Posted on 07/14/2005 5:51:05 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman told NAACP members Thursday the GOP was wrong for ignoring the black vote for decades and said he hoped the groups could restore their historic bond.
"By the '70s and into the '80s and '90s, the Democrat Party solidified its support in the African-American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out," Mehlman told more than 500 NAACP members at their annual convention.
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I come here as Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."
Mehlman and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who also spoke, each accused the other party of benefiting from racial polarization.
"The Southern strategy lives today," Dean said, referring to the Republican strategy of the 1960s and 1970s when the GOP wooed white voters in the former Confederacy as black were asserting their civil rights.
Dean said Democrats won't divide the nation to win an election.
"I'm tired of being divided," he said. "We need to stand for all of us."
Mehlman said it was the Republican Party that was founded to end slavery, and that blacks are better served when both parties are fighting for their support.
He urged NAACP members to give Republicans a chance, saying the party would help them own their own businesses and homes and save for retirement.
"We're not asking for you to embrace all of our policies," he said. "All we're asking is for a fair hearing."
Bush received just 11 percent of the black vote in last year's election.
Mehlman is the first GOP head to visit the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since the 2000 campaign.
For the fifth straight year, Bush declined an invitation to the Baltimore-based group's annual convention, attended by more than 8,000 people from across the country. The White House said it couldn't fit the event, which ended Thursday, in his schedule.
Instead, Bush appeared in Indianapolis at the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration, which promotes opportunities for blacks.
Lottie Tann, of Ellenville, N.Y., said she might take a closer look at the Republican Party if the president appoints a moderate Supreme Court justice to the vacant seat.
"One speech won't change anybody's mind," she said.
The GOP is using the wrong approach. Make a rule barring all blacks from registering as Repubicans. They'd be in court fighting for the right to be Republicans by tomorrow evening.
"I'm tired of being divided," he said. "We need to stand for all of us
Which means...let the NE elite tell everyone what to do.
"One speech won't change anybody's mind," she said.
For most of the people in that room 1000 speeches would not do it either.
Mehlman did the right amount of modest groveling, which is why the President needed to stay away this year. Dean knows the words but doesn't know the music, and I doubt he will excite many Blacks who don't already turn out reliably.
"We're not asking for you to embrace all of our policies," he said. "All we're asking is for a fair hearing."
How's this for a fair hearing? Blacks who oppose Affirmative Action, abortion & the expanding welfare state can join us.
Simple as that. No butt kissing.
Lemme see. Reagan appointed O'Connor, a moderate. Bush appointed Souter, a liberal and Lottie is still a Democrat. I think Lottie's just fibbin.
Ken Mehlman did good. He did good.
It's damn insulting! As Roosevelt would've said it.
BAH!
As much as I would like to believe these overtures are going to result in votes and support, the possibility is about nil.
I couldn't have put it better myself! That's what they should do if they want blacks to do something, tell them they can't.
He deserves to be kicked in the balls repeatedly.
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