Posted on 03/18/2006 5:47:11 AM PST by BillyDee53
Black Republican Candidates for the United States Senate
By Paul M. Weyrich Mar 17, 2006
Republican National Chairman Kenneth B. Mehlman has gone out of his way to tell the Black community that it should not be taken for granted by Democrats but should give Republicans a second look. He cites various Republican initiatives, such as school choice, the No Child Left Behind measure and President George W. Bush’s ownership society, as reasons for Black reconsideration.
I am convinced that Mehlman is sincere in not only wanting to see Blacks vote for Republicans but to see Black Republican candidates elected as well.
The game on the ground is very different, however. In two races the White Republican establishment is doing everything in its power to frustrate the Black candidate. In a third race the Party establishment has cleared the way for the Black candidate. In a fourth race only a Governor’s strong support has caused the Black candidate to be in a reasonable position.
In Michigan the Reverend Keith A. Butler had worked tirelessly and had the Republican Senate nomination all but locked up. The other candidates had dropped out. Butler now could concentrate on Senator Deborah A. Stabenow (D-MI), the incumbent.
Then came word that Senator Elizabeth H. Dole (R-NC), the Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, did not think Butler could win. So not only did she twist the arm of a sheriff of a populous country to jump back into the race which he earlier had abandoned but her minions were systematically contacting Michigan state legislators who had endorsed Butler to drop him in favor of his primary opposition.
Butler is a remarkable candidate. Not only was he the first Republican since the Roaring 20s to be elected as a conservative Republican to the Detroit City Council but he won an at-large seat, meaning he had carried a citywide vote. He left at the end of his four-year term because the minds of the others on the Council, usually the favorites of the very far-left Mayors Detroit has had, were absolutely closed to new ideas. They didn’t even want to hear about different approaches to solving the City’s monumental problems. In their view money would solve everything and there never was enough of it. Butler is an innovator and in his mission he has fed and clothed tens of thousands of the poorest residents of Michigan without government assistance. Many of these he has helped find good jobs and lead stable lives.
What has Washington forced Keith Butler to do? He must raise several million dollars to run a late primary. The victor coming out of that primary necessarily will be weakened and will have a tough job raising the many millions required to defeat an incumbent Democratic Senator, especially one who seemingly has strengthened her position in recent weeks.
If Washington had just left well enough alone, I believe that Butler would have pulled off the surprise election of 2006. Now it doesn’t look as good and that is the fault of the White Republican establishment, which welcomes candidates like Butler with one hand and stabs them in the back with the other.
Not far away in Ohio is another industrialized State which has lost numerous jobs in the past few years. Ohio won re-election for President Bush. If only another 60,000 Ohioans had voted for Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) we would be saying President Kerry today. What caused the Bush victory was the presence of the Marriage Amendment on the ballot. So many more voters turned out to vote for the Marriage Amendment that there was a spill-off for the President. His Black vote went way up, especially in Northern Ohio, the consequence of Bush’s having supported the Marriage Amendment while Kerry opposed it.
In Ohio both Senators Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich opposed the Marriage Amendment. Scandal-ridden Governor Robert A. Taft, II also opposed it, as did down-ticket officeholders, such as the Attorney General and the State Treasurer. Only one statewide elected official supported the Marriage Amendment and that was Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. He helped to get it on the ballot and campaigned for it as if his own election were at stake. Not only that, liberals were furious that Bush, in their view, had stolen the election from them and they threw the book at Blackwell. Nearly 150 allegations of voter fraud were made, claiming that Blackwell, himself a Black, suppressed the Black vote. He handled all of these charges brilliantly and all were dismissed.
Governor Taft and the entire Ohio Republican Party is in a state of collapse. The only statewide candidate who has been head and shoulders above the scandals and who also supported the Marriage Amendment is Blackwell. (The Marriage Amendment received 500,000 more votes than the Bush margin of victory.) In Blackwell’s last run for Secretary of State he attracted almost fifty percent of the Black vote in Ohio.
With all that background, it would be reasonable to conclude that the Ohio Republican Party would be thanking Blackwell. Not so. The Party leadership has recruited a formidable candidate to run against him, who is being cheered on by Washington. Blackwell is ahead but not so far ahead to assure his nomination. The Democrats believe they can win Ohio for the first time in decades so they have a strong, virtually unopposed, candidate.
In Ohio Republicans play dirty. While Blackwell is ahead now, no doubt he will be roughed up by a party whose key players would rather control the wreckage than to win with a candidate they can’t control. There is a good chance that if Blackwell won the primary and were a strong candidate in the general election, those he had defeated would not support him so he could be done in by so-called moderate Republicans.
In Pennsylvania the GOP has set out the welcome mat for former football great Lynn C. Swann. The presumed GOP nominee before Swann got into the race was former Lieutenant Governor William W. Scranton, Jr. Following a poll which showed that Governor Edward G. Rendell could be defeated and that Swann was in a little better position to do so Scranton and lesser known candidates dropped out, giving Swann an open field. It does appear that the entire Party will be behind him.
Swann has a disadvantage. Unlike both Butler and Blackwell, Swann has not been deeply involved in all aspects of Pennsylvania problems. Thus, he must catch up. Many of his answers to media questions have been vague and in many ways unresponsive. In addition, Rendell was Mayor of Philadelphia, where he remains popular. President Bush, in his first term, visited Pennsylvania more often than any other state. Yet he lost Pennsylvania by a larger margin than when he first ran. Rendell influences many votes and it would take a strong showing in Central and Western Pennsylvania to overcome what the Governor can produce.
To some veteran reporters this campaign looks the reverse of California in 1964 when Senator Pierre E.G. Salinger, considered a shoo-in, ran against the actor George L. Murphy. Murphy had so informed himself about California water, development and transportation problems that when he debated Salinger on statewide television he blew Salinger away. Observers think Rendell, who no doubt is an expert on Pennsylvania’s problems, might blow Swann away when they debate closer to the election. It will be no easy victory for Swann if he does win but at least he doesn’t have to fight against the White Republican establishment in the process.
Finally Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele is the GOP candidate for the Senate. The Republican establishment in parts of the State is not happy about this turn of events. But Governor Robert L. Ehrlich let it be known that if Steele decided to go for the Senate rather than running for a second term with Ehrlich the Governor would move heaven and earth to give Steele a chance. We still hear grumbling about Steele as a candidate and stories are leaked about his supposed incompetent campaign, clearly from Republican sources.
Steele is thought to have one shot at the Senate from this deep Blue State, if former Congressman Kweisi Mfume were the Democratic nominee. That would pit one Black candidate against another and would allow Steele to split the Black vote. If, as expected, Steele must run against Representative Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) it would be all uphill for Steele.
On the surface the GOP is united on behalf of Steele but beneath all of the sweet talk there is grumbling and divisiveness, which also could negatively impact Ehrlich’s re-election chances. So while the rhetoric is strong for Black involvement with Republicans the appeal by and large is not made in the Black churches, where there are cultural conservatives who do not believe that Democrats are helping the family. Rather the pitch is made to the NAACP, the Urban League and other old-line Black organizations which are so tied to Democrats that the GOP pitch draws ridicule.
It will be most interesting to see which, if any, of these four rather conservative Blacks is elected this year. It may be that the tide against Republicans will be so great that none is saved. If current polls are correct the Democrats would capture the Senate and control the House by 50 votes or so. Moreover, most Republican candidates for Governor, including Maryland’s Ehrlich, would be defeated.
Should Republicans turn the situation around to create a more level playing field these candidates could be judged on their own. It remains to be seen if Republicans at the grassroots level are ready for Black Republicans to be elected. I’m not sure they are.
Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
What's the possibility that "Senator Elizabeth H. Dole (RINO-NC )" actually was afraid that he COULD win?
Can't allow a real conservative into the market, he'll take all the custom!
It's not blacks they're sabotaging, it's conservatives.
Steele is thought to have one shot at the Senate from this deep Blue State...
I would not say we are deep blue, but more purpleish. Let's not exagerate facts. We did have a Republican Governor before President took him to run Homeland Security and we have two Senators thus far. Hardly what I would call deep blue. Just my opinion on the facts as I see it.
"Can't allow a real conservative into the market, he'll take all the custom!"
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I think your right. It's easier to marginalize the real conservatives that are white. It's much tougher to marginalize a minority that is conservative.
I think this is more of an issue about the political elites in DC not wanting any fresh blood that might actually rock the boat.
Blacks vote over 90% for the Dems regardless of what color the candidate is. The real question in the races cited by Weyrich is why the Dems are not running black candidates in all these races. They are the ones snubbing their most loyal constituency. In this articel Weyrich is corroborating the Dems bogus charge that the GOP is racist. Nothing is further from the truth.
Indictment #2 is that she is "married" to Robert Dole (Tax Collector for the Welfare State as he was known in his own career) who had been married for many years to the nurse who cared for him for years until the homewrecking aging dollar debutante decided that she needed a Senator as a lifestyle accessory and bought TaxBoob Dole, the male bimbo whose 1986 tax-monster legislation TEFRA reversed a lot of the good done by Ronaldus Maximus's earlier tax cuts and whose craven behavior groveling in favor of DemoTax hikes later cost Bush the Elder (assisted by his own stupidity and gullibility in signing the tax hikes of 1991?) his presidency and cost us eight years of Mr. and Mrs. Arkansas Antichrist in the White House. It was worth running TaxBoob in a failed presidential race just to get the tax-obsessed public nuisance OUT of the US Senate. Also, remember that Taxboob WILLINGLY played second fiddle in 1976 to Gerald Ford. Even Pee Wee Herman would have blanched at that idea.
Indictment #3: North Carolina owes more to America than this imbecile Giddy Dole. Form a committee to make Richard Burr the Senior Senator from North Carolina. If he is still around, send Harold Herring (distinguished YAF leader in NC in 1970 aka "The Bishop") as her replacement. North Carolina gave us Jesse Helms and John East (then known as Helms on Wheels).
Indictment #4: Her behavior as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee is obsessed on finding more overprivileged airheads like her husband (after marrying her trust fund)and herself. Does anyone wonder why the GOP looks like the party of Simon Legree to the general population? Look no further than Giddy Dole.
Indictment #5: The Foundry Methodist Church which TaxBoob and Giddy attend when in DC is the very same one attended by Mr. and Mrs. Arkansas Antichrist, the one with a white pastor who is somewhere to the left of Stalin in his politics and sermons. Small world isn't it????
Indictment #6: What did Giddy have to say in her capacity as NRSCC Chairthing when Maryland Lieutenant Governor Steele (GOP Senate candidate and a darn good one in Maryland) had his Social Security number abused to spread his credit reports on the internet by staff of Schmuckie Chewmer, her Demobrat counterpart. The silence was deafening as the NDSCC violated federal law. One miscreant has been arrested (IIRC) but no one has gone after Schmuckie. Ask yourself what Would Schmuckie Do if a Republican committed this crime against one of HIS candidates.
Get this useless witch out of control of GOPO Senate races or be prepared for loss of the Senate in 2006.
Maybe Giddy never got the memo that the GOP needs to welcome the votes of each and every American of Republican and conservative views regardless of (chant with me now) "race, creed, color or national origin." It is time for Giddy to accept the late 20th century changes in the world view she grew up with and recognize that hiring black servants and actually paying them is NOT some sort of political heroism, especially when she is probably in the habit of giving each a whole $1 Christmas bonus not to be spent all in one place.
Get a warrior in the job and kick her useless backside into retirement from NRSCC and from the Senate. One possibility is that she could personally care for lepers or AIDS victims in, say, Cameroon, if they would have her.
No one can credibly accuse the Pennsylvania GOP, the Ohio GOP, the Maryland GOP, etc., of being racist. The accusation is against Giddy Dole and it sticks. Who runs for the Senate in Michigan is nunoherbidness as long as they do not embarass the nati9nal GOP. DC establishment DOES NOT KNOW BEST! See #9
Libby " THE LIBERAL " Dole needs to go ! She did the same thing to Harris in Florida , and terribly weakened the Harris candidacy. Liberal Dole and the RSCC are doing more to sabotage solid Conservative candidates than the Dims could ever hope to do . Absolutely disgusting .
"Get a warrior in the job and kick her useless backside into retirement from NRSCC and from the Senate. One possibility is that she could personally care for lepers or AIDS victims in, say, Cameroon, if they would have her."
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Couldn't agree more!
Weyrich's article is way off base and more of the crap coming out of conservative journalists for whatever reason.
Liddy Dole campaigned here in OK for the most conservative Senate candidate, Dr. Tom Coburn -- held a fundraiser, etc. No one can tell me that she doesn't support conservative candidates -- she supports who can WIN which is what the goal of running for office is all about.
The problem with some of the so-called 'conservative' writers that 'know it all' today is that they refuse to admit sometimes we have a less than stellar conservative running that cannot win. With limited resources from places like NRSC you put dollars where you can pick up seats not throw money away. If a candidate, whatever their ethnic background, starts coming on fast, NRSC keeps money back to help that candidate.
We are still in the primary season and Weyrich says they are not helping. They should not be helping in primary races unless they help both candidates in a State.
What I don't understand is how people on here that are supposed to be political savvy can fall for what these so-called 'expert' pundits on politics are saying. Don't they think for themselves?
I swear we have a bunch of people on here that want Republicans to lose in November and they show their colors more by the day and yes, this includes some so-called conservative political writers. Anyone ever stop to think that the 'conservative' writers will make more and be listened to more if Republicans lose the House or Senate so then they can lead the charge to take it back. Too many egos for my taste in writers like Weyrich that don't seem to have a clue about Republican politics.
Keith Butler was a speaker at our "America First" Summit in Chicago
What a wonderful man who has the guts to address illegal immigration!
http://www.minutemanhq.com/state/read.php?chapter=IL&sid=11
The summit on national security focuses not only on problems caused by illegal immigration. It also has a political focus. Robert Vasquez, from Idaho is in attendance as well, along with some local Republican candidates. Keith Butler, the Republican candidate for the U. S. Senate from Michigan addresses the summit and gets applause when he argues for the idea that China is now "one of the greatest threats to our national security."
A lot do take the Republican ticket because it makes them look conservative and good.
Now enter the black true conservative... and you can imagine the hollers.
I believe that establishment GOPers are both anticonservative and on the racist side, and, in fact, wholly irresponsible aristocrates of sorts.
Wow, what a post. It's harder to tell the difference nowadays from the big spending, large government Repubs from the Demoncrats of the same ilk.
I'll be voting for Mr. Butler when the opportunity arises!
This article reads as a liberal pissed off because Black Republicans have left the RAT plantation!
I say the whole thing is hogwash!
"Weyrich's article is way off base and more of the crap coming out of conservative journalists for whatever reason."
Why would Weyrich lie ? He wants conservative candidates to win the primaries just as we do.
"No one can tell me that she doesn't support conservative candidates -- she supports who can WIN which is what the goal of running for office is all about."
Ahh , yeah the goal is to win , but why win with a RINO if a true Conservative can do just as well in the general elections ?
"I swear we have a bunch of people on here that want Republicans to lose in November and they show their colors more by the day "
Wrong again , we want true Conservatives running that can win . Libby "the Liberal" Dole and the NRSC is playing the so-called "let's run RINO's so we can win" card in places that it doesn't have to be played .Liberal Dole needs to step down from th NRSC , she's doing more harm than good .
If it had been up to the likes of Giddy, she would have been uncomfortable with the idea of J. C. Watts running as a Republican. The right thing to do is to give directly to candidates. I don't need elitists like Giddy Dole to decide where my contributions should go and neither does anybody else. If she wants to be a preprimary player on behalf of the spineless or exhibits traits suggesting a preference for a lily white party regardless of the quality of other candidates, or if she suggests that she and not Republican voters should decide nominations, then it is time to shut her and NRSCC down OR turn the chairthingship over to Tom Coburn or Jim Inhofe. I don't mind either of them or anyone like them making such decisions but NOT Giddy Dole. If that makes me a hypocrite, let it be!
The purpose of politics is not merely electing candidates (see Judas Jeffords re-elected with GOP money because his ancestors were Republicans before the late Unpleasantness Between the States of the 1860s) but rather to enact policy. Any "Republican leader" of NSRCC who thinks otherwise needs to go. Giddy is merely the posterthing.
Paul Weyrich was a reporter (and therefore a writer) in Milwaukee before leaving for DC to establish Free Congress. He and Free Congress have, year in and year out, done a lot more in any election cycle than Giddy Dole ever will. Of course, that's because Weyrich wants to elect real Republicans and Real Americans. He has earned the standing to attack Giddy for her feckless ideological indifference.
BTW, I have consistently supported Dubya here and elsewhere against conservative complaints but that does not mean that we should lie down for the likes of Giddy. See how many non-incumbent "winners" she backs for this fall. If Stabenow is re-elected, if Bill Nelson is re-elected, if __________ is re-elected as a left dumbocrat, blame feckless Giddy and her search for Gerald Ford style candidates or worse.
If I were Ken Blackman or Lynn Swann, I would not rely on the usual gang of polo club socialites who run the national GOP fundraising operations. Since they back liberals regularly, let them collect their cash from the terminally liberal or the terminally brainless or the terminally spineless.
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