Orson Scott Card: Who Should Really Be Bush’s Running Mate This Year? [3 best African-Americans]

RhinoTimes, Greensboro / Ornery.org ^ | 3/25/2004 | Orson Scott Card

[Tolik]

Orson Scott Card argues for filling the 2004 VP slot with Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice or J.C. Watts

[please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Orson Scott Card political articles]

If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-orsonscottcard/browse

His own political website: http://www.ornery.org/index.html  is heavily populated by American- and other Leftists who are delightfully annoyed by Mr. Card's conservatism. He does not post on that site and its moderated by somebody else. He is a registered Democrat upset with hijacking of his party by the Left.

His literary, non-political website: http://www.hatrack.com

His fresh articles appear in the Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro, NC: http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/  (before being posted permanently on his ornery website). He has 2 columns in the RhinoTimes: one on political/international events, and the second one: reviews on movies, books, and anything he wants (!). I check his and  Michael Medved's  reviews and found myself reliably relying on them.

[Tolik]

Ping

[Huck]

This writer doesn't get it. When you become a Republican, as far as demoncrats are concerned (and their ever loyal plantation of voters), you forfeit your blackness. Liberals and blacks will attack a black GOPer viciously. A conservative black GOPer gets even more savagely attacked (see Clarence Thomas.) It's pointless to try to reason with insane people.

[wingnutx]

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[mhking]

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[K1avg]

Not to demean Powell or Rice, but there are several more qualified, better looking, less controversial candidates than them.

It's all moot, though, since Cheney is already solidly the VP nominee, this is definitely a major stretch.

[Mr. Bird]

Unless there's a stealth search and selection process going on right now, it's way too late to change the VP candidate. Early in the admin, I certainly thought a Bush/Rice ticket was a plausible and desirable '04 lineup. But at this point, throwing that variable into the campaign could cause more harm than good.

There is an underlying point here, though: the first black major-party nominee for Pres or VP will be from the GOP. And that person will be destroyed, mercilessly, by the Left.

[Stentor]

The dog that isn't barking is this: Why doesn't the peoples party have a minority for VP? I demand it. Let's see it. Harold Ford for VP. The Dems are gutless if they don't do it. What do they fear? Do they not trust their own base to be free of racism? Gutless, gutless, gutless.

[Tolik]

Actually, he talks about what you said:

Of course, there are the normal assortment of black leaders who resentfully accuse him of being a racial turncoat, but this epithet (“Uncle Tom,” as I recall) will be applied by the Left to any black running for national office as a Republican. However, this is the kind of personal attack that always backfires. Nobody, not even a black, has either a right or a reason to attack another black for not being black enough, just because he has unconventional political opinions.

I'm not sure I can support his optimism on this issue, but it would be interesting to see.

[Tolik]

He will be 35 only in May of 2005 ( I heard)

[Qwinn]

Historically true... and liberals most certainly will do exactly as you suggest. But Card is saying that blacks may not go along the way they used to, beyond the hard-leftists in the NAACP who don't give a damn about black people beyond their Democrat votes.

Liberals always conned blacks into believing that Republicans would never put blacks into anything other than token positions (which is hilarious and galling, because Republicans actually have a far better record in that respect - first black Senator? Republican. First black congressman? Republican. Etc. etc.) Virtually ALL of Clinton's black appointees were in utterly token positions in which he probably never had to deal with them at all.

But who the hell is going to buy that Republicans are putting forth a black presidential or vice presidential candidate as a TOKEN? IMO, such an event could actually be the trigger event for a sea change where a large bulk of the black population switched party loyalties again (the way they went from Republican to Democrat during Hoover-FDR)

Qwinn

[Tolik]

Done.

OSC BUMP

[Huck]

Liberals always conned blacks into believing that Republicans would never put blacks into anything other than token positions (which is hilarious and galling, because Republicans actually have a far better record in that respect - first black Senator? Republican. First black congressman? Republican. Etc. etc.)

They weren't REAL blacks. They were sellouts, like Condi and Colin, or window dressing, or both.

But who the hell is going to buy that Republicans are putting forth a black presidential or vice presidential candidate as a TOKEN?

The same morons who have been buying liberal tripe for the last 80 years or so.

[xzins]

Dick Cheney is soooooo GOOD in front of a camera and so quick thinking on his feet that it is hard to imagine a better VP candidate than him. He has this low-key personableness that makes him come across as warm and highly competent all at the same time.

The thought that one of the black candidates making that much of a difference is a good thought, but I think it is speculation. Better stay with the one that brought you to the dance.

J.C. Watts would probably be my first choice if this were done. He's exceptional.

[Qwinn]

I dunno. I just don't agree. I don't think blacks could simply ignore the fact that the vast bulk of Republicans supported a black candidate for President, no matter how much the liberal propaganda machine tried to deride it.

Liberals believe blacks are stupid. That doesn't mean it's true. Claiming that Republicans are racist while they're trying to put a black in the highest position in the country wouldn't pass the laugh test, much less the smell test.

Me, I think it's still a worthwhile discussion, because it doesn't matter whether or not Cheney is VP this time around - he's NOT going to run for President in 2008. The field will be open, and all these candidates can still run. Me, I'd prefer Rice or Watts.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

By the way...

"They weren't REAL blacks. They were sellouts, like Condi and Colin, or window dressing, or both."

Was there supposed to be a sarcasm tag on this - just relating the liberal line? Just making sure.

Qwinn

[BlackRazor]

She has the difficulty of never having run for public office, but she’s also a smashingly articulate

I would disagree with the "smashingly articulate" descriptor. Yeah, she's smart as hell. But I've always found her public speaking skills somewhat lacking, and her style less than convincing. That's one reason I think she'd be better-served running for some other political office on her own before being considered for something higher.

[Huck]

I was stating the liberal line, yes.

[Huck]

I don't think blacks could simply ignore the fact that the vast bulk of Republicans supported a black candidate for President, no matter how much the liberal propaganda machine tried to deride it.

It'd be interesting to see. Clearly, the left has no shame attacking black nominees or elected officials who are insufficiently socialist (quite a feat these days, with even most so-called conservatives accepting socialism as a fait accompli.) I have zero optimism on this score. Until blacks vote something less than 90% for the left, I'll conmtinue to yawn at the idea of them getting a clue, or of the GOP selling our party to them any time soon. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, but I won't hold my breath.

Liberals believe blacks are stupid. That doesn't mean it's true. Claiming that Republicans are racist while they're trying to put a black in the highest position in the country wouldn't pass the laugh test, much less the smell test.

It seems to have worked well so far. They did it in 2000 and so far as I know, the Dems still got 90% of the vote. Didn't they show lynching commercials? Seems to have worked.

Me, I think it's still a worthwhile discussion, because it doesn't matter whether or not Cheney is VP this time around - he's NOT going to run for President in 2008. The field will be open, and all these candidates can still run. Me, I'd prefer Rice or Watts.

Sure, it's a worthy topic of discussion. I agree with that. I don't think Watts or Rice are presidential material, but that's just me.