Posted on 07/21/2003 12:29:57 PM PDT by Trueblackman
Will most blacks vote for GOP? Uh, no By Andrew Lisa
If the Democratic Party is serious about ridding the country of the Hooked on Phonics dropout we have running the show now, the least they could do is continue pretending to care about black people. Three of the nine Democrats campaigning for the chance to lose to President Bush in 2004 failed to show up for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's national convention in Miami Beach last week. The group's leader, Kweisi Mfume, was outraged (because they didn't show up, not because his parents named him while smoking dope and playing Scrabble). He said the candidates' "political capital is the equivalent of Confederate dollars."
It's understandable for the NAACP to resent the fact that their loyal Democratic vote is being taken for granted. But if Mr. Mfume wants to conquer racial intolerance, it might be time for him to try some introspection. He's in charge of a group that's still calling black people colored.
But their gripe is legitimate, and the street credibility of Rep. Dick Gephardt, Sen. Joseph Leiberman and Rep. Dennis Kucinich is now in question. And if they're not even going to pretend like they need to woo the black vote, they just might lose it. If the Democrats aren't going to show black people any respect, the NAACP will lead their people back to the party of Lincoln.
There is a silver lining, though, for the three presidential hopefuls. The NAACP is bluffing.
When it comes to voting, there are two choices for black people in this country: bad and worse. And on the slim, outside chance that the Rev. Al Sharpton doesn't win the primaries, we all know black people are going to vote for whoever the Democrats put up there, convention or no convention.
Alright, so three guys blew off the NAACP party. But even though they feel slighted, what are blacks going to do, vote Republican? Please! Look who they'd be keeping company with. The only thing missing at Strom Thurmond's funeral last month was a "whites only" sign.
Mr. Mfume is an intelligent guy. He's not going to tell his people to vote for the group that invented the trickle-down theory, which up until last week Dick Cheney thought was when you stopped the car in Harlem because you had to use the urinal.
How could blacks live with themselves after voting Republican just to get back at a bunch of guys who didn't RSVP? And please don't mention Condoleeza Rice. Bush had to hire her. She's the only black woman he's ever know who wasn't on a syrup bottle.
Compassionate conservative is as blatant an oxymoron as Christian rock. And I don't want to hear about the new GOP, minority outreach bit because Bush is visiting Sudan (which he thought was a four-door luxury car until he got there). The last time a rich, white, Texas conservative visited black people in Africa, it was to buy one.
And unfortunately, the Democrats know it. Blacks have been loyal to them since the federal government made Southern Republicans stop lynching them for trying to vote. And now that vote is taken for granted by the likes of these three chumps. And that's a shame. Not only should Democrats pretend to care about blacks on the campaign trail, but they might want to think about actually doing something for them if they ever get elected again.
And as far as the NAACP goes, stop all this nonsense. Unless you want your situation in this country to be worse than it already is, you're not going to vote Republican and everybody knows it.
The threat is as transparent as our president's grasp on the English language. You want to change these Democrats? Try some positive reinforcement. Tell them if they start paying you some real respect, you'll promise to make Reverend Al go away.
Until then, enjoy the weather in Miami and try to be thankful that you didn't get stuck hanging out with the likes of Joe Leiberman. And come 2004, I'll see you at the voting booth.
Andrew Lisa is a copy editor at The Daily Journal. Respond to this column by sending an e-mail to alisa@vineland.gannett.com or mail comments to him at 891 E. Oak Road, Vineland, NJ 08360.
SH*T, dude, what will Dick Gephardt do without his street cred?
That line made me laugh out loud!
How about us White Conservative Republicans? Can we have a shot at him?
NeverGore :^)
LOL!!
This isn't satire, is it?
Blacks have been loyal to them since the federal government made Southern Republicans stop lynching them for trying to vote.
Historically inaccurate rot! Southern Democrats were holding those firehoses.
Tom and Jerry is a colleg-level educational program.
On one hand, he is espousing the treatment of fellow black voters and the lack of "respect" that the Dim candidates have for their minority base, yet at the same time, he is using every stereotype he can get his hands on.
Had anyone else written this article, I'd laugh at the hypocracy that the writer spews. Alas, I'm sorrow filled in that there are people in this country who cannot think beyond what someone tells them to think and vote.
Keep up the fight, TBM.
I thought that kind of stuff was mainly Dixiecrats (George Wallace, et al)... In Little Rock, Arkansas, for example, Republican Prez Eisenhower sends troops to integrate Central High School in 1957, over the objection of the local & state Democrats. So how did the Democrats manage this ridiculous level of loyalty among blacks, anyhow?
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