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The Red and the Black - Seeking black votes could be the GOP’s secret weapon.
National Review Online ^ | March 25, 2013 | Deroy Murdock

Posted on 03/25/2013 8:46:49 PM PDT by neverdem


South Carolina senator Tim Scott speaks at CPAC, March 14, 2013.

‘What have the Democrats done for you lately?”

Republicans should start asking black Americans that question — early and often. Doing so could become the GOP’s secret weapon.

As Republicans regroup after presidential and Senate campaigns that they should have won easily last November, they should seek votes among the 41 million black Americans whom Democrats take for granted, and Republicans lately have written off. Here’s why engaging black voters could revitalize the GOP.

Republicans need not win the black vote, or even a third of it. Securing 15 percent of the black electorate severely erodes the stalwart-Democrat base. If 20 to 25 percent of blacks vote GOP, it’s curtains for Democrats.

If Republicans seek black votes, they will win some. As the Republican National Committee’s recent autopsy of the 2012 election noted: “We are never going to win over voters who are not asked for their support.” The study lamented that black voters routinely back Democrats “without hearing anyone in their community making a case to the contrary.”

Campaigning among black voters would help Republicans stop resembling “stuffy, old white men,” as an RNC focus group described them. Listening to and speaking with black Americans refutes the notion that Republicans are just country-club Caucasians.

If Republicans largely campaign among white voters, Democrats will caricature them as racists who dislike or even hate blacks. That lie collapses when white GOP candidates shake black hands and kiss black babies. Doing so reassures nervous white voters that Republicans are not bigots, and it’s OK to support them.

Like Al Capone with a knife but no machine gun, Democrats would be badly disarmed without the race card. Denied the GOP = KKK meme, Democrats would have to double down on their phony “War on Women” and stoke class hatred even harder.

Bored by cautious, vanilla GOP nominees, Republicans and right-leaning independents likely would become electrified, knock on doors, populate phone banks, and cast ballots for Republicans who deploy this strategy. Mitt Romney contracted terminal shrunken-base syndrome. Had Romney visited black neighborhoods in Miami, Richmond, Cleveland, and Denver, unenthused conservatives would have become inspired and, at least, voted. That might have been Mitt’s margin of victory.

Such overtures to black voters surely would parallel appeals to other minorities. But even in a vacuum, such black-outreach efforts likely would increase support for Republicans among voters of Asian and Hispanic descent.

The Republican message should combine opportunity-related themes with historical facts about Democrats’ largely shameful record towards blacks (from stymieing Reconstruction to launching the Ku Klux Klan and filibustering federal anti-lynching legislation and the 1964 Civil Rights Act). Democrats’ treatment of blacks remains pitiful — e.g., celebrating the leadership of the late Senator Robert Byrd (D., W.Va.), a former Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, until his 2010 death in office. There also is Obama’s defunding of the Washington, D.C., school-voucher program.

Republicans should cite these additional steps backward — by comparing these material conditions on January 20, 2009, the date of Obama’s first inauguration, with those on his second, last January 21: The rise of black unemployment (from 12.1 percent to 14.0 percent), an increase in poverty among blacks aged 18 to 64 (from 34.9 percent to 38.6 percent), and a fall in black median income (from $22,901 to $21,206).

Besides addressing the NAACP, Mitt Romney did little to win black votes. Nonetheless, against Obama, he won 6 percent of black voters, 50 percent more than Arizona Republican senator John McCain’s 4 percent in 2008.

What if Romney had fought for black votes? He barely lost several swing states. With mildly stronger black support and a modestly tighter embrace among decreasingly “nervous” whites and energized GOP-base voters, Romney could have delivered an Electoral College squeaker.

Based on ballot results and exit polls, here’s how Romney could have added  at least 64 electoral votes to his actual 206 and advanced to the Oval Office.

• Obama won Florida’s 29 electoral votes by 74,309 votes. To win the Sunshine State, Romney needed to swing just over half of that total, or 37,155 votes. Boosting Romney’s black support from 4 percent to 5 percent would have won him 11,106 votes. Lifting his white support from 61 percent to 61.5 percent would have won Romney 28,308 votes. These additional votes would have totaled 39,404 — enough to win Florida.

• Obama won Virginia’s 13 electoral votes by 149,298 votes. To take the Old Dominion, Romney needed to shift just over half of that amount, or 74,650 votes. Raising Romney’s black support from 6 percent to 9 percent would have yielded him 23,124 votes. Hiking his white support from 61 percent to 63 percent would have given Romney 53,962 votes. These additional votes would have totaled 77,086 — enough to win Virginia.

• Obama won Ohio’s 18 electoral votes by 166,277 votes. To grab the Buckeye State, Romney needed to switch just over half of that margin, or 83,139 votes. Boosting Romney’s black support from 3 percent to 5 percent would have added 16,742 votes. Expanding his white showing from 57 percent to 58.6 percent would have given Romney 70,540 votes. These new votes would have totaled 87,282 — enough to win Ohio.

• Obama won Colorado’s nine electoral votes by 137,858 votes. To score the Centennial State, Romney needed to convert just over half of that sum, or 68,930 votes. Increasing Romney’s black support from 6 percent to 9 percent would have delivered 2,313 votes. Augmenting his white showing from 54 percent to 57.5 percent would have won Romney 70,147 votes. These added votes would have totaled 72,460 — enough to win Colorado.

These 69 additional electoral votes would have totaled 275 and spelled President Romney.

This scenario assumes that a Romney outreach to black voters would have allowed him to edge past Obama. Of course, such an effort also could have transformed Romney’s persona so much that he could have beaten Obama handily and sent him back to Chicago with his tail between his legs.

Rather than duck and cover when Democrats lie about Republicans’ so-called racism, the GOP should stand and fight. Top Republicans terminated slavery, wrote the Brown v. Board of Education decision, broke the Democrats’ filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, signed the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday into law, extended the 1965 Voting Rights Act to 2031, and appointed both of America’s two black secretaries of state.

What a racist party!

Black voters deserve to hear the Republican vision of growth, opportunity, prosperity, and personal responsibility rather than the Democrat formula of profligacy, indebtedness, and redistribution (unforgivably, also advanced by GOP socialist G. W. Bush).

A muscular, year-round appeal to black voters would benefit the GOP and black Americans alike.

— Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor, a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service, and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blackrepublicans; blackvote; outreach
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To: RHS Jr
How can Rinos be so stupid to think they will ever get any of their votes.

There is a way, but RINOs will never try it. See post 19.

21 posted on 03/25/2013 11:34:43 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (An economy is not a zero-sum game, but politics usually is.)
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To: chris37

There it is. They might try running an actual Conservative and they wouldn’t have to worry about anything else.


22 posted on 03/25/2013 11:36:19 PM PDT by Eagles6 (Valley Forge Redux)
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To: Carry_Okie

Well done. Have you noticed that many took the essay as a call to pander to blacks? I’m shaking my head.


23 posted on 03/25/2013 11:52:42 PM PDT by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

Lol

The stupidity and ethnic and cultural suicide simply never ends

Stupid white folks may actually deserve their extinction


24 posted on 03/25/2013 11:55:27 PM PDT by wardaddy (wanna know how my kin felt during Reconstrucbtion in Mississippi, you fixin to find out firsthand)
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To: RHS Jr
Nationally, registered independents are closer to 40 % of the electorate. From Mike Barone last November:

Starting next month, Americans in 25 states will have Republican governors and Republicans in control of both houses of the state legislatures. They aren't all small states, either. They include about 53 percent of the nation's population.

At the same time, Americans in 15 states will have Democratic governors and Democrats in control of both houses of the state legislatures. They include about 37 percent of the nation's population.

And the GOP needs to move left? I don't think so.

The independents didn't want illegal aliens getting driver licences. It was about three quarters of them and two thirds of rats on that question the last time I looked.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender(LGBT) cohort may be about a few percent of the electorate.

25 posted on 03/26/2013 12:54:38 AM PDT by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

I’ve concluded it’s time to stop getting angry at NR type media outlets and Republicans(Conservatism Inc.) and realize they will keep pushing idiocy because it allows them to keep the power they now have - they don’t care if it’s temporary power because they know the alternative is none. I’m middle aged now and over all these years not once have I seen the pubs or NR types state the GOP should run on a clear anti-racial preference platform, i.e. something that might actually work but would exclude them from the D.C. ‘Smart Set’ brie and chablis parties. It’s time to stop being Republican and looking to NR for ideas.


26 posted on 03/26/2013 12:55:23 AM PDT by kreitzer
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To: neverdem

Seeking the racist socialist vote...
NO not all blacks are socialist or racist...
JUST MOST OF THEM ARE.. pitiful but true..


27 posted on 03/26/2013 12:58:31 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: neverdem

The GOP can “seek” Black votes until the cows come home; they still won’t get any.

At least, not until they’ve learned to hand out cash benefits taken from Whites.


28 posted on 03/26/2013 12:59:56 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Better to have a new tea party reach those moderate women. The GOP is both damaged and corrupt.


29 posted on 03/26/2013 3:26:56 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: neverdem

‘If Republicans seek black votes’

How is that different from seeking the white vote? I mean we are all the same, right?


30 posted on 03/26/2013 3:55:42 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: chris37

The two things are not mutually exclusive, unless the GOP attempts to attract the black vote by pandering to the likes of the NAACP.


31 posted on 03/26/2013 4:20:56 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: neverdem

The GOP seeking black votes is like the US Secretary of State seeking Middle East peace. They keep chasing a fantasy that anyone with an IQ above room temprature could tell them will never happen.


32 posted on 03/26/2013 5:59:49 AM PDT by Hugin
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To: neverdem
Have you noticed that many took the essay as a call to pander to blacks? I’m shaking my head.

IMO, The propensity is primarily lack of familiarity with black culture. I had the "advantage" of living on the waterfront in downtown Oakland, CA for nine years and went to a local junior college there. It was quite the education sitting in the locker room listening to the conversations unseen in the next aisle. They think we're stupid chumps.

33 posted on 03/26/2013 7:36:42 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (An economy is not a zero-sum game, but politics usually is.)
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To: chris37

Actually many of the black people I know here in the “Cradle of the Confederacy” would seem to naturally belong to the base of the GOP, talk to them in private about specific issues and many seem to be far more conservative than Rush Limbaugh but they vote the other way. I am personally acquainted with one black former Marine who sat on my couch some years ago and told me that he cannot understand why black people vote Democrat, the same man has spoken at two different Tea Party rallies I have attended. He was very well received and applauded. There are others like him.

Of course it is dangerous to even make the assumption that who we vote for even matters any more. I suspect that we are already at the point that the only thing that matters is who COUNTS the votes.


34 posted on 03/26/2013 7:44:38 AM PDT by RipSawyer (I was born on Earth, what planet is this?)
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To: neverdem
As natural a conservative group as the amnestied Hispanics would be.

That said, I think the GOP should be able to make inroads with Asian voters, who fall at the opposite end of the maker --- taker spectrum.

35 posted on 03/26/2013 7:50:24 AM PDT by white trash redneck (Just one of B. Hussein Obama's "typical white people")
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To: Deagle
Yes I do give up on Republicans and am going Libertarian or any other party that has a clue..

"Having a clue" excludes the pro-open-borders anti-age-of-consent Libertarian Party. You might consider the Constitution Party: http://www.constitutionparty.com/.

36 posted on 03/26/2013 7:51:03 AM PDT by JustSayNoToNannies ("The Lord has removed His judgments against you" - Zep. 3:15)
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To: FreedomPoster

If the GOP loses 90-100% of its base, and attracts 6-10% of 15% of a population within this country, which amount to 1.5% or less...

Their crushing and total defeat is going to be mutually exclusive the likes of which they have never seen and likely are incapable of understanding.


37 posted on 03/26/2013 9:21:56 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: RipSawyer

I know those people are out their, but they are too rare to matter.

Furthermore, even if they did matter, whether or not the GOP holds and office over a democrat does not matter.

We have serious, serious problems in this country.


38 posted on 03/26/2013 9:23:29 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: neverdem

I don’t see Republicans winning the Black vote any time soon, but 1) overtures to the African-American community may help Republicans with swing voters, and 2) the Black turnout for the Democrats is bound to go down next time, particularly if (as expected) their nominee is White.


39 posted on 03/26/2013 9:57:05 AM PDT by x
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To: neverdem

Yeah. Right. Go after the votes of a group that votes 85%+ for Democrats (95%+ in last two Federal Elections). It made more sense to go after Hispanic votes.
This clown is brilliant.


40 posted on 03/26/2013 10:01:13 AM PDT by Little Ray (No "Comprehensive" Immigration Reform. Fortifiy the Borders First.)
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