Why Latinos won't be Republicans

This was posted by Steve Gilliard from New York. I full agree with every sentiment in his post and would like to add a bit on the move of Latinos into the Republican party. What has helped is that Latinos are bi-racial and so communitties that have lighter skinned demographics (ie Cubans, richer imigrants) so the Racial componet of their heritage is hidden. Thus those same communities have lactched on to the existing power to affectively lobby their stingitent forgrien policy stances. So from there you get the only large latino voting block that votes for Republicans. Cubans, and only Cubans from Florida for the most part. This doesn't mean that others don't do well but outside of a few social conservatives Republicans very few Latinos are joining. Which is why the push for the hispanic voter from the Bush administration. There is a somewhat natural tendency for religiously conscience Latinos to side with value demogrory from the Right. But those issues have not truly eatten away at Democratic positions in any state. Now with the values realignment I see after seeing the emporer with no clothes I believe the large threat that Republicans had promised to control the Latino vote will not happen for another 10 years. The dynamic are similar to Black voters and comunitties where if your not rich then voting Republican is voting against yourself intrests. But again the history of being ignored is not there so the damage is not as bad as Gilliard speaks about below. Plus the other underlying issue is that Latinos are quite racist on there own bent so those issues also complicates the situation but all in all I don't think good spanish comercials are going to move the Latinos to Right side.

"Why am I not a Republican"

A man of character
A month or so ago Robert George posted up why he's still a Republican. Here's why I'm not.

There are many reasons, social justice, a belief in a measured, sane defense policy not cooked up in a think tank of chickenhawk lunatics, and equality under the law.

Besides, there's no future in it.

What do I mean? The Black Commentator explains:

The fact remains that the GOP still avoids real dialogue with the best African-American Republicans. This list includes Paul Harris, Dylan Glenn and Nic Lott. All have participated in White House and GOP national events. For example, Lott and Harris both spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Paul Harris unmistakably has many of Obama’s qualities. A father of three, Harris is happily married. He is a conservative, Catholic and attends church regularly. In Virginia, Harris won landslide victories in 1997 and 2000, becoming the first black Republican elected to the House in more than a century. Harris then served for two years at the Department of Justice under John Ashcroft. Since returning to the private sector, the GOP has failed to utilize Harris’ polished political skills and experience for some greater cause.

Dylan Glenn is another black conservative that has been waiting in the wings. Despite support from Newt Gingrich and Colin Powell, Glenn has failed on three attempts to win a congressional seat in Georgia. Glenn served as a policy analyst in the White House Office of Domestic Policy during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Glenn was also Special Assistant to President George W. Bush in the White House, during which time he was on the National Economic Council advising the President on economic and domestic policy concerns.

In addition to his strong White House experience, Glenn is founder of The Earth Conservation Corps, a White House initiative under President George H.W. Bush that provides opportunity to at-risk youth through environmental conservation work. The Earth Conservation is one of the rare programs that have successfully addressed the challenges of inner city youth, providing them a positive outlet to channel their energies.

Glenn was pulled from the White House to run the Georgia campaign of Sonny Purdue. After Purdue’s victory, Glenn was not given another major role in the party. Instead he was named Purdue’s Deputy Chief of Staff. From the president’s adviser to deputy chief of staff for a governor, the decline in Glenn’s position could not have been more dramatic. In effect, Glenn’s success was rewarded with a demotion, under the watchful eye of Ed Gillespie.

Yet, the Republican National Committee website insists they are “Grooming Black Candidates.” RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman suggests that Lynn Swann will run for Governor of Pennsylvania. Swann has not announced he will run yet, but has begun an unofficial campaign against Governor Ed Rendell. A New York Times article suggests that Republicans see Swann “as an underdog against Mr. Rendell.” It would seem like a replay of the Illinois senate race where Obama won a landslide victory against black Republican Alan Keyes. Black candidates like Swann and even Glenn cannot win without overwhelming Republican support. But former RNC Chairmen Marc Racicot and Ed Gillespie and now Mehlman are unwilling to support these candidates, especially when they need it most on the campaign trail.
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Meanwhile, Mehlman has not reached out to Glenn, Lott or Harris. In a Washington Post online discussion, White House insider Michael Fletcher said, “The fact remains that black voters largely reject the political overtures of conservatives like Bush. And that is going to affect the number of people who get into these jobs, which often require a well connected sponsor.” Nic Lott lists J.C. Watts, Senator Trent Lott and Governor Haley Barbour as his references. Yet after helping Barbour win his campaign in Mississippi, Lott was awarded with a Public Affairs position in the state penitentiary. For Lott moving from a successful campaign to serving time in a prison PR job is a sad irony. He was the first African-American student body president at the University of Mississippi. An internet google search for Nic Lott’s name nets 304 hits. Lott was interviewed by CNN when Trent Lott, no relation, got into trouble for glorifying Strom Thurmond. CNN can chat with Nic Lott on national television, but his own party eludes him.

Lott, Glenn and Harris should be in high level senior positions with the Bush Administration and/or the Republican National Committee.

Now, Glenn's career is dead because of overturned Voter ID bill. He can't run in Georgia again. Period. Lott got a job far below his abilities. Harris sits at home. Is this how a black Republican is treated. In all the furor, people forgot the main contention of the Steele article: Erlich's people were undercutting him the day of his announcement. People want to talk about how gifted he was, but his boss's own money people were setting him up to fail.

When Randy Daniels, former New York Secretary of State, with good ties in the Harlem community, wanted to run for governor, the NYGOP did everything in it's power to cut him off. Despite Eliot Spitzer being nearly a made member of Harlem political mafia, Daniels is being treated like a redheaded step child.

Why? Because Republicans do not support black candidates. Despite Daniel's ability to be heard by African Americans, a shallow pool of statewide candidates, and a near certain Spitzer victory, Daniels faces roadblock after roadblock in running for governor, for no clear reason.

Now, I don't mean to sound cynical, but the reality is that until the Republican party evicts all its racists, there is nothing they can offer me. And considering many came out of the woodwork like roaches after Katrina, well, it's obvious they don't want me.

When you talk to black Republicans, the thing is you run into some odd traits.

First, they assume you're an idiot. Well, not Robert George, but damn near everyone else. They keep asking me if I enjoy being on the "liberal plantation", or the "Democratic plantation" or being a "slave of the Democrats" Now people who whine about racially charged images now suggest I'm too fucking stupid to think about politics in a rational, logical way.

Now, if someone said that shit to me in person, one of us would be sore as fuck afterwards. But as long as they can insult me from a distance, and it is an insult, it's cool.

The need to denigrate my intelligence seems to be a major part of how the Republicans want to deal with black people. They suggest we endorse rappers, they think we don't watch the news, much less have the ability to make cogent arguments about history and politics. So my mail was filled with history lectures on how blacks were once Republicans and how I needed to do research.

As if knowing this was beyond my capacity. As if they didn't teach this in social studies, as if I don't read books every fucking day.

It seems that there's not much respect for the intellect of blacks among Republicans.

The now-infamous Project 21, formed by Robert Woodson, but who's director is a white man, David Almasi, has lashed out at statements of the obvious, that Clarence Thomas doesn't represent black people and horrified about poor Michael Steele, yet can't even hire a black director.

You have one member of the group, Mychal Massie, who said slavery was good for black people.

On the October 18 edition of the syndicated radio show Janet Parshall's America, Project 21 national advisory council member and columnist for conservative website WorldNetDaily.com Mychal Massie declared to host Janet Parshall that African-American churches today "have succumbed to hatred" and "disobedience to God." Massie went on to proclaim that "the black people today that curse America are cursing God because if God had not permitted the Ashanti and Dahomey tribes of ancient Africa to trap other Africans and sell them to Muslims, who sold them to Europeans, we would not have what we have today." Parshall praised Massie for his "straight talk" -- the name of a program Massie hosts on the conservative website Rightalk.com -- and called him "brother.

Now, I don't know what kind of pain this man has suffered, but clearly, he represents a view repugnant to most African Americans on its face. No sane party could think this man could relate to other African Americans in a rational way. In fact, Project 21 is run by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Which is another white run conservative think tank. How do they think such people can appeal to educated African Americans like my family? We know our history and cherish our culture. Such people are sad and deluded, at best, and offensive at worse.

Second, too many black Republicans simply demonstrate a clear lack of character.

People like Star Parker and Jesse Lee Peterson admit to less than sterling pasts, Armstrong Williams refuses to admit error in taking government money to promote No Child Left Behind. Many, from John McWhorter to Robert George leaped to defend William Bennett for his overtly racist remarks. Now to most African Americans, that kind of craven behavior is unacceptable. While they can raise high dudgeon when one of their own comes under sharp criticism, and talk about racism, when Trent Lott or Bennett insults black people, they have no voice.

One of the basic expectations of a politician, is that they will defend their community. Time and again, the prominent black conservatives refuse to do so. Which is why they have such little support. They also have a habit of depicting other African Americans in negative ways.

This is one of Massie's columns from Wing Nut Daily.

The lie that keeps on living

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The well worn and errant dogma that conservative Southern (read Democrat) bigots fled their party in the wake of the civil-rights era, taking up residence in the Republican Party – which has been used by ill-informed race baiters for decades – was trod out yet again for public consumption. Let it be understood I in no way classify the author as such, quite the opposite; but it is important to note that continued usage of said misinformation supplies the haters with ammunition.

Common sense questions would be: If Southern bigots fled the Democrat Party to the Republican Party during 1964 and following, why was it the Republicans who fought for civil rights? Why was a Republican president (Richard Nixon) responsible for affirmative action? Why do Republicans have the stellar record of meritocratic inclusion in the highest echelons of their administrations? Why did Democrats led by Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., bitterly oppose the nomination of Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas and Janice Rogers Brown? Why did the Democrats sit silent as Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Janice Rogers Brown suffered vicious ad hominem attacks based on their race? Why was it the Democrats who opposed every civil-rights bill introduced in Congress (by Republicans) from 1856 well into the 1970s? Why do Democrats today support measures that retard self-sufficiency pursuant to blacks and the so-called poor, while Republicans champion the exact opposite (President Bush's "We will rebuild New Orleans" speech notwithstanding)? But I digress.
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Granted, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Trent Lott and even George Wallace entered politics as products of their day and culture; but these men, by the grace of "Almighty God," had the scales removed from their eyes.

This kind of pathetic and insulting twisting of history is the kind of thing which enrages educated black people. Massie, like almost all Black Republicans, are afraid to debate these ideas before blacks. This nonsense is merely written for white consumption and acceptance. Who exactly attacked Powell, Rice and Brown on their race? Black people who felt they had isolated themselves from the community for personal gain. Massie needs to blame the Democrats of the past for the Republicans of the present.

To say the still racist Lott has had anything pulled from his eyes is an insult to the intelligence. Products of their day and culture? Thurmond ran with the Klan in 1948. He filibustered the Civil Rights Bill. He used race for the most cynical reasons possible, even more than Wallace, while he paid for his black daughter to attend college and enter the middle class.

As far as the Republicans supporting black self-sufficency, I don't see an end to redlining and support for insuring businesses in black neighborhoods or ending racial discrimination in housing. Basic, pro-captialist ideas which the GOP doesn't support when the people who need them aren't rich, white businessmen. The Republicans haven't fought for civil rights in a long, long time. The days of Edward Brooke and Jackie Robinson are long gone.

Also, after working on a campaign like Nic Lott, when they come to you with a job doing prison PR, in Mississippi, why do you take the job? Do you think some son of Barbour's white GOP buddies or their kids would be given a similar job with Lott's experience? ROTFLMAO. Hell no. They would have been an aide to the governor. Here's another guy who's future has been hurt because of the GOP's reactionary stands. After Barbour gutted Medicaid, who would work for Lott in the black community now?

It's about character. Black Democrats expect some support for their work. You see the second generation of black pols entering public life, Harold Ford, Kendrick Meek, Jesse Jackson Jr. Why? Because Democrats support their own. When they run for Congress the money is there. Republicans support their own, when they're white.

What this tells black voters is that these people will accept second class treatment for themselves. The question becomes if they don't stand up for themselves, will they stand up for their constituents? And people will not take that chance. Nor should they.

Third, why should I support a party which opposes much of what will actually benefit black people. GOP policy seems to be designed to hurt the working poor and working class. What do they offer people except a naked appeal to religion and fake patriotism?

When people make the flawed argument that one party takes us for granted and the other ignores us, they forget that the other party doesn't ignore us, they run against up. And people like Massie and Jesse Lee Peterson trade in the worst anti-black stereotypes for their white patrons, that blacks are violent and lazy, slandering the millions of hard working poor and working class blacks, do Republicans expect these people to get support? Do they think they can buy a few ministers and then render our critical faculties inert?

This is not a debate about policy, because Black Republicans don't offer policy alternatives. This is a debate about character, one that they fail constantly. They are insulted and degraded in black America because they cannot lead, are greedy and self-serving and expect people to act against their own interest. Sure, they can whine about negative depictions, but much of that is caused by their own lack of character and craven pandering. All they do is run on race, not ideas.

Martin Luther King said he wanted to see a day when a man is judged on the content of his character. Well for Michael Steele, John McWhorter and Jesse Lee Peterson, that day has come, and they have been found sorely wanting. A fact that their defenders want to pretend hasn't happened. But it has and they will be confronted with it time and again, no matter how many apologies they demand or how many of they white supporters cry racism.

posted by Steve