thanks for pointing that out. I vote (and live) as a conservative American only, but some (racebaiters on both sides) can’t stop trying to shove me into THEIR comfort zone of stereotypes. I continue to marvel at how many try to deny my individuality.
When Davind Dinkins was mayor of New York, Sharpton was used to throwing his weight around by going to the Mayor’s office unannounced and expecting an immediate meeting, which he usually got. After Rudy got elected, he put a stop to that. Sharpton would show up unannounced at the Mayor’s office, only to be turned away:
On Jan. 9, 1994, another match landed in this tinderbox: a caller reported a burglary at a Harlem mosque. The police ran in, and Nation of Islam guards threw punches and broke an officers nose.
The mosques minister, accompanied by the Rev. Al Sharpton, drove downtown to register their outrage with the police commissioner, a street theater ritual grudgingly tolerated by past mayors.
Except the new mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, fresh off his November victory over the citys first black mayor, David N. Dinkins decreed that no one would meet with Mr. Sharpton. No more antics, no more provocations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/us/politics/22giuliani.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
(No, I am not a Rudy supporter)
Forest for the trees thinking helps to give one focus, however I have compassion for those who are lead into a "race baiting" mindset for it is a ten pound sledge hammering us all via the MSM and politicians day after day. : (
The black community of this country has tragically decided that it will take the easy & lazy route over the last 3 generations. If the Democrats tell them all this “ain’t your fault” they think, great, suppose we do whatever we want, shriek and complain once in a while and continue to do whatever feels good. Being wards of the state is ok with them and repeatedly voting 90% democratic is a reflection of the easy way out. This is not sound thinking in an increasingly competitive global economy. It’s a drap on the U.S. and a continued stain on a once proud segment of our society. they’ve lost their souls and will....it wasn’t taken from them over the last 40 years....
You make a good point. Which is why I am very open to such discussions—I have a goal to smash stereotypes by just being myself. Those talks have given me lifelong friendships (and a terrific husband) that I treasure.
That’s why I make my voice heard. I’m sure Rev Al and Jesse are tired of hearing from me as I remind them often that they don’t speak for me.
Of course not but when a group votes in the ninety percentile for one party it strips them of their power. Republicans know that they can win without them and Democrats know they got no where to go.
I’m sure the small (but quite passionate) group of African Americans who vote Republican are embarrased by the likes of Sharpton in the first place.
I would think that the reason for voting for a political party would be enlightening and not strip one of power personally.
Voting in itself is personal promotion.
Now the REASON for voting the way a person does is a different scenario all together.
“When I was in high school, I may not have gone to the prom with the girl I wanted, but with the girl I could get,”
I’m sure his high school era girlfriends are going to feel really good reading that one.
Gotta wonder what he means by ‘get’ too. What did THEY ‘get’ from him? How much antibiotic did it take to cure?
Oh, good Lord!
He has the cabinet he has because he chose them for their capabilities to get things done so he can delegate.
Only liberals would use the fact of sex and race to make an issue.
Republicans suck so bad. When they pander is when they have seen their support from blacks plummet. When dip$hits like Jack Kemp go out and grovel and apologize for being a republican to black audiences, they just make themselves look stupid. I hated when Bush did this in front of the NAACP. Reagan didn’t do this. He appealed to everyone as Americans first. And he got a hell of a lot more support from blacks than republicans ever will again.
I don’t want to belabor the point except to say there is little republicans can do to get the black vote. The dems have villanized us so long that I see no possibility in the near future of getting significant votes. The pitiful part is that in their personal lives blacks are closer to us than the Dems.
Whoa Momma! Sure.. didn't see that coming!
Gadzooks! We... are so confused!
Way to go Al. Ten more speeches and you’ll push the black vote percentage for Democrats from 92 to 93.
LOL!
Good one, Bender
Al Sharpton and the NAACP should fall off the face of the earth and get sucked up into a black hole.
Bullfrog
Does Sharpton have any clue that, what, 8% of blacks vote GOP?
What’s there to take away? 8% of blacks who make up 11% of the population? That leaves Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, and 7 other folks.
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