Even tho Tom may be right, does he really need to fight this one?
Welcome to FR.
I really dont understand why Coburn would say such a thing. I hope you dont think all republican are like him. Or that you are a troll.
I'm wondering how many folks, especially in states that had large Indian populations at one time (or were moved there) claim to be Indians, while having a tenuous connection at best. I guess I could be considered Indian as my paternal Great Grandmother had some Indian blood, and my Daddy's profile looked for all the world like the one of the Indian on the back of the Buffalo nickel! I don't consider myself Indian, except when describing the mixture from both my parents. Some folks want to be considered part of a group, for whatever reason, and don't like that being questioned by anyone.
I think that Coburn is just saying that the tribes need to have some standards, that they try to draw anyone with a single drop of Indian blood to the tribal reservation for financial purposes, that they've turned tribal sovereignty into a welfare program. (Maybe that is one of the reasons they're poorer than most.)
I'm part American Indian myself (1/124.) but I certainly don't think of myself in those terms. I suppose I could if I chose to.
We should do something to increase the rights, responsibilities, and authority of the Indians, as well as their standard of living. I don't know what it is, but handing out money on the basis of tribal membership isn't working. It turns tribal sovereignty into the school lunch program: "Please sign up! Pleeeeeeease!"
We are neck-and-neck and the Repub goes and sticks his foot in his mouth. His silliness that the average Cherokee is only 1/512 is garbage. I'm 1/32 and I consider myself "British-American" of which I'm about 1/2. But then the focus should be on the bill, not the ignorance of the politicians.
Carson is a fractional; he is also an extreme liberal who would be a disaster as a Senator.
(My great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee)
Now Carson allies are playing the race card against Dr Coburn. Soon we will hear how many senior citizens, Dr Coburn put death. RAT rhetoric is getting tiresome.
I'm from Oklahoma and am well aware of some of the issues here.
Do we think we might be a tad sensitive here? Are we trying to play the Political Correctness Card?
This is part of the Negative Campaigning begun last week by Democrat Brad Carson who is slightly behind in the polls and is totally worthless.
Actually, he does. You see, tribes have benefits to those they issue CDIB cards (certificate of degree of Indian Blood). If you have a CDIB card, you get free medical care at the IHS clinics etc.
Now, because the Cherokee are intermarried, those with one 16th cherokee blood will have a card, whereas most tribes make the cut off of services as 1 eighth, so that those who are truely living as an Indian will get the poorly funded government services.
Some in Oklahoma think that the Cherokees did this to "inflate" their numbers, to outnumber, for example, the truely larger Navajo tribe in getting government contracts.
Personally, since I am white, I don't care. But if you are an Arapaho or a Cheyenne with 3/4 indian blood, living on the verge of poverty, you might get upset that a one 16th yuppie from Broken Arrow gets free medical care and uses contract health funds...
http://www.cherokee.org/Phoenix/2004/PhoenixPage.asp?ID=661
http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/genealogy/gen_cdibtm.html
Indian humor. If you don't think this is funny, you probably are a twinkie
http://members.tripod.com/TopCat4/twinkie.htm
Glad to hear about this, that makes me a Cherokee. Maybe I can get some kind of affirmative action?
I've had business with the Carsons in that neck of the woods and never knew they were even fractional Native Americans. I look much more Native, and I'm 100% Norsky. There's more partial Cherokees in this country than any other nationality if one believes everyone who claims it.
Is Coburn imploding for a reason??
Ping!
You signed up today to post this crap -- I should have checked. Don't you all get tired of carrying Parmalee and the RAT's water in this State?
Ugh.
Coburn's campaign is becoming unfocused. He's off message, and starting to look like a loose cannon. And I was so optimistic that Coburn would be a conservative stalwart in the Senate.
Ugh. :(
Q: What do you call a bus full of Cherokees?
A: A full blood.
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing more racist than an Indian. If a definiative book outlining political dirty tricks was ever written, it'd be done by an Indian. But there are some things that someone who's running for the senate should keep their butts out of, and tribal membership is one of them.
It's hard enough to be a Republican in Indian country, and cracks like this one make it that much harder. I hope Chad Smith still keeps speaking well of Bush, and that Mankiller goes back to campaigning for ineffective third parties.