[presidio9]

ping

[mhking]

Bump for pinging the B/C list later...

[VaBthang4]

Keyes needs to stop frigging running his mouth to hte media and instead help to build stronger relationships between legitimate Black leaders and the Republican party [he may well be doing that].

I just am growing tired of folks I only hear about when they are complaining.

[xrp]

President of the United States Alan Keyes has a nice ring to it.

[RAT Patrol]

Go Alan!!!!!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

"The center of gravity in the Republican Party right now is made up of white Southerners,” who are historically against civil rights, Bositis said. “By and large, [black voters] don’t trust the Republican Party and they don’t think the Republican Party is concerned with their interests."

We all know this is poppycock but the Stupid Party will never have the guts to refute it.

Therefore, Pubbie support among blacks will remain insignificant.

GOP should stop pandering to blacks.

[kesg]

After years of butting heads with the Republican Party, conservative Alan Keyes (search) said the GOP has no clue how to engage black voters, a key constituency that can be won over on the issues, but not with empty campaign promises or race-baiting.

What is his evidence to support this claim? I don't think the problem here is with the Republican party, which is the majority party overall (i.e. they must be doing something right) and which is making significant inroads among other major ethnic and racial groups such as Hispanics. The problem is those large numbers of blacks who still live in the 1960s (or, in some cases, the 1860s or earlier) who still vote Rat in near monolithic numbers.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Although, I agree with Keyes' Idealogy to a larger degree, I think he would be well advised to the the old addage "Less is More".
Many people of all political bents, including myself, thinks that more often than not, he's nothing short of a rambling windbag.

[ArGee]

Bositis said any policies that include cutting taxes for the wealthy and leaving out breaks for the working poor are anti-black.

I can't remember when I've ever heard a more racist statement.

How do Dim's get away with junk like this?

Shalom.

[BlessedAmerican]

His basic point is right on. Here in MS we had a great young black man run against an entrenched D-representative, Bennie Thompson and made a very respectible showing with very little money and NO support from the Republicans here. After the race and the good showing our Rep. leaders actually came out and said they would stand beind him next time. Hope they are true to their word.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Keyes, the only black Republican ever to run a viable bid for president, has been trying to energize the black vote since he left the field of presidential hopefuls during the 2000 primary season....

I think Dr. Keyes has been doing this rather quietly, but I wish him all the success in the world. He's a dynamite speaker, a fine conservative, and I hope and pray his effort succeeds.

[DeweyCA]

“But [African-Americans] still aren’t going to vote for somebody they don’t trust, even if they like their ideas on the policies,” he said.

As long as Blacks continue to listen to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and the other Black race-baiters (and they will listen because that is all the newsmedia will show to them), they will continue to vote Dem, even if it is against the policies that they want. And I am not being racist. The same thing applies to Whites, Asians, and the other people who only get their news from ABCBSNBCNN.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[billhilly]

“But [African-Americans] still aren’t going to vote for somebody they don’t trust, even if they like their ideas on the policies,” he said."

I don't know why. They have blindly trusted the democrats for half a century and where has that gotten them? Taken for granted, that's what.

[farmfriend]

"The center of gravity in the Republican Party right now is made up of white Southerners,” who are historically against civil rights, Bositis said.

You mean like Sen. Byrd? Oh, sorry. Wrong party.

[mafree]

“The Republicans tend to come in only when a candidate looks successful, and that’s not good enough. They have to build networks, and gain the trust of the community.”

This, IMO, is the most important point to understand in this insightful article. As long as the GOP backs only winners it will never make major inroads in Black communities. They need to support any decent Black candidate willing to run under the Pubbie banner and if no one comes forward, find and groom candidates. GOP officials of any race need to be visible in the Black community, especially at civic and faith-based events.

I've mentioned the case of a Black lady I know who was working within the GOP and for the Tommy Thompson administration who decided to run for state rep in an inner city district several years ago. She was a decent, pretty intelligent candidate- a good person to back IMO.

Her opponent, a Dummycrat who had served a few terms already, was a relative of an established Black political family. Admittedly, he was going to be hard to beat and he did win.

What was sad, though, was that the GOP did not support this woman at all. She sure hasn't tried to run for anything again and the GOP hasn't fielded any more Black candidates for partisan seats in central city districts.

Sure, the GOP has limited resources and therfore cannot be everywhere but they would have scored points in the ghetto if they had at least helped this lady have a fighting chance and kept doing so. What most right-leaning Blacks who may begin to aspire to elected office say when they see things like this is: "If I don't see you supporting me I'm not going to stick my neck out too far for you."

It's a long, hard, battle to make inroads into the Black community without pandering to liberalism but until Republicans decide it's a battle worth fighting they've already lost.

[jagrmeister]

Alan Keyes is right on. We need to commit to building these networks that bring young blacks into the fold. The older blacks, unfortunately, are committed to the Democrats and it's an act of futility to try to bring them to the GOP. Young blacks are more likely to be independent; they are less susceptible to the false cry that the GOP is racist. A majority believe in school choice- themselves being witnesses of decrepit, violent public schools and not wishing that fate on the next generation of inner city children. Hopefully, someone in the GOP echelon will fund Keyes' idea and get him on his way to recruiting as many black votes as we can: voter registration, online communities, etc. It has to be an ongoing effort and we have to be willing to invest the time and money for steady results over time.

[VOA]

bump