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Black Republicans Returning to Their GOP Roots
NewsMax.com ^ | 2-3-2006 | Dave Eberhart

Posted on 02/08/2006 8:01:27 PM PST by JulieRNR21

ARLINGTON, Va. --

When the 33rd Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gets underway in Washington, D.C., this week, the new National Black Republicans Association (NBRA) will be there in force, marking the first time a black Republican group co-sponsored what is perennially billed as America's premier conservative event.

NewsMax caught up with the energetic chairperson of NBRA, Frances Rice, on the evening of Feb. 6 as she was gearing up for two days of special "grass-roots" training events for her group that precede the formal CPAC kickoff.

Rice, who retired from the Army in 1984 after 20 years of active service as a judge advocate and who served as a member of President Ronald Reagan's Private Sector Initiatives Task Force, is proud of the rapid progress of her organization – noting that President Bush was publishing a special greeting to the group that was to be read Wednesday evening in conjunction with the group's Pioneer Dinner at this year's CPAC venue at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel in Washington. D.C.

Congresswoman Katherine Harris, R-Fla., will read the presidential greeting honoring the NBRA, which was formed just this past August. The NBRA has endorsed Harris in her run for the U.S. Senate, emphasizing, as Rice tells NewsMax, "her consistent support of black Republicans in Florida and black communities in her district."

Rice, who describes her organization as "committed to returning African-Americans to their Republican Party roots," tells NewsMax that the NBRA hopes, among other things, to move Republican political activism away from the use of traditional "paid political operatives" and into the hands of rank-and-file Republicans who are networked and who beat the Republican drum in America's neighborhoods – particularly black neighborhoods:

"There's nothing like having your neighbors come to talk with you," she says.

The message: "To return black Americans to their Republican Party roots by enlightening them about how Republicans fought for their freedom and civil rights, and are now fighting for their educational and economic advancement."

To this end, Rice was instrumental in getting CPAC linked up with Arlington-based The Leadership Institute (TLI), which, since 1979, has been a training ground for tomorrow's conservative leaders.

Participants at CPAC 2006 will have the opportunity to participate in five of their most popular seminars, including a Grass Roots Communications Workshop, an Effective Television Techniques Workshop, a Blogging workshop, a Public Speaking Workshop, and a Campus Action Workshop.

Some 100 NBRA volunteers from around the country will not only be attending the workshops during the formal CPAC sessions, but will be on hand for a special "Grass Roots Activist Campaign School" at TLI's Arlington campus.

"We want blacks to be effective in the political process," Rice says.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: blackrepublicans; cpac; florida; francesrice; gop; grassroots; katherineharris; nbra; washingtondc
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To: JulieRNR21
It's late but I've got to do it again:

Blackwell, Ohio; Swann, Pennsylvania; Steele, Maryland

Five of my favorite people {and they all give the demonRATS heartburn}.

21 posted on 02/08/2006 8:46:42 PM PST by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages - In Honor of Standing Wolf)
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To: JulieRNR21

Race notwithstanding, some of the people I would most like to vote for are Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell and Herman Cain. Unfortunately, none of them are in my state. And considering how uncivilized, uncooth, social reprehensible and vile the current liberal black leadership is (see this weeks funeral), there should be a huge groundswell for some new leadership that isn't consumed with hate and vengeance.


22 posted on 02/08/2006 8:51:17 PM PST by bpjam (Now accepting liberal apologies.....)
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To: USS Alaska

Absolutely beautiful photographs.

Thanks so much for posting them.

And you are exactly right.....These great Republicans give the Dems & Hillary severe acid reflux disorder!


23 posted on 02/08/2006 8:54:00 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: Flux Capacitor
My knee jerk reaction is that if an MLK type was starting out today preaching the same message they would be labeled an Uncle Tom.

This take may seem misguided, but if you read Dr. King's speeches there is a strong message of self-reliance and integration into the current dominant culture. I really thing he would be ostracized by the left.
24 posted on 02/08/2006 8:57:52 PM PST by Carling (http://www.marriedadults.com/howarddeanscreamaudio141jq.mp3)
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To: bpjam
I was listening to Michael Medved this afternoon and two Dems (one was Black) called him to say that the disrespect & politizing at Mrs. King's funeral caused them to switch their party affiliation to Republican. I pray there will be many more.
25 posted on 02/08/2006 8:58:05 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: Carling

You make a good point.

And did you know that lefty Dems have slammed his daughter Rev. Bernice King because she doesn't support same sex marriage?


26 posted on 02/08/2006 9:00:15 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: JulieRNR21

Some called Hannity and I heard at least one call Rush.


27 posted on 02/08/2006 9:03:47 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: GOP-Pat

Thanks for alerting me to this article in NBRA, Frances Rice & CPAC.........PING


28 posted on 02/08/2006 9:04:19 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: xJones

Actually, IIRC 2004 saw both Jews and Blacks vote in higher percentages for Republicans than they have in many years.


29 posted on 02/08/2006 9:05:36 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

That's good to hear! Hope it backfires on them like the Wellstone Memorial (rally).


30 posted on 02/08/2006 9:06:00 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: JulieRNR21; All

The more poverty dies within the African American community, the more there will be gains in the right...not necessarily the Gop. Their povery levels are going down, and will most likely meet white levels within a generation. They went from a 60% poverty rate (in the 60's) to a 20% poverty rate currently. Those are amazing numbers.

I hope for many more black conservatives, and I welcome them with open arms.


31 posted on 02/08/2006 9:11:06 PM PST by Rick_Michael
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To: USS Alaska

I was pessimistic at first, but I really think that there's at least a 50% chance that ALL THREE of those guys will win this fall.


32 posted on 02/08/2006 9:12:05 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: JulieRNR21

Dem's fear their monopoly on the black vote slipping away. If the GOP is able to gain governorships it could go an awful long way!


33 posted on 02/08/2006 9:14:41 PM PST by Minus_The_Bear
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To: Rick_Michael

I work with a black guy who's the staunchest conservative Republican you'll ever meet. And in his own admission, he grew up poor, was a "thug" in high school and lived in the ghetto. Now, he's married, has 4 kids, makes $105,000 a year...and he said that in 2000, after voting for Gore and then seeing the aftermath during the recount, he started seeing what jokers that entire party was, he looked deeper, and also noticed that Jesse Jacka$$ and Al Sharpton were totally opposite of what MLK's entire legacy was. Now he's a staunch Republican, more conservative than I am even, and a Blackwell supporter, and the whole 9 yards.


34 posted on 02/08/2006 9:20:36 PM PST by RockinRight (Attention RNC...we're the party of Reagan, not FDR...)
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To: Minus_The_Bear; RockinRight; Rick_Michael; Arizona Carolyn; Carling; USS Alaska; bpjam; ...

Please Read this....

Blacks Poised for Political Positions
Dick Morris
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006
Far away from the speeches of Jesse Jackson, the demands of Al Sharpton and the ranting of Louis Farrakhan, a quiet revolution is taking place in the role African-Americans play in politics.

In the very heartland of the nation — in Pennsylvania and Ohio — the Republican Party is getting set to nominate black candidates for governor in the coming elections. In a nation that has not a single African-American governor — not one — from either party, this is its own little revolution.

These are not throwaway candidates in states where the GOP has no chance of victory. These are real candidates, chosen when there were plenty of white alternatives, that are en route to their party's nomination, with real chances to win.

In Pennsylvania, former football great Lynn Swann stands poised to be designated as the Republican candidate at next week's State Convention. The former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, now enshrined in the Hall of Fame, is seeking fame of another sort, trying to be the state's first black governor.

In Ohio, a key swing state, Ken Blackwell, the Republican secretary of state, is running for the gubernatorial nomination in a state Republicans can win. In Maryland, Lieut. Gov. Michael Steele is seeking the open Senate seat.

Add these men to the possibility that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might heed Laura Bush's advice and run for president, and a revolution may be in the making.

Salena Zito, a political columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, notes that "to an extent, Democrats have been blindsided by this growth of black Republicans running for high-profile offices."

The backdrop for this sea change is sketched out in a new book by an ex-Bush White House staffer, Ron Christie, "Black in the White House: Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing." He catalogues a range of policy initiatives which, particularly in education, have led to achievements that rival the best of the Clinton years.

Partly as a result of President Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation, the achievement gap between white and black fourth-grade students in reading is at its lowest ever and the math gap is, too. (The eighth-grade tests also reflect a sharp narrowing of the gap.)

And as former Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma found out, African-Americans who reject the entitlement ethic and stand for self-reliance and individual upward mobility are very attractive to white voters.

Asked to accept liberal ideology and big tax-and-spend programs as the price of supporting black candidates, many voters say no. But given a chance to find black candidates who share the electorate's vision, most white voters jump at the chance.

Black candidates are highly threatening to white political leaders.

Sources close to Rev. Al Sharpton, for example, attribute Hillary Clinton's comparison of the House of Representatives to a "plantation" to her fear of a Rice candidacy. "She boycotted the event for two years in a row and now, when Condi might run, she shows up and uses militant rhetoric," one of Sharpton's key people told me. "She needs to get Al to vouch for her in South Carolina if she goes up against Condi," he added.

The Democratic Party has always treated the African-American vote like a golfer's handicap. A Democrat takes the black vote for granted and a Republican, until recently, takes its loss as a given. But the growth of black candidates among Republicans — a result of the declining power of racism in politics — may force both parties to change that calculation.

If the black vote becomes "in play" as the Hispanic vote has, there will be a whole new politics in this country of ours.


35 posted on 02/08/2006 9:22:54 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: JulieRNR21

This is excellent news! I wish this organization well and am proud to have them represented among Republicans and Conservatives.


36 posted on 02/08/2006 9:26:44 PM PST by TAdams8591 (The first amendment does NOT protect vulgar and obscene speech.)
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To: RockinRight
that Jesse Jacka$$ and Al Sharpton were totally opposite of what MLK's entire legacy was.

To my knowledge, MLK was a socialist...but he was a peaceful one. I can disagree with his overall philosophy, but I can actually agree with his method and the general sentiments of a society of people whom judge eachother on character rather than race. That's very admirable.

Jesse and Al, are the worst form of African American representation. I hope the average African American doesn't look up to them; they deserve so much more than that.

37 posted on 02/08/2006 9:29:45 PM PST by Rick_Michael
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To: xJones; JulieRNR21
XJONES RESPONDED TO JULIERNR21: "Yes, I remember when everyone was excited that 2004 would be the election year that a significnt percentage of the Jewish vote would go Republican. Once again, it didn't happen. Somehow, the majority of the Black and the Jewish vote remain die-hard Democrats."

One BIG difference, however, is that a large majority of blacks were once Republicans, whereas most Jews never were.

38 posted on 02/08/2006 9:36:29 PM PST by Concerned (My Motto: It's NEVER wrong to do what's RIGHT!!!)
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To: TAdams8591
Thanks for your great post.

I am privileged to call the Chairman of the NBRA, Frances Rice my friend.
She is a human dynamo who works tirelessly to educate the Black Community that their values & historic roots are with the Republican Party.

I hope you'll go to the NBRA Website to learn more.....see post #1

39 posted on 02/08/2006 9:42:20 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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To: Concerned; xJones

I recall either David Horowitz or Dennis Prager wrote an article on why most Jews vote for Dems. I'll let you know if I find it.


40 posted on 02/08/2006 9:44:47 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (Salus populi suprema lex. ~ The safety of the people is the highest law. ... Cicero)
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