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Democratic Leaders Congressional Leaders Speaker of the House: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Nancy Pelosi made history this year, breaking the marble ceiling to become the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. With Democrats returning to the majority for the first time in 12 years, Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team are addressing the challenging issues facing the American people after years of inaction. Under her leadership, the 110th Congress is working to make America safer, to restore the American Dream and to restore accountability to government. http://www.speaker.gov/ Senate Majority Leader: Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)...

I’m only one black American among millions, and I’m no authority on black people, nor do I speak for black people. But I can provide insight.Back in 2004, Republicans were trying to appeal to black voters. Newt Gingrich and the rest wanted to secure at least 25 percent of the “black vote.” Dream on! I poured a bucket of water over their piddling flame. Won’t work, I said. I explained my reasoning in “Why Courting the Black Vote Won’t Work,” which was published in the Washington Times.Unlike some black conservatives and Republicans I know, I don’t think the party should...

After Words: Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past", Bruce Bartlett interviewed by Clarence Page About the Program: In "Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past", Bruce Bartlett argues that the Democratic Party had a racist past and he says there’s an unfair perception of America’s two national parties. In his book, he contends that Democratic Presidents and congressmen of the past supported racial segregation and the "Jim Crow" laws that dominated the Confederate states. Mr. Bartlett discussed his book with Clarence Page, syndicated columnist at the Chicago Tribune. Watch now:http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9391&SectionName=After%20Words&PlayMedia=Yes

Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past, by Bruce Bartlett (Palgrave Macmillan, 288 pp., $26.95) Two years ago, on his Daily Kos website, Markos Moulitsas asked: “Is it any wonder the GOP is the party of racists?” While Moulitsas conceded that “not every Republican is a racist,” he maintained that “the opposite—every racist is a Republican—is just about right.” Such sentiments typify a common view that racism is the soul of the Republican Party, and that black Republicans are traitors to their race, or at least peculiar. Bruce Bartlett sets the record straight in Wrong on Race: The Democratic...