[Antoninus]

I have thought about it, and I admit that I'm baffled by the proposal. If it is a precursor for tax cuts for all, then why doesn't Keyes cut to the chase and come right out for tax cuts for all?

It's not that baffling really. He needs Black votes if he's going to win or even be competitive. This issue is a missile aimed directly at Barak Obama--the child of an African whose ancestors were never slaves.

It's never going to come about anyway, so there's no real reason for conservatives to be worried about it. It's a political lever and if we just get out of the way and stop having hissy-fits, it might just propel Dr. Keyes into office.

[cicero's_son]

I have to tell you, Antoninus, the more I think about the idea, the more I like it.

A lot of conservatives (myself included) have a visceral negative response to any kind of talk about reparations for slavery, perhaps because the issue has been pimped for so long by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

But positioning it as a TAX CUT really turns the whole idea on its head, doesn't it? I mean, instead of conceiving of reparations as a new entitlement complete with a new federal bureaucracy, Keyes is turning it into a means of reducing the overall tax burden. Hmm.....

[cicero's_son]

I have to tell you, Antoninus, the more I think about the idea, the more I like it.

A lot of conservatives (myself included) have a visceral negative response to any kind of talk about reparations for slavery, perhaps because the issue has been pimped for so long by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

But positioning it as a TAX CUT really turns the whole idea on its head, doesn't it? I mean, instead of conceiving of reparations as a new entitlement complete with a new federal bureaucracy, Keyes is turning it into a means of reducing the overall tax burden. Hmm.....

[Non-Sequitur]

It's not that baffling really. He needs Black votes if he's going to win or even be competitive.

He is also going to need more than a few white votes. How will he get them by proposing something like this?

It's a political lever and if we just get out of the way and stop having hissy-fits, it might just propel Dr. Keyes into office.

So he doesn't really mean it? He is merely pandering to the black population in a blatant attempt to curry their votes? The fact that it directly contradicts earlier stands of his is of no importance? Where is that person who wondered why I would vote for Kohn?