Posted on 10/05/2007 6:18:06 AM PDT by shortstop
I’d like to apologize to black people.
And Latino people.
I’m sorry the Republicans can sometimes be such idiots. If it’s any consolation, sometimes they’re just as stupid to us white people.
I’m talking about the debates and the candidates.
Last week, a long-scheduled Republican debate was held at a traditionally black college. It was understood that the topics were generally to be those of particular interest to black people.
Unfortunately, when it came time for the debate, the four leading GOP candidates were no-shows. Top-tier contestants Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson blew it off, and so did those behind them in the national polls – John McCain and Mitt Romney.
They all had better things to do.
Which translated to: Screw you.
The four campaigns literally said that there were scheduling conflicts. In each instance in which the candidates’ schedules were released, the “conflicts” involved raising money from a relatively small number of predominantly white people.
Getting less publicity was the cancellation of a debate by Univision – to address Latino voters – because Giuliani, Thompson and Romney refused to participate.
For the life of me, I can’t figure this out. It shows so little respect, courage and common sense.
Granted, Republicans have a snowball’s chance in Nevada of getting any significant percentage of the black vote, and it seems clear that the Latino vote is likewise breaking hard Democrat of late.
But who only speaks to their friends?
If you’re running for president of the United States, aren’t you running for president of the entire United States? Don’t you also represent the people who disagree with you? Don’t you have an obligation to at least tell them where you stand? Is the purpose of a debate always to persuade, can’t it also be to explain your views to an audience that isn’t likely to be convinced?
Instead of complain that black voters will never cast their ballot for a Republican, the leading GOP candidates should have had the courtesy to take one evening and show a little class and good cheer. People don’t have to agree with one another to be friends, and the man who will come to your house and shake your hand is a person you may come to see as your friend, even if you think he’s wrong about his politics.
And speaking of politics – the Republican frontrunners should remember that Latino voters gave George W. Bush his first term and black voters gave him his second term.
How?
It was Latino support for Bush in Florida in 2000 that kept that state from being a clear Al Gore win and sent the matter to the Supreme Court, where Bush’s victory was secured. And in 2004, it was the president’s increased support among black voters in Ohio that allowed him to carry that state and win the presidency.
In politics and vote totals, every little bit helps. Sadly, it seems the Republican presidential wannabes have forgotten that.
Worse, they seem to have forgotten their obligation to the country and they seem to lack faith in their ideals.
Because the ideals of the Republican Party – which most of the front runners seem sadly to be hostile to – offer hope for all Americans – most particularly racial minorities who sometimes fare less well in this country than whites.
Unfortunately, Democratic Party ideals have come to dominate minority politics in America. That is unfortunate because those Democratic ideals doom and undercut minorities. They have fostered dependence on soul-destroying welfare with resultant destruction of the black family and black society. They have inculcated an entitlement attitude and an expectation of set-asides and preferences which have fostered social division and a lack of self-reliance. They have implanted Marxist us-against-them envies in millions of hearts.
In short, Democratic Party ideals have been second only to slavery as the worst thing ever to happen to black people in America. They are velvet chains that have – since the 1960s – dramatically worsened the lives of many black Americans.
And the Republicans should have the courage and understanding to say that, face to face, to black voters. Not to win votes, but to save lives. To explain that there is an alternative, another way of looking at things, and that the basic assumptions of race politics in America are manipulative and hurtful to the interests of black people.
And Republicans should stand up and tell Latino voters that the Democrats are trying to do the exact same thing to them. The Democrat plan to own the Latino vote is to mold Latinos into the next marginalized minority – in perception if not reality. The Democrats control minority voters by stoking feelings of oppression, resentment and separatism. The Democrats can only claim black and Latino votes as long as they can convince black and Latino Americans that they are not the mainstream and that it is whites and Republicans who are keeping them out of the mainstream and denying them their due. Democrats prosper from racial division and antagonism perceived by minority voters.
And Republicans could have explained that.
If they’d shown up.
But they didn’t. They had better things to do.
And that is shameful.
When someone invites you to their home, it is a discourtesy to decline. When you have a chance to explain what you believe, you have an obligation to take it.
And the president is not just the president of the white people – even if he is a Republican. And he is not just the president of those who agree with him.
The Republicans didn’t have much chance to win any votes at the debate last week, but they might have won some friendship and respect.
But they chose not to.
So they can’t be surprised if black and Latino attitudes against the Republican Party do nothing but harden.
Did they go to the “white” debate?
Maybe skipping Latinos is a mistake, but you have to prove to me how skipping the black event hurts Republicans. Going would be a waste of time and money. So tell me, how would going help?
People are people. Period. There’s no “Black” debate or “Latino” debate or “Gay” debate. There’s only a “People” debate. Conservative do not split people into groups and divide the hoi polloi into “US” and “THEM”. Where does it all end? The “White” debate or the “Left handed, green-eyed, midget” debate? Having sectarian debates is a Dhimmikrat liberal ploy, not a conservative one.............
It's hard to do. Might take decades, even. But we just have to keep trying, and we can't give up. Conservative values of life, morality, personal responsibility, and equal opportunity simply have to resonate in the black community if communicated clearly for a long enough period of time.
The Democrats have nothing of real value to offer. On the contrary, they've immeasurably hurt blacks in this country, and you can go back decades and decades and see the evidence of that.
The only reason that blacks continue to vote overwhelmingly Democrat is because we aren't trying hard enough to change that.
Duncan Hunter went to the debates. This guy is allergic to praising the Republican candidates that did go (and should win the nomination if we are truly voting for who will be the best President).
I agree with Lonsberry. Republicans face an uphill battle trying to convince these groups to vote for them. They have nothing to lose by showing up for a debate.
I was raised that we were all equal. But I am a bigot in that I will discriminate against behavior that is not appropriate, such as being a politician.
1. Race-based debates are about as logical and productive as anything else that’s race-based.
2. The debates were a kind of whiny, “What can you do for US?” BS. Yes, I sat through the whole thing.
3. The hosts took it easy on the second-tier candidates because a) they wanted to look sympathetic, and b) it really didn’t matter.
4. Tavis Smiley showed his true color by holding empty podiums for the candidates that declined to attend. Do you leave a blank seat at the table for a guest who RSVP’d that they wouldn’t attend? Another attempt to descredit Republicans for their legitemate right not to attend race-based functions.
I found the questions very telling about minorities themselves:
“Why are we in prison?”
“Why can’t we get ahead?”
“Why aren’t we pulling our own weight in military enlistments?”
So how are we gonna do it? Special breaks for “minority-owned” businesses? Special laws on “minority” employment? Special protection from the consequences of breaking the law? That’s Democrat territory.
If they can’t accept programs benefit everybody’s boat, then its hopeless. If they need it explained specifically to them, ditto.
There’s no point going after the black vote. They’ve been too indoctrinated to hate the right (ironic given the circumstances surrounding their ancestors emancipation). So far, there doesn’t seem to be a Rev. Al on the Latino side to sway them away so I would agree that it’s not a waste of time going after an exponential growing part of our population.
Candidates shouldn’t attend any debate that is focused only on or directed towards a specific race.
If minorities want to be treated like everyone else they need to stop voluntarily singling themselves out.
There's no point going after the liberal black vote, just as there is no point going after the liberal latino vote.
You've got to reach out to those black and latino values that do share conservative values, and show they are valued in the party. But kowtowing to La Raza and the NAA(L)CP isn't the answer.
When are the Scottish, Irish, English, German, Italian, etc. debates? Or would that be ‘racist’?
Why is there anything wrong in explaining a good, conservative philosophy to an audience? I'm pretty sure that a lot of blacks think that the Republican Platform has a statement to the effect that "We must continue to keep black people down." It's pretty much what they've been told by the media all their lives.
So, the Republicans ought to be speaking to people saying "We treat everyone the same. We are for equal opportunity. We want a society where no one will hold you back, except yourself. You can make it, if you try."
You take the position that these views ought not to be communicated to black audiences? Too much trouble for us? We have better things to do?
Why would anyone want to appear at a race based debate? These segregationists are nothing but glorified racists. They do nothing but balkanize the country along racial and ethnic lines. Should they appear at a debate that only focuses on “white” issues? Of course not. I thought we were the “United” States of America. Not the “Divided”.
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