[yldstrk]

Good for him, he’s got the courage of his convictions. Now if some of the others would grow a pair.........

[muawiyah]

Currently African Americans are 40% of the effective field strength in the Democrat party in the areas and states where it is the dominant party.

Asking them to abandon the Democrat party is essentially the same as asking them to give up on political life in this country.

That won't work. We need to approach them from the standpoint that they will become a large, effective component in the Republican coalition. At this point we don't have anything more to promise them than do the Democrats ~ which, let me point out again, are essentially part of the African American community and not exactly the other way around.

Rand's approach, while well meant, and probably true in all respects, is the wrong one. These guys want seats on the RNC and that crowd isn't even giving them to Conservatives ~ who are 80% of the effective field strength of the Republican party!

[DouglasKC]

I think it’s a good move. It directly bypasses the media and the libs and gets a direct, unfiltered message about conservatism to those who have suffered the most under liberalism.

[DennisR]

I do not like it when any politician panders to a group with skin color as the common denominator. Paul should simply convince them that he has the best vision for the country.

[cripplecreek]

Paul said he is eager to change the GOP's image among blacks by boosting education programs and changing the way courts and police handle crime in urban areas, especially drugs.

He's got a lot of good things to say but drug legalization and reducing sentences aren't going to do a damn thing for an already institutionalized population.

I know a black man who spent better than 20 years in prison on and off for dealing drugs and he told me that laws and prison aren't nearly as frightening to blacks as we think they are. This is a population that doesn't even fear death.

This is an issue that's important to me and I've been spending a lot of time meeting people from the inner city and trying to figure out how to help them off the plantation. What I'm finding is a lack of faith, a lack of hope and a false belief that government exists to help white people.

I'd be a lot more impressed to hear him speak on the need to rebuild the families and faith. Get rid of the social justice (envy) preachers and somehow manage to convince them that we do care because they're Americans.