The latter betrays the former. Did Mazza Kerry give you some hot cornbread when you came in from the field?
And don't even trip. This is a black man talking to you.
Believe that.
Posted on 10/23/2004 10:40:27 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
According to two polls released over the week just passed, President Bush has picked up significant ground among black voters. A New York Times poll showed black support for the president at 17 percent. A poll of larger scope done by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, an organization specializing in studying black issues, showed 18 percent black support for Bush. Although black support at this level for Bush/ Cheney is still low, it nevertheless represents a doubling of the 8 percent of the black vote that the Republican ticket received in 2000.
In a race that seems to be shaping up as a neck and neck horserace, it can make all the difference for the president to pick up an additional 9 percent of the black vote.
Although some have expressed surprise that the president is notably picking up new support among black voters, those who have been reading my columns over the last several months will be less astonished by these results. I have been writing that traditionally Democratic voters in the black church going community are becoming disillusioned with the Democratic Party and that, in particular, the gay marriage issue has become a focal point of that disillusionment.
The results of the Joint Center poll, which was an extensive survey of current black political attitudes, bear out my observations. Support for Kerry among black Christian conservatives is now 49 percent, 20 points lower than the 69 percent that Al Gore received from this group in 2000. Bush's support among this same group, now at 36 percent, is more than triple what he received in 2000.
The black community is by and large a religious community. When surveyed, blacks respond at higher rates than whites that religion plays a "very important" role in their life.
The interesting reality over recent years has been that blacks have not taken their faith with them into the voting booth as do whites. Regular church attendance has been a reliable predictor of voting behavior among whites, with church goers disproportionately voting Republican. Among blacks this has not been the case.
The gay marriage issue may very well be the tip of the iceberg of change among the black electorate. Gay marriage, and claims equating the gay movement to the civil rights movement, has been a wake-up call. Black pastors and their congregants are waking up to the fact that the liberal agenda that they have been supporting all these years does not liberate but denigrates, dehumanizes, and enslaves. They are beginning to see the liberal agenda, the welfare state agenda, as a moral problem, undermining the dignity and responsibility that makes men and women free.
This disrespect for personal dignity, the treatment of human beings as objects to manipulate that so characterizes the liberal left, is what was at work in John Kerry's comment about Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter in the last debate with Bush. Kerry's dragging Mary Cheney and her private life before tens of millions of viewers who tuned in to hear a debate between candidates for president, goes beyond being an isolated incident of poor taste. When examined carefully, the remark and Kerry's behavior tells us about this man and gives a sense why black Christians are so uncomfortable with him.
Although liberals are allegedly the sensitive ones, those who really care about people, once Kerry sensed that he could pick up political points by using Mary Cheney to advance his personal political interests, he didn't hesitate for a second. It reminds me of Bill Clinton's observation that he took advantage of Monica Lewinsky because he could. John Kerry took advantage of Mary Cheney because he could. The only thing that stood between his violation of this young woman's dignity and privacy was his own integrity, judgment, and respect for others. The "I feel your pain" liberals of the Kerry/ Clinton ilk are con-men of the worse sort, for whom others are simply means to their own ends.
These slick operators translate their basic attitude toward others into political behavior by grabbing power by selling a bill of goods to those who are down and out that government can solve all their problems. Rather than telling the truth, that even in the worst economic environment, it is only through personal responsibility that people can pull themselves up, these con men view others' misfortune as an opportunity for their own political gain.
The substance of Kerry's remarks was as revealing as his behavior. Kerry knows zero about Mary Cheney's personal struggles. However, he used her to claim that there is no choice in homosexual behavior. So, in one swoop Kerry threw thousands of years of religious tradition and teaching into the garbage. We're all victims now. And, of course, from a black perspective, John Kerry will argue that an individual's sexual behavior is as pre-determined as his or her race. So, indeed sexual behavior should fall into the realm of civil rights.
Blacks are picking up on all this. This is what these new polling results are telling us. View this as a trend.
Star Parker is president of CURE, Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (www.urbancure.org) and author of the recently published book, "Uncle Sam's Plantation."
© 2004 Scripps Howard News Service.
All Rights Reserved.
Ummm, let me think. MLK's birthday became a federal holiday under what President??? Ronald Reagan, Republican.
Add this to the list. Why support a party that has no regard for the education of black inner city youth? Schools in LA and DC are crumbling. Republicans wanted to get a voucher system passed; it was the Democratic party who fought to the bone to not let it be successful.
Let me give my opinion on this from what I see in my environment. I am black. I live in a city with a lot of black people, Philadelphia. I live in a poor black neighborhood. The mayor is black, much of city council is black. The city is overwhelmingly Democrat.
Last week someone put up a Kerry/Edwards sign around the corner but it started so many arguments they took it down.
Samesex marriage has had a lot to do with the shift, but there are a few other major factors. School vouchers is a BIG issue. One of the most popular black radio stations in Philadelphia is WDAS (adult urban contemporary music), and their hosts all seem pretty liberal. But I've heard several commercials pushing school choice and school vouchers on this station, featuring Democrats like city councilman Dwight Evans.
The pathetic state of the public schools hurts the black community more than any other. For many of them, education is THE number one issue. Republicans are the only ones offering hope. School choice plays VERY well in black communities.
Another factor would be the FACT that more and more blacks are achieving success. This started under Ronald Reagan. Under Reagan, the black middle class exploded and it hasn't looked back since. Once people get a little bit of money and start actually PAYING taxes, they start to care about things like income tax and property tax and the economy.
That is wonderful news!
Bush did the exact opposite of what the race hucksters and Dems said he would do during the last election. He did not go out burning crosses, he did not reinstitute slavery, he did not ride around shooting black people. On the contrary, he treated everyone the same regardless of skin color. Apparently some black folks realized they were lied to during the last election and are looking at Bush differently now.
The latter betrays the former. Did Mazza Kerry give you some hot cornbread when you came in from the field?
And don't even trip. This is a black man talking to you.
Believe that.
You give good reasons why Blacks (particularly inner city residents) would lean toward the Republicans. But in most elections, 90-92% of them vote Dem. Why is that?
I don't think anyone would say what way a particular African American would vote... but it has always been some 90-95% of that demographic vote for the Democrat whoever it is regardless of the current situation.
Socialism relies on an uneducated (or re-educated) public that beleives that they require the state to supply their needs. Personal acheivement, wealth building, personal responsibility, as well as advanced education go against the socialist ideal. Socialism always turns into an ogliarchy or totalitarianist regime as a result of the abdication of responsibilities to government, with the people lulled into beleif that they are the member of some People's Republic.
I welcome any African-Americans to the conservative and traditional value side. It's about time the accomplishments of men like Tony Evans, T. D. Jakes, etc are recognized. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't black families have a more intact family structure in 1900 than comparable whites? Many African-Americans need to get off the liberal handout plantation and start instilling their traditional religious values back into this moral vacuum.
Yes. I read a lot and recently finished a book by Sena Jeter Naslund called "Four Spirits" which is largely about the civil rights movement. NOT ONE page of this book - it has about 500 pages, mentions the Democratic party and the way they turned their back on Civil Rights in the 60s.
If we do that, I am of the opinion that it has more to do with what people of various minority groups think of conservatives in general than what they think about liberals in general. Conservatives of my youth, didn't walk the walk, they just talked the talk.
Anyway, its probably a moot questions as over half of the best conservative writers today are not middle aged white europeon males anyway. We aren't all that motivated for freeedom...more for football and 401ks.
As I understand, Jefferson helped form the Democratic-Republican Party, from which the Democratic Party later emerged. The Democratic party presented it's first Presidential candidate in 1828. That candidate was Andrew Jackson. Here's my source. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/democratic/features/history/
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1862. To me, a 34 year old party is relatively new.
By the way, why on earth are you calling me "Marse"?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
