Too little, too late

Politics International Politics
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Bush: GOP Must Work to Appeal to Blacks

DETROIT - President Bush (news - web sites) acknowledged on Friday that “the Republican Party has got a lot of work to do” to gain the support of black voters…Bush’s remarks came as a new poll showed overwhelming support for John Kerry (news - web sites) among black voters.

story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … el_pr/bush

So, it is finally starting to dawn on Bush that he should pay at least some attention to a very big voting block which he has managed to ignore for these past four years. Now, in desperation, Bush is starting to call on his party to reach out to black voters in order to help re-elect a man who has done little to improve life for a huge number of black Americans.

Sorry for Bush, but his words come too late in the game to change things. Despite some high profile African-Americans in the Bush camp, Powell and Rice, most black Americans know that Bush has done nothing to make their lives better. Poverty, dangerous urban areas, high rates of incarceration are among the fate many African-Americans are faced with and things have not gotten better under Bush’s 4 year watch.

It is very pathetic and sad to see a world leader forced to pander to a group he clearly thinks so little of simply to try to hold onto a job he doesn’t do very well, but that is our Bush. Luckily, even though Bush obviously doesn’t give black Americans much credit for being able to discern between real empathy and lip service, I have no doubt that most African-Americans are going to be able to see right through what Bush is trying to do and they won’t vote for him.

Then, Bush can retire to the ranch and leave Kerry and Edwards to clean up the mess Bush and Cheney made during these ever so long past 4 years.

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This is piece of journalism lacks impartiality that it is little more than a “Bush is a evil (fill in term here)” propaganda piece.

This is the most racially diverse administration ever. Even more so than “The First Black President” Clinton. Look how many minorites hold high positions and are nominated for others, only to be ridiculed by the liberal press/establishment or filibustered by Democrats for not holding liberal views. This is the same situation where NAACP leadership can lament black children not wanting to do well in school because it would be seen as “acting white”, while in the next breath acting in shock that their is a black(AA) man on the supreme court (they literally refuse to acknowledge Clarence Thomas as a AA man). Colin Powell has been called a “house nigger.”

Reagan was the first Republican presidential candidate to really try to reach out to the AA community. He raised Republican support from 8% of the vote to 12%. Bush has been following this same strategy. He’s for school choice along with the normal AA community, The NAACP is against as is most of the Democratic party. He’s passed the No Child Left Behind act, to punish schools that fail to educate and offering extra tutoring to those who need it.

Here’s part of the transcript from bush at the Urban League conference

[quote]No, I know, I know, I know. The Republican party has got a lot of work to do. I understand that. (Laughter and applause.) You didn’t need to nod your head that hard, Jesse. (Laughter.) [That was a reference to Jesse Jackson.]
Do you remember a guy named Charlie Gaines? Somebody gave me a quote he said, which I think kind of describes the environment we’re in today. I think he’s a friend of Jesse’s. He said, “Blacks are gagging on the donkey but not yet ready to swallow the elephant.” (Laughter and applause.)

Now that was said a while ago. (Laughter.) I believe you’ve got to earn the vote and seek it. I think you’ve got to go to people and say, this is my heart, this is what I believe, and I’d like your help. And as I do, I’m going to ask African American voters to consider some questions.

Does the Democrat party take African American voters for granted? (Applause.) It’s a fair question. I know plenty of politicians assume they have your vote. But do they earn it and do they deserve it? (Applause.) Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party? That’s a legitimate question. (Applause.) How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete? (Applause.) Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat party truly served the African American community?

That’s what I hope people ask when they go to the community centers and places, as we all should do our duty and vote. People need to be asking these very serious questions.

Does blocking the faith-based initiative help neighborhoods where the only social service provider could be a church? Does the status quo in education really, really help the children of this country? (Applause.)

Does class warfare

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See here for more sources of how the press distorts. I know this may slightly veer off topic, but it should show that you can’t always trust who’s reporting the news wholeheartedly.

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Let’s not forget the judicial nominees that the Democrats defeated, specifically because by putting a conservative Hispanic on the DC court, Bush was lining up “the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee”. Just who is playing politics with race again??

Gotta keep dem spiggers down so dey knows dey gotsta vote Democrappic!

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[quote=“Okami”]This is piece of journalism lacks impartiality that it is little more than a “Bush is a evil (fill in term here)” propaganda piece.

You’re kidding, right? One of the problems Clinton faced was that his nominations for postions were not often confirmed. Look at these facts from a USA Today article:

48% of Clinton’s 374 picks have been women or minorities, compared with 28% by George Bush and 14% by Ronald Reagan.
But 35% of Clinton’s minority nominees have not been confirmed by the Senate, compared with a 14% failure rate among whites, says Citizens for Independent Courts (CFIC), a non-partisan group.

usatoday.com/news/opinion/e2486.htm

Who gets the blame for this? Clinton? However, if you would care to do so, please supply the numbers for the time Bush has been in office. I can assure you they would not be the same as for Clinton.

C’mon. Thomas has the skin color of an AA but the heart and soul of a white man. Although he benefitted from being a minority, it helped him enter Yale Law School, he opposed Affirmative Action, even though it would have helped other black Americans like it helped him.
As for Powell, he is generally seen as a man worthy of respect, intelligence, and as a man who is seen as a rational and moderate voice working within the Bush camp. Whatever the NAACP thinks of him is not very important, as they are a group which is seen, by some black Americans, as a group which has become largely ineffective, as compared with days of old.

Wow, really? Did you forget about JFK? Or RFK? The tears that flowed from AA eyes when these two men were assassinated showed the high esteem they were held in, and the love they had from black Americans. Reagan? I think you really need to think about what you wrote again and you will see how wrong you are.

I don’t think that the NAACP speaks for the majority of black Americans. Thus, if they oppose what Bush is doing, that means little to many AA folks in the USA.

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“MaPoSquid” wrote [quote]Let’s not forget the judicial nominees that the Democrats defeated, specifically because by putting a conservative Hispanic on the DC court, Bush was lining up “the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee”. Just who is playing politics with race again??[/quote]

Squid, you have a very selective memory. There was a man by the name of
“Enrique Moreno, 44, who was born in Mexico, grew up in El Paso, went to Harvard law school and returned to Texas to practice.
Moreno’s nomination to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last year (2000) was derailed by Texas’ two Republican senators, who say a panel of lawyers they set up to examine judicial candidates deemed Moreno unqualified. Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison say Moreno, who has never been a judge, lacks the experience needed for the federal appeals bench.”
usatoday.com/news/opinion/e2486.htm

Why was Moreno’s nomination turned down? Was it really due to a Lack of “experience?” The more cynical among us may feel that it had more to do with the fact that he was a Clinton nominee than anything else.

There have been many more like Moreno. Have the Republicans managed to lose some nominees? Absolutely. But nothing can compare to the number of Clinton nominees who were bypassed.

The Republicans tried every trick in the book to ensure that Clinton’s time in office was not successful but they failed. The Dems have generally been very supportive of Bush’s tenture until recent times.

If you have some free time, check out how Clinton was treated while he was in office as compared to Bush’s time and you will see that the Dems did not engage in the same tactics to get Bush out of office as the Republicans did with Clinton.

If we are comparing fairness among the two camps, the Republicans can learn a lot from the Dems.

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If the democrats do it, its affirmative action. If the republicans do it, its playing politics.

If he’s qualified, he should be seriously considered and not black-balled because one party fears the other might gain a political advantage.