The problem I have with William's thesis is that Bush HAS reached out to the Black vote, time and again! It just DOESN'T MATTER!
How else can anyone rationally explain the fact that, even after three years of Bush's attempts to appeal to Blacks in countless ways through his policies AS PRESIDENT, he STILL only garners 6 percent of their vote!
These black people are not children, fer Crissakes! They know what the hell is going on. But they STILL prefer to align themselves with the Democrat demagogues. I say, the hell with THEM!
The Republicans, when they begin to get more black votes, ought to pay close attention to this constituency...not by pandering, but by acknowledging and promoting. Such actions will create a death knell for Democrats.
Speaking as a former Democrat, that'll be a happy day.
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The black voter will be suckered again (even though the percentage is very slowly decreasing) because their leaders will lie to them about the Democrats.
Normally when the NY Times gives advice to Republicans, there is some nefarious purpose behind it. I don't see that here, although the column is basically full of platitudes and weak on specifics.
What it says, basically, is that Bush needs to get his message out to black people and tell them what he is doing. The hard part is getting the message out, when the press is 95% hostile to Bush and will never transmit it, and when black leaders are all in the pockets of the Democrats. What seems to be needed is a grass roots effort that circumvents the press and the usual suspects.
And this article is right to suggest that Bush should be appealing to black Christians, not only on the basis of vouchers and the faith-based initiative, but also on the right to life and support of the marriage and family against the sexual perverts.
bump for later
Couple this with the fractionated homes, illiteracy and illegitimacy and the welfare mentality that has been generated by the welfare state. These are the obstacles that have to be overcame. When you are getting a "free" check from the government that removes your will to work and strive for anything I find it highly unlikely that you would vote money out of your own pocket. There are a lot of black folk out there that are in love with the government. If you look at the statistics many blacks are employed by the government. So when the GOP talks about smaller government it means a death knell to blacks and jobs. Even though the GOP has not reduced the size of government the talk about it sends chills and makes the GOP look racist even though that is not the case. There is also a certain amount of intellectual dishonesty in the black community as well. Black American are social conservatives more than any group in the country but they fail to make that connection that social and fiscal conservatism are interrelated. You really can't have one without the other. Now what galls me is the issue of pandering all politician's pander. The Dem's to the ACLU the GOP to the NRA the sanctimony is not necessary because that is the nature of our political system.