Vision Circle

"Forget the Party Labels"

This one has been swirling around in my mind for a bit. It's not formulated completely, but I just want to put it out there.

Michael Steele is getting support from the national Republican party because he is a Black Republican. He's getting help from Karl Rove, the president, and national conservative talk shows.

Michael Steele is the man.

Michael Steele is running his U.S. Senate for Maryland race, not as a Republican, but as an individual. His campaign is saying, forget the party labels and look at the man and the issues.

Now, he could be said that he is doing that so that Blacks "forget" he is a Republican and vote for him. But that is not the case.

Indeed, his campaign is looking at the Maryland demographics, 2:1 registered Democrats to Republicans, and see that in a state wide race, there is no other way to run.

His campaign, which has started, has already putting out that he should be considered independent of his party and the president.

Disloyal Opposition

Now it appears that Bush is "fighting back" against the people who say the Bush administration lied about the reason the U.S. went to war against Iraq.

President Bush on Friday shot back at critics claiming his administration misconstrued or lied about pre-war intelligence showing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, saying "it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began."

Frankly, I think it is the Bush administration that is deeply irresponsible.

The Bush administration said the reason for the action against Iraq was because of WMDs. They then said it was because of violations of U.N. sanctions. They then said it was because of Saadam's treatment of Iraq citizens. Then it was said the seed of Democracy in the country would be good for the Middle East.

At one point, the president was saying that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11/2001 attacks, but the vice-president was saying that Iraq was involved.

Did the Bush administration communicate a clear and consistent story for the action against Iraq?

No.

In fact, the most consistent and supportive reasons for action against Iraq came not from the Bush administration, but from commentators and pundits who backed the administration.

Men and women of our country were sent to fight in a foreign country, yet the President of the United States, seemingly, can't give a straight answer on why we are there.

In short, the Bush administration can't communicate worth jack!

So, when the opposition takes advantage of this lack of communication, the supporters of the president say the opposition is working against the interests of the U.S.

I have a question about working against the interests of the U.S.

Ohio Citizens Rail Against Election Rules--Seek Change

Game on.

I've argued that the battle for the political future of the country won't be waged at the ballot box in 2008--no matter whether we're talking about Clinton vs. Dole 2.0 or Clinton vs. Bush the Younger. It'll be fought at the state level, over electoral rules. Somebody's waking up. If this works, this will go some way to a more competitive electoral system. And the more competitive elections are, the more responsive government should be to our needs.

Afro-Mex LA

would love to hear a bit more about the teeth of the coalition between blacks and latinos - 'cause i don't know cali, but i know these coalitions have been fractured in places like new york and chicago (forget about miami)...it will be interesting to see the extent to which something viable can be sustained between these two groups - as it stands the galvanizing of the latino vote under the new mayor may auger better for this party than for a coalition between blacks and latinos -- in fact, it may be that this new mayor is better served by capitalizing on the disaffection with the former mayor in certain quarters, while doling out patronage principally to his latino base...it will be interesting to see how the team is built and the reorganization conducted...

dopamine aside, the competition between culture groups over scarce resources remains fierce, and the uneven preparation of the black community during post-electoral carving sessions is legendary...there is value to the "other side" in divide-and-conquer...that's all it ever is - but the fact remains that black folk have never had a permanent alliance with another ethnic group - and it is hard to distinguish between these other groups based on "degrees of assimilation of white supremacist ideology." it could be argued that the closest we came to a permanent alliance was in Florida/Georgia (Seminole country) in the late 1700's, early 1800's. we are left with reactions to cop firings and fading memories of hook-ups in the 60's...

The voter survey, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, interviewed 3,191 voters as they left precincts across the city. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2 percentage points overall, and more for smaller voter groups.

Among the survey's more striking findings was its confirmation of Hahn's loss of support among African Americans and Valley voters, the once-sturdy coalition that drove his 2001 triumph over Villaraigosa.

The mayor, whose father, Kenneth, built an African American political base for the family decades ago as a county supervisor, won 80% of the black vote four years ago. But on Tuesday, he captured just 52% of those voters.

Among blacks who supported Villaraigosa, nearly two out of five cited the ouster of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, an African American, as a main reason for their vote. Also, 59% of the blacks who voted for Parks in the first round of mayoral voting in March shifted to Villaraigosa in the runoff. Parks had endorsed and actively campaigned for Villaraigosa.

Yet the survey found sharp distinctions within the black community. Black voters 45 and older — those most apt to fondly remember the legacy of Hahn's father — strongly favored the mayor over Villaraigosa. Younger blacks leaned heavily toward the challenger.

Also, black men favored Villaraigosa, while black women strongly supported Hahn.

Villaraigosa, who won 48% of the black vote, had campaigned aggressively for African American support. A large group of black leaders who backed Hahn in 2001 — among them former basketball star Magic Johnson, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and various church pastors — abandoned the mayor this year and vouched for Villaraigosa. An ebullient Johnson helped introduce the winning candidate at his victory party.

"The really interesting and intriguing question is what happens to relations between Latinos and blacks now," Sonenshein said. "Because by no means is this the sign of a full-scale coalition. But it is certainly a bridgehead in what could have been a purely competitive relationship."

In the Valley, as among blacks, Hahn suffered a sharp reversal of fortune. In 2001, the Valley favored Hahn over Villaraigosa, 55% to 45%. The election Tuesday flipped that precisely: The Valley opted for Villaraigosa over Hahn by the same 10-point margin.

A key problem for Hahn, the poll confirmed, was his 2002 campaign to kill the proposed secession of the Valley from the rest of Los Angeles. Nearly three in 10 of the Valley voters who supported Villaraigosa cited secession as a main reason for their vote.

Gov. Ehrlich and Elite Clubs

Another racist Republican...

At 'Exclusive' Club, Ehrlich Goes Colorblind

Week before last, Ehrlich held a golfing fund-raiser at the Elkridge Club, out there on North Charles Street by the Baltimore city-county line. Pay a thousand bucks, and get to schmooze obsequiously with the governor of Maryland.

But don't expect to hang out with Michael Steele in that same setting, due to the conditions of birth of the lieutenant governor of Maryland. The Elkridge Club is generally referred to as "exclusive." This is intended to indicate the wealth and social connections of its members. But here it means not just blue blood, but a certain color of skin.

As several Elkridge members and former officers confirmed to The Sun last week, there has not been a black person admitted to membership in the club in its entire 127-year history, although the club has been magnanimous enough to let minorities on occasion dine or play golf there.

Uhhh...
Not quite...

Politicians For Sale

Since Black elected officials are for sale, and seldom come with a high price tag, why don't we buy some. I have a few dollars saved up and would like to start the bidding for an electoral bundle that includes three State Senators in states with large agribusiness/farm subsidies, 2 city mayors with populations of less than 1 million in states with defense contractors, and 3 House sub-committee members. How much would that run a fella like me?

I'm thinking that for about $50K, I could probably generate about $500,000 in "legal" benefits. It might be better for the NOI and Russell RUSH to pony up/consolidate green backs in order to buy positions on the backs of the spineless - ala Las Vegas' bitchasspolitico.com.

Trying to Fix American Politics

Over at Running Scared they ask the question What Issues Do We Tackle?, among other questions. I think they are missing one question that's essential--where do we tackle them? Conservatives have made it very difficult to work at the federal level, and most of their gains of the last 20 years have really been at the state and non-metropolitan local level. This is where we have to do the work, and it's another reason why I think that the WalMart decision in Maryland was brilliant.

Tavis Smiley: "Black Leader"

So says David Lambro:

At a well-attended "town hall" meeting in heavily black Prince George's County, Md., some 250 people turned out to hear Mr. Mehlman in a question-and-answer dialogue. It was a rare event in a party that has all too often ignored the black community. A chief adviser to Mr. Mehlman told me this week he plans to meet with and speak to a broad range of black groups in the coming weeks. A major speech is planned at predominantly black Howard University, and he plans to visit more black neighborhoods. "There will be a lot of community-type events within the African-American community," this adviser told me. Notably, Mr. Mehlman appeared last week on the nationally televised PBS talk show named after and hosted by Tavis Smiley, who sponsored the civil-rights meeting in Atlanta that alarmed Miss Brazile. An independent-minded black leader who wants a broader political dialogue in the black community, Mr. Smiley is being sounded out by the NAACP to become its next president, a sign that the venerable black organization may be ready to soften its often-harsh anti-GOP rhetoric.

This is funny.

The Question of 2005

Taken from Dr. DeLong:

Can anyone... give me one single example of something with the following three characteristics:

It is a policy initiative of the current Bush administration

It was significant enough in scale that I'd have heard of it (at a pinch, that I should have heard of it)

It wasn't in some important way completely f***** up during the execution.

I can. It was...damn. Lost it.

Oh. Now I remember.

Nope. Lost it again.

A Leninist Strategy

Almost forty years ago, when it looked like the American Left had taken hold of every institution worth fighting for, a number of conservatives thought seriously about fleeing the country. A small few decided to wait it out, thinking that by adopting the long view, and planning for it...the conservatives could become ascendant.

The current battle on social security reflects almost thirty years of planning. And it also reflects the conservative adoption of leninist principles. Interesting reading. So while we're talking about freedom dreams and black power inc. somebody else has got an entirely different ballgame in mind.