Posted on 09/01/2006 6:20:11 AM PDT by no dems
The trend of incumbent Democratic lawmakers facing primary challenges from the left is not sparing black lawmakers, despite them being among the party's more liberal representatives.
Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md), is facing a strong primary challenge from Prince George's County lawyer Donna Edwards, who says he is too conservative to represent his black constituency. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Democrat, faced similar charges from his primary opponent Philip Jackson.
Mr. Rush is a former Black Panther and recognized as one of the most liberal members of Congress yet he and Mr. Wynn were both attacked by their opponents for supporting the energy bill.
Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, such as the group's chairman Rep. Melvin Watt of North Carolina, will face black Republicans in November, but the most serious challengers have been fellow party members using this new strategy of tagging their opponents as "conservative sympathizers."
"The policy frame of reference has changed," said Ronald Walters, professor of political science at the University of Maryland. The party "has shifted to the left."
Support for anything perceived to be Republican-led is being used this year by some to target Democrats as enemies of the party.
Democratic consultant Donna Brazile said black politicians cannot afford to allow themselves to be stereotyped or forced into one mold.
"Some liberals are asking black members to vote 100 percent of the time with the party with no flexibility," she said, despite their constituency or offices they are seeking.
Mr. Wynn said he was surprised that his voting with the party 88 percent of the time could be considered not good enough.
"We shouldn't have to just be about social programs, but we should also be able to talk about employment, job creation, business development and economic empowerment," Mr. Wynn said.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
Mr. Wynn said: "We shouldn't have to just be about social programs...." Oh yeah you should! How else will you mollify Jesse Jackson as he wants to "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" by keeping four-generation families on Welfare?
Hey guys, if you lose, follow Joe Lieberman's lead.
I guess being anything other than a screaming moonbat is the new "uppity."
Actually, given their recent behavior, I would submit that the Democratic Party is the party of child molesters, Nazi skin-heads, and Islamic Terrorists, among others.
Read the Shadow Party. These people are not liberals. They are radical subversives.
Well, Leibermann voted around 99% with his party and look what that got him!
...believe it or not, alot of Black people have very conservative beliefs....unfortunately, it doesn't make sense that alot remain loyal to the Dems , who have been hijacked by radical leftists....
Can you give a proper source for the 99% ?
Leibermann = Lieberman
The most powerful spokesperson for the conservative cause that I ever saw was this young black man debating a bearded white liberal in Union Square in San Franncisco in August,1968.He absolutely demolished the white liberal and watching him tear him up was like observing a skilled boxer methodically breaking down his opponent.
This was at the height of the Black Power movement and I had NEVER met a black conservative till then.I still don't know this young man's name or what his occupation was but the whole experience was riveting and challenged many of my assumptions about"black thougtht"
I am in my 30's for a little while longer and did not have the privelege of seeing this. Was it aired on televison or were you actually there?
I was THERE,absolutely mesmerized.
I need to set the scene for you,brwn.Its the Summer of 1968 and I am 21 years old living in the Bay Area.The Black Panthers are the heroes of the New Left and the black intelligentsia.The cities burned after the King assasination.Fear in the air,tension everywhere.It felt like the whole country was falling apart and black revolutionaries were seen as"the vanguard".Older black groups,including the NAACP and Urban League,were considered irrelevant Uncle Toms and scorned by those"in the know".
To see a young black conservative eviscarate the white radical was a big turning point for me.The prevailing orthodoxy of thought back then among us white kids was that all blacks were out to"get whitey".Some were scared to death at this prospect.Others rejoiced out of some sick masochism.
I was always very curious about Black America.I think I spent my first 18 years being the victim of white racial mythology and then was seduced for a while by the New Left because I was so ashamed of my past absorption of white supremacy.When I saw how destructive it all was,I began to take a more balanced view,rejecting the racism of the white world as well as the nihilism of the black enrages.
I think I am in a much better place now.If you are a good person and doing the right thing,you are my sister and brother,no matter,no matter what color.
If I may borrow that Timmy Thomas line!
Then why are you a Dem?
That is so cool. What I would give to have been there.
I have a million stories to tell,the good,the bad and the ugly.
My main"road dog"now here in Oakland grew up in the heart of the hood.Knew Huey Newton personally back when the Black Panther founder he was a street gangsta spouting Hegel and getting into knife fights at parties.
My friend now is a huge Ayn Rand fan although he is HARD on white racists and fools of any color.A true intellectual not boxed into PC of any idealogical stripe.
A rare person and one of the only friends I have ever had complete and unabiding trust in.
I wish I had a time machine and could go back and just observe different historical events and times. I would be a freedom rider, an Egyptian queen, a dancer on the chorus line at the Cotton Club during the Harlem renaissance, I'd watch Jesus preach and I would watch the black conservative put a verbal beat down on the white liberal that day.
What wonderful dreams you have!
Speaking of Egyptian queens,have you ever seen a picture of Queen Tiy?Most definitely a black woman if I ever saw one!Then there are the queens or "Candaces" of ancient Kush.I am not a big believer of the"Afrocentric"movement but one has to be pretty naive to think that Egyptians from Upper Egypt didn't mix with the "Negroids" of the Lower Nile Valley region.
One of my old supervisors at the Post Office was an Egyptian named Muhammed.He looked dead on Mike Tyson.It was EERIE.
Yet don't call him"black".He was always"correcting"black employees on what he thought was an insulting label.
Oh,speaking of the early civil rights movement and the Freedom Riders,check out a book called All Is Well by Julius Lester.It is a beautiful tale of his journey from Fisk through SNCC and his evolution from Black Power idealogue to his current embrace of Judaism.
Thank you, I will look for this book.
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