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Cain and the black vote: wishful thinking (Blacks give Obama 91% approval rating today)
The Washington Post ^ | 11-22-2011 | Jonathan Capehart

Posted on 11/25/2011 10:33:13 AM PST by TitansAFC

Herman Cain is at it again, making bold pronouncements that fly in the face of actual evidence to the contrary. This time in a seven-page mailer to Iowa Republicans, the flagging Republican front-runner lists a few reasons why he says he can win the GOP nomination for president.....

...It’s that kind of delusional talk that reinforces the image I conjured up last week of Cain running for president of the Land of Make-Believe. Only there could he hope to surpass, let alone replicate, President Eisenhower’s remarkable (by today’s standards) electoral success with African Americans.

Keep something in mind about that 41 percent of blacks who cast a vote for Eisenhower. That’s 41 percent of blacks who COULD vote in 1956. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did away with the discriminatory laws that blocked many African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

And then there’s this. On Sunday, The Post’s Chris Cillizza (a.k.a. The Fix) penned an article about how “President Obama’s base of support remains solid heading into 2012.” Here are the three paragraphs that punch holes in Cain’s argument that he “can lead the Republican party to victory” with a large share of black votes.

At the heart of the president’s enduring strength among his base are African Americans who have never wavered in any meaningful way after 95 percent of black voters opted for the Illinois senator in 2008. In Gallup’s latest weekly tracking polling, Obama’s job approval rating stands at 43 percent among the general public but is nearly double that — 84 percent —among African Americans. In the November NBC-WSJ poll, Obama’s approval rating among black voters stood at a stratospheric 91 percent....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; cain; gop; hermancain; obama
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To: Longbow1969

I think the truth delivered by somebody who has gone through the same experiences as the audience he’s addressing can have an effect that the same truth delivered by someone who hasn’t had those experiences cannot. He is uniquely suited because he experienced discrimination and yet chose to spend his life overcoming the odds instead of complaining about them. I’m not a Cain supporter, but his advantage with black audiences is obvious.


41 posted on 11/25/2011 11:36:45 AM PST by throwback ( The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid)
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To: TitansAFC
Obama will retain 95%+ of the black vote no matter who we nominate.

Which in effect makes them a non-issue.

The census states that Black/African-American people make up 12.1 to 12.6% of the populace.
In contrast, whites make up 69% of the population.

Voter turn out to oppose Obama will be key. If it is a given that 12% of voters will vote for Obama because he is Black, then the other demographics who oppose him MUST get out and vote. Then color will not be an issue.

42 posted on 11/25/2011 11:42:05 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Attacking Wall Street because you're jobless is like burning down Whole Foods because you're hungry.)
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Comment #43 Removed by Moderator

To: TitansAFC

Of course, there aren’t a lot of Jewish Republicans to begin with, but Bush got a higher % of the Jewish vote in 2000 than the GOP had had in 1992 or 1996:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html

(Even after 9/11, Bush only moved up from 19% to 24% of the Jewish vote in 2004.)


44 posted on 11/25/2011 11:46:06 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: TitansAFC

If anything, Cain will cause more hate amongst plantation blacks. The voting block that Cain can cut into is the white-guilt crowd. They will be looking for a way to vote against Obama while keeping true to their white-guilt values.


45 posted on 11/25/2011 11:49:36 AM PST by pallis
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To: TitansAFC

Cain presents an interesting paradox for black voters. Going up against Obama, Cain would certainly lose. But if the Democrats ditch Obama, Cain as a presidential or VP candidate would split the black vote.

That could win the presidency, and since the Republicans are likely to keep the House and recapture the Senate, being heavily favored in the election for the latter, whoever the Republican candidate would be able to start from a position of impressive power.

As did W. Bush, but hopefully not to squander it like he did. This is why it is especially important for conservatives to kick out as many of the remaining RINOs we can, as they will be by far the biggest obstacle to the conservative agenda.


46 posted on 11/25/2011 12:00:59 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: altura
And there doesn’t seem to be a darn thing we can do about it. They just don’t get it.

They get it.

They're just racists.

47 posted on 11/25/2011 12:02:53 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("The very idea of a community organizer is to stir up a mob for some political purpose." Ann Coulter)
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To: TitansAFC

Blacks just love being on the democRat plantation. They are, in my experience, the biggest racists on the block, too boot.


48 posted on 11/25/2011 12:07:38 PM PST by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: org.whodat
"To think you have some mystic link into what black people will do over voting for Cain is ignorance, but the fact is if he peeled 5% of the black vote, obummer would lose bigger than moon-dale. If he lost 5 % of the vote and 5% stay home, he does not win in any of the 57 States."

I think Cain can substanially reduce the black vote for Obama. He is still not very likely to get more than 10% of the black vote, but he could reduce the black turnout. What has Obama got to run on - his record? I don't think so. One of the few arrows he has in his quiver is that "whitey" is trying to defeat him because he is black. Even the leftist media is going to have trouble putting that over if the republican nominee is black.

When Obama ran, here in Maryland it was much remarked on that many blacks were voting for the first time because they wanted to finally have a black president. When random black voters were interviewed, they had no idea of what Obama's stands on the issues were - they were voting for a "black president". Now, the only way to get those same voters out again (now that they have finally had their black president) is to convince them that Obama might not get re-elected "because he is black". I think Cain would take the wind out of that sail.

Where I expect Cain would really pick up votes though is from sufferers of "white guilt" - it seems like a sizable portion of republican women voted for Obama and I think a major factor was so they could "prove" they weren't racists. Cain would take that out of play, and they might actually vote on the issues.

However, the continuing homogenous quality of the black vote continues to amaze me. More and more blacks are moving up in the world, moving into professional jobs and opening their own businesses. Why that portion of the black community still votes for democrats in such overwhelming majorities is just beyond my comprehension.

49 posted on 11/25/2011 12:07:57 PM PST by In Maryland ("If stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?" - Mark Twain)
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To: TitansAFC
How on EARTH does ANY demographic of ANY kind vote so homogenously? It’s a statistical impossibility, yet it happens EVERY election! GRrrrrr....

Obviously, you are racist for noticing < /s>

Whenever you rob Peter to pay Paul, you are going to be assured of Paul's vote in the next election.

50 posted on 11/25/2011 12:08:04 PM PST by Hodar ( Who needs laws; when this FEELS so right?)
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To: TitansAFC

Slavery is genetic.


51 posted on 11/25/2011 12:13:33 PM PST by PALIN SMITH (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: TitansAFC
But remember, they gave (I forget which) either John Kerry or Al Gore 93%!! So, this is merely the black dem self-suicide machine.
52 posted on 11/25/2011 12:26:10 PM PST by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually." (Hendrix))
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To: TitansAFC

Most Blacks have been on the dimoKKKRAT plantation for so long they have lost all their intellectual thought process. They will do what ever the “straw hat” bosses on the plantation such as Sharpton and Jackson tell them what to do. Those that have escaped the plantation and are now enjoying independent thought such as Herman Cain will have to endure the wrath of the left. What a pity.


53 posted on 11/25/2011 12:32:00 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: PALIN SMITH
Slavery is genetic.

That's not what the Bible says.

54 posted on 11/25/2011 12:36:27 PM PST by rogue yam
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To: rogue yam
I agree that we will have to wait and see.

Assuming that Mr. Cain will become the Republican nominee, and I hope he will, it seems premature to count on Black racism to maintain President Obama's high percentage. He hasn't succeeded in doing much for them lately -- they have taken bad hits economically -- and that can be important.

I don't think we should support Mr. Cain because he may wean more Black voters from the Democrat plantation than a non-Black candidate. Doing so would be "racist" and congruent with what I think the Democrat party focused on in nominating Senator Obama in 2008.

The great anguish resulting from Mr. Cain's lead in the polls produced smear attacks against him and whatever candidate now or later attains the lead will have to deal with more of the same. Perhaps we should focus on who is best able to fulfill his duties as the President rather than on the other stuff.
55 posted on 11/25/2011 12:38:25 PM PST by DanMiller (Dan Miller)
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To: TitansAFC
Who is the Washington Post or any other newspaper to tell me how the Black community will vote? I say fight for this group of Americans. Black Americans. I will write to Cain and tell him lets fight for those votes.

During the Perot campaign we ran and manned a campaign office smack dab in the middle of the Black community in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. And we did well. We can do it again because conditions do not favor Obama this election cycle

Black people are sick of him and his taking the Black vote for granted. Blacks that support Cain can exploit these wedge issues Obama has introduced into Black communities across this country. I am ready to fight, And this article in the Post is just a preemptive strike to try and convince Black Americans that it is hopeless. Its not
56 posted on 11/25/2011 12:50:39 PM PST by Rooivalk
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To: altura
It’s a sad commentary on the average black voter but they are just democrat/obama to the core. Cain’s wife will probably vote for Obama. She might vote for her husband but if he doesn’t make it, I’ll bet she and 99% of Cain’s fellow church members will vote Obama. And there doesn’t seem to be a darn thing we can do about it. They just don’t get it.

That is a load of stinking you know what. The Black community is ripe for the picking if Cain manages to win the nomination. I pledge my support to get out in the streets and fight for those votes. Anything else would be unAmerican
57 posted on 11/25/2011 12:55:23 PM PST by Rooivalk
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To: TitansAFC

Herman Cain cannot take any of the black vote from Obama. but Mumia Abu Jamal probably could.


58 posted on 11/25/2011 12:59:51 PM PST by Venturer
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To: bigbob
I’ve read stories saying quite the opposite.

And so have I. Obama with his shuck and jive routine is finished in the Black community. People have spoken actively against him. We have seen many Black politicians who we thought firmly in Obama's camp speak out against him. Maxine Waters here in Los Angeles is but one example.

If Cain can secure the nomination, people in the Black community will defect and go to him in numbers that will pull Black Americans away from Obama and cause him to lose the election in 2012

The key is if he can get into position to fight for the nomination. That will be difficult considering how the GOP establishment and leftwing dem machine have teamed up to oppose Cain. But there are people willing to work for those votes. Sign me up today! I have already e-mailed the Cain campaign and told them I am ready and able to go into the streets
59 posted on 11/25/2011 1:11:04 PM PST by Rooivalk
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To: Venturer
Herman Cain cannot take any of the black vote from Obama. but Mumia Abu Jamal probably could.

Oh please go away with your tired jokes. This election is too important to allow stealth Obama supporter like you to sour the milk. Begone serpent!
60 posted on 11/25/2011 1:15:03 PM PST by Rooivalk
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