Not that you'd noticed, but the GOP is hardly even bothering to make an effort for black voters this campaign season. We all know that President Bush's street money warnings about Gay Marriage sent ripples through the Black church in 04', and helped him carve out enough of the Negro Voting Bloc to edge John "Swiss Cheese On My Philly, Please" Kerry. But with the Barry 4 Prez Movement in firm control of the Black vote this time, they aren't even bothering to make a token (pun intended) effort at convincing us to switch sides this year.
Recently, a secret group of the GOP's Best and Darkest met with DaddyMac to ruminate on their sad prospects of getting the Laquita and Jamaal vote come November.
African-American Republicans told McCain Tuesday not to abandon efforts to court black voters, despite the uphill battle in facing a prominent African-American Democratic challenger, meeting participants told NBC/National Journal.Uhhhh, is Michael Steele (pictured above just in case you were wondering) friggin' kidding me? "Show his heart" by pimping his adopoted teenage kid out? Riiight.
A small group of black Republican current and former elected officials met with McCain at his Virginia headquarters, carrying a message that McCain and the Republican Party should reach out to black voters through “conversation and engagement” on issues like economic policy and healthcare.
Included in the group were Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell -- who ran lost to Ted Strickland in 2006 for Ohio governor -- and former Rep. J.C. Watts, according to the campaign. Lynn Swann, the pro football Hall of Famer who ran for Pennsylvania governor in 2006, participated by conference call.
Steele said the group pressed McCain to speak before the NAACP and Urban League later this month. He said the presumptive Republican nominee promised to open dialogue with African-American leaders throughout the summer.
President Bush garnered 11 percent of the African American vote in 2004, according to exit polls, a two percent increase from 2000. The Republican Party has courted black voters in recent years, specifically by seeking minority candidates for state and federal office.
But Steele said he did not believe McCain could garner 10 percent against Obama. He acknowledged that many black voters will flock to Obama, including some who have not voted in the past.
But that does not mean the party should concede the group, Steele said, adding McCain has a unique story to tell black voters and can “show his heart,” specifically citing the family’s adoption of daughter Bridget, who was born in Bangladesh with a cleft palate.
And to think, I almost considered voting for this cat's Senatorial campaign a few years ago. I absolutely despised the Maryland Democratic candidate (Ben Cardin) so much that I actually entertained the idea of pulling the lever for Steele till I did a bit more digging and figured out he wasn't worth the trouble either. I ended up writing in AverageBro.com. Cardin won going away, but this Steele guy keeps showing me I made the right decision everytime he gets on Fox News and opens his mouth.
Being an apathetic voter never felt so good.
Let's not even get started on Ken Blackwell. Yeah, that Ken Blackwell.
With cats like these advising the party, no wonder Black Republicans stay losin'.
The funniest thing of all if that from a fiscal standpoint (and occasionally a social one as well), I actually consider myself more conservative than liberal on many stances. But the GOP's issues with Black America are far too complex for occasional fear mongering and under-the-table money to megachurch preachers to solve.
You could make an equal number of arguments that the Democratic Party, while seemingly more compassionate to black voters, fails to actually deliver on most of it's tough talk. That too would be true on many levels, which is why I've long since decided to switch my party affiliation to Independent after November's General Election. I had some issues with my voter registration (I moved, had to vote provisional ballot) last Winter, so I'm not making any moves until the stakes atre lower. Once my guy's firmly in office, it's a wrap.
I mean, seriously, look at the sorts of goofball videos they're using to recruit Blacks to the GOP.
Okay, enough of the jokes, here's an actual commercial the "Black GOP" is running, on the web only of course, since nobody's giving them money to fund this nonsense.
No, seriously, that was a supposedly real ad.
I can't see any of these cornball, pandering tactics convincing a sizable portion of the Black electorate to switch sides this November. Sorry Daedulus.
Question: What, if anything, can the GOP do on a national level to make itself more appealing to Black voters?
MCCAIN'S MEETING WITH BLACK GOPERS [MSNBC]
[*] Cyber Capri Suns to the first person who can tell me where this post's title originates.
