Prince George's Community College,
Howard University, "The Tavis Smiley Show" and the African American New
Jersey Chamber of Commerce -- not the usual itinerary for a new
chairman of the Republican National Committee. But Ken Mehlman, who
took the job in January after managing the Bush-Cheney reelection
campaign, is using a "Conversations with the Community" tour to
continue the party's quest to chip away at an ultra-solid Democratic
constituency. "No matter how well we do in elections, the party of
Lincoln will not be whole until more African Americans come home,"
Mehlman said in an interview Friday after visiting the Martin Luther
King Center in Atlanta. The party has announced such drives again and
again over the years but has made little headway, with many African
Americans dismissing the blitzes as little more than rhetoric. But
Mehlman received new credibility when Donna L. Brazile, a grass-roots
consultant who managed Al Gore's presidential bid, went on NPR to warn
Democrats that Mehlman is "now inside the community" and "is a
different chairman." Brazile wrote in her "Stirring the Pot" column in
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper: "Among Democrats, Mehlman's
efforts should be cause for alarm." Mehlman, who has raised $935,000
for state and county parties during his travels, pushes President
Bush's Social Security, education and faith-based agendas as beneficial
to minorities. "My message is: Give us a chance, and we'll give you a
choice," he said. Bush took 8 percent of the black vote in 2000 and 11
percent in 2004. [more]
My People Let Pharoah Go! When looking at Pres. Bush and
GOPers "gaining strength in the black community, consider these remarks
by" College Park, MD, Bishop Harry Jackson Jr.: "I'm a registered
Democrat, and I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but now I'm a vehement
supporter. Look at the moral issues. The black family is under siege in
this culture, and something like same-sex marriage will take us right
down the slippery slope. When I heard Bush say he supported a
constitutional amendment to ban it, well, that made sense to me. Sacred
rights are different from civil rights. The Democrats are being held
hostage by their gay-rights agenda. They ignored black issues until the
last weeks of the campaign." Originally published in The Hotline March 7, 2005
Mary Kay Gordon - Santa Monica One
would hope that when considering the Republican argument regarding the
shorter life expectancy of black people -- which would lead to less
return on their Social Security investment -- that black people would
instead push for basic healthcare, the far greater and more immediate
problem. Why not work toward longer life for votes, and then talk
return on investment?
Ron Neal -- Westlake Village
Being an African American male, I am insulted by the Bush
administration's ploy to seduce black support for his wrongheaded plan
to overhaul Social Security by creating private investment accounts.
However, I am more deeply disturbed by black faith-based-financed
bishops and ministers who are being hustled to hustle members of their
congregations to accept this modern-day gambit of 40 acres and a mule.
It is easy to imagine these self-serving ministers as descendants of
the "colored" pastors who criticized Martin Luther King Jr.'s
nonviolent tactics, that is until the Black Panthers showed up.
Much like the Africans who captured other Africans for white slave
traders, one now sees a black former welfare mother, Star Parker,
leading a conservative "think tank" that supports private investment
accounts. One can only speculate where the welfare checks in her
current bank account originate. LA Times letter page March 5, 2005
