http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12843-2004Oct30.html (Just a reminder: anyone, from whichever group, you have the right to vote as long as you are in line by the time the polls close-all across the nation..It's a federal law....Bring your children along if you have to) .... "After the LCCR news conference, two Republican National Committee staff members -- both young African Americans -- were sent out to issue a rebuttal. Their efforts got off to a bad start, however, when one of them made what might be called a Freudian slip by introducing the other as "director of voter suppression." The spokesmen tried to recover, contending that their party poll-watchers were only going to weed out ineligible voters; not intimidate others"
Not that this makes it right, but they aren't being hassled because they are black, they are being hassled because they are Democrats. I am pretty sure that with a little effort, someone could find similar incidents happening to poor Appalachian whites whose jobs have been outsourced and who are probably going to vote for Kerry. Around here, Republicans challenged a bunch of Democrat voters in a ritzy suburb of Salt Lake City (a couple foothills away from where Elizabeth Smart lives). (A few "limosine Liberals" snuck in while no one was looking) The only person of African descent that can afford to live in this suburb is Carlos Boozer.
I wrote this in another thread, but it can't be said enough... As a lifelong Democrat, I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to the Party of Abraham Lincoln for their latest efforts in making sure that blacks and Hispanics will continue to be loyal Democratic voters for years to come. The only thing I ask of you is to remember this the next time you fret about why those ethnic groups continue to be so loyal to a party which "takes them for granted." Just remember, we may or may not be taking them for granted but we're definitely not trying to keep them from exercising their voting rights.
The CBC having pissed away two decades without buidling the citizen institutional infrastructure (not to mention allowing the first Disney movie to be without humans to be the one in Africa, and getting beat to the minority punch with Dora the Explorer, but I digress) in the black community such that Reeps even THINK they can do this to black folks makes me sicker.
Re: "For Black Voters, A Return to the Republican Party I sense the Democrats across this land are nervous! Their "solid lock" on the blacks is no longer solid, as African-Americans in mass, not the whole group but fair proportions of it, move across the aisle to joint the Republicans! Why? Several reasons: Blacks in increasing numbers are upset that Kerry's Campaign abandoned their cause, their religious cause. Religious African Americans cannot support Kerry's open arms for the homosexual lobby; so too Religious African Americans cannot support Kerry's stand on embryo stem cell research. However, far larger than these two issues, Religious African Americans cannot support Kerry's support of same sex marriage... a no no among the religious African Americans. There are many other minor reasons the African Americans are not all blindly voting Democratic this year... Bush's progressive Federal hiring of minorities and appointing them to positions of power in his administration flies in the face of the blind rhethoric being espoused from Kerry's handlers... Colin Powell, Connie Rice, Ron Paige, and many other high level African Americans dispel what Democrat propaganda has for years maintained. In reality... there will always be a great majority of the Democrat Party composed of African Americans; however, whether enough of the enlightened ones coming into the Republican fold will give the Democrats reason to pause remains to be seen... Camp David
Re: "For Black Voters, A Return to the Republican Party Then again... (AFP) - Riviera Beach, Florida Anger over the lost votes of 2000 is still simmering in the mainly black town of Riviera Beach in south Florida, where voters turned out massively on Tuesday for the United States presidential elections, many vowing they will not be disenfranchised again. Residents, standing in long lines to cast their ballots, said renewed irregularities are only strengthening their resolve to make their votes count. And many said that vote is against President George Bush. The feeling that Bush stole the last presidential was strong in this city of 30 000, where as many as 16% of the ballots were discarded in the 2000 election, twice as many as the already high statewide average. "We are not going to let this happen again," said John Goldwise (57). "This time we have too many people watching," he said after casting his ballot at an elementary school, where partisan poll watchers monitored the proceedings. Outside Riviera Beach's Lindsey Davis community centre, a dozen members of the non-partisan Election Protection group, among the thousands of lawyers and other volunteers deployed to Florida, noted down complaints and helped voters who had questions. A lawyer with the John Kerry campaign also offered assistance, but his Republican counterpart stood at a distance and declined to make any comments on his role at the site. Civil rights groups have accused Republicans of targeting black and Hispanic communities for challenges of their voter eligibility. Several voters complained they had received phone calls or flyers directing them to the wrong precincts, and have strong suspicions the calls were part of a concerted effort to keep Kerry supporters away from the polls. Michelle Hargrett (37) pointed to a brightly coloured flyer she said she found on her door, urging her to vote for Kerry but sending her to the wrong precinct, kilometres away from the one where she is registered. "This is a dirty trick," she said.. In addition, EVERY SINGLE BLACK PERSON I KNOW, ACROSS ALL INCOME BRACKETS, IS VOTING KERRY. WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143977&page=7&pp=15 Don't stress out! Like we mentioned on the other thread, Kerry should pick up some votes in Santa Ana. Maybe not enough to even out Republican shennanigans in other places. But he should get some. But don't come complaining to me if your local elections that concern school vouchers, gay rights, etc don't go your way. I forgot that armed robbery was illegal.
Oh, I know Black Republicans too. But they were raised conservative; thus, they are voting for the possibility of Kerry rather than the neocon psychosis, the anti-conservativism, of BushCorp.
Re: "For Black Voters, A Return to the Republican Party So said the DNC, so said Terry McAuliffe, and so said the handlers of Kerry, yet the Black leaders are not so sure... Jesse Jackson cannot identify the problem... "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has seen a 10 percent decline in his support among black voters in the past month that has forced him to devote more campaign resources to energize one of his party's most loyal constituencies. Kerry continues to hold a big lead among African-Americans," but his "advantage is narrower than it was last month," Pew Research Center said in a national poll. Pew said that in a head-to-head matchup with President Bush, Mr. Kerry's support among black voters has fallen from 83 percent in August to 73 percent now, while Mr. Bush's black support has doubled, from 6 percent to 12 percent." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1236059/posts How many do you know?
Wow, this is the EXACT same population I bussed to the polls when I was a Democrat--but we used lollipops, not ice cream. http://www.nbc5i.com/politics/3882943/detail.html "...voting by residents from the local state school for the mentally disabled. The Lufkin Daily News reports the Angelina County GOP headquarters was told that Lufkin State School employees bribed students with ice cream. They also alleged improper use of a state van to take students to the poll for early voting. County Republican Chairman Dale Ingle alleges the school was trying to boost Democratic efforts to fight the possible closing of the school. But school administrator Randy Spence denies any wrongdoing. He says being a state school resident doesn't bar the resident from voting. The federally funded organization Advocacy Incorporated says Texans lose the right to vote only if a judge declares them mentally incompetent. "