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Do black voters really support Hillary Clinton?

Or is Barack Obama failing to speak to the issues that black Americans find important?

I guess I'm not the only black man not feeling Hillary Clinton right now. In a survey of 750 African Americans, sponsored by the AARP and conducted from October 5 to Nov. 2, Sen. Clinton was rated favorably by 83 percent of respondents, with 9.7 percent viewing her negatively. Sen. Obama received favorable ratings from 74.4 percent, with 10.1 percent viewing him negatively. But get this, the survey also showed a significant gender gap in Sen. Clinton's support among African Americans, with 86 percent of women giving her a favorable rating and seven percent unfavorable, compared to a 78 percent favorable and 15 percent unfavorable rating by men. Not a very high number but significant.

There is more, By a two-to-one margin in a recent poll black respondents said that "commitment to change" was a more important feature in a candidate than "experience in public office" – a view that could be seen as helpful to Sen. Obama's candidacy. But more respondents named Clinton over Obama as having the best position of the Democratic candidates on three key issues of concern – affordable health care (47.3 percent to 18.7 percent), strengthening Social Security (41 percent to 18.6 percent) and, by a narrower margin, on dealing with Iraq (35.4 percent to 22.1 percent). Check this out, in the same poll, When asked to name the single most important problem facing the country, the No. 1 answer was the war in Iraq, which was cited by 28 percent of respondents, followed by health care (20 percent), jobs and the economy (15 percent) and education (10 percent). None of the black voters polled identified taxes as the most important national problem; less than one percent named immigration and two percent said terrorism. Hello! Watch the C-SPAN News Conference: National Poll of Likely African American Voters [ click here]

Jessie Jackson was right when he wrote, "African Americans are brutalized by a system of criminal injustice. Young African Americans are more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched if stopped, more likely to be arrested if searched, more likely to be charged if arrested, more likely to be sentenced to prison if charged, less likely to get early parole if imprisoned. Every study confirms that the discrimination is systemic and ruinous. And yet no candidate speaks to this central reality.

African Americans are more likely to go to overcrowded and underfunded schools, more likely to go without health care, more likely to drop out, less likely to find employment. Those who do work have less access to banks and are more likely to be ripped off by payday lenders, more likely to be stuck with high-interest auto and business loans, and far more likely to be steered to risky mortgages -- even when adjusting for income. And yet, no candidate speaks to this central reality."

My only problem with Jesse Jackson is that he endorsed Obama and has asked others to vote for him, without as Jesse even admits, him speaking to this central reality. Black voters concerns are now being covered by the media for a moment (see below), and no one knows how long that will last. Black bloggers have an opportunity to keep the pressure on the presidential candidates to answer questions. the afrospear has plans underway to do just that.

The Politics of Race and Gender

Race, gender come to forefront of presidential race - Fliers posted across campus summed up the thrust of their conversation: "Should you vote for Barack Obama because of your race, or should you vote for Hillary Clinton because you are a woman?"For some black women, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) embodies a strong leader who, if elected, could open doors for all women, black and white. They admire her intellect and political acumen. In some ways, they identify with Clinton because they see gender as more of a hindrance than race. For others, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) represents the ideal candidate. They like his intelligence and willingness to work across racial and party lines. They also identify with his wife, Michelle, an African-American woman from Chicago's South Side. They believe the presence of the Obamas in the White House would help shatter racial and gender stereotypes.Read More HERE


Every vote will count for Obama in the primaries. If anything, he needs his wife and Oprah on the HBCU campuses.

Oprah's a Winner. Can She Make Obama One Too? Washington Post - The news that Oprah will campaign for Barack Obama has been catnip for cable news.Is there anything more irresistible than the prospect of one of the world's most recognizable women campaigning for the opponent of another of the world's most recognizable women? Add into that mix the enhanced role of Bill Clinton as his wife's leading surrogate and the politico-celebrity meter can't get much higher. But there is a practical and potentially crucial political role for Oprah as she heads out on behalf of Obama. More than anything, Obama needs her help to improve his standing against Clinton among African American women voters -- especially in South Carolina, a state that could prove pivotal in the Democratic race if there is no decisive outcome from contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. More HERE


As I stated previously, Obama needs Oprah on the HBCU campuses, Youtube and Myspace. That is were she can make her best effort to sway new black voters. Oprah has great street cred's with whites, however, I'm not sure that her Oprah show cred's will turn into votes for Obama in the those sleepy southern towns were Oprah is nothing but another black.

Black voters focus on Clinton, Obama Chicago Tribune - In the eyes of black voters, Hillary Clinton has a slight edge over Barack Obama, her closest rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a survey released Tuesday. "African-American voters are really only looking at two candidates," said David Bositis, a senior analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank focused on African-American affairs that released the poll. "There is Hillary Clinton and there is Barack Obama. Really none of the other candidates exist in the realm that Clinton and Obama occupy." The New York senator was viewed favorably by 83 percent of black voters, compared to Obama's 74 percent. About 10 percent of those surveyed viewed Clinton and Obama negatively. The national survey, conducted between Oct. 5 and Nov. 2, asked 750 African-Americans who were likely to vote in primaries or attend caucuses about the presidential candidates and related issues. More HERE



If Hillary Clinton is going to keep her support with black voters she is going to have to keep her husbands face in her campaign ads, and stop talking like she is black when she is around black folks. More slip ups like that and she could blow it. she will be eaten up on Youtube trying to talk black again.

Black voters support Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in poll - Daily News Washington Bureau - Black voters are betting on Hillary Clinton over her Democratic rival Barack Obama to fix Iraq, Social Security and health care, a new poll shows.On those three key issues cited as most important by the 750 African-Americans polled, Clinton's ratings are nearly double Obama's, the only black person running for President. She also beat him on overall favorability, 83% to 74%, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies poll."African-Americans think she's a more likely winner" in a general election, said pollster David Bositis. The survey showed Clinton beating Obama with her positions on Iraq, 35% to 22%, and Social Security, 41% to 19%. More than twice as many thought she has a better chance to enact health care reform than he does.Rudy Giuliani fared best among GOP candidates in the poll - though only 27% of blacks view him favorably compared with 42% who don't. More HERE


As I noted previously, I'm not sure that black voters support Hillary. They really support Bill Clinton and see Hillary as a two-for. They get two for the price of one vote. the question black folks must ask, is what are we really getting? What are the plans of Hillary to address our concerns? Let's face it Hillary screwed up voting for the Iraq war and she seems to have no plans for health care. the last time worked on a health care plan - well, we all know what happened.

Winfrey could help Obama draw women voters from Clinton CNN - In a move that may lead voters, particularly women, to take a second look at Obama, the talk show host will join the Democratic presidential candidate on the campaign trail December 8 and 9, Obama's campaign announced. Winfrey will join Obama during campaign stops in early-voting states Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the campaign said. More HERE


Only time will tell if Oprah can provide that added boost Obama needs with black female voters. My sense is, it will not be Oprah that needs to really speak to black women, it will be the candidate Obama who will need to speak to black women and the needs of the black family. Anything less, and it will be, unfortunately, see you in 8 years Obama.

PS: Let's not count out John Edwards, at least not YET.

Obama's Bad Behavior?

Bloggers LNRock ofAfrican American Political Pundit
and Casey Lartigue of The Casey Lartigue Show!

I had the opportunity to join some great bloggers and a great host at NPR, Ms. Farai Chideya, hosted another great bloggers Roundtable (not just because I participated) LOL.

The topics included politics, politics and more politics. We tried to discuss Micheal Jackson's Thriller anniversary but time ran out. Bloggers included Casey Lartigue of The Casey Lartigue Show!, and Debra Dickerson of Mother Jones.

News & Notes, We first discussed how Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told a group of students about his high school drug use, and how it may have reignited a controversy. We also talked about, Jesse Jackson saying most Democratic candidates are ignoring African Americans. I have already blogged about this issue and suggested that Rev. Jesse Jackson has it wrong. Get the commitments before you endorse not after.

Here is a link to the conversation. Don't forget to listen to News & Notes and other NPR programs regularly.

• Analysis: Bloggers' Roundtable: Obama's Bad Behavior
  Nov-28-2007, News & Notes

  ...Bloggers' Roundtable: Obama's Bad Behavior. Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama tells a group of students about his high school drug use and reignites a controversy. Plus, Jesse...

• Analysis: Bloggers' Roundtable: Part II
  Nov-28-2007, News & Notes

  ...Bloggers' Roundtable: Part II. The conversation continues: presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama tells a group of students about his high school drug use and reignites a controversy....

Pat "Neanderthal" Buchanan

Possible appearance of Pat "Neanderthal" Buchanan
before he began wearing clothes and joined the Republican party.

Media Matters has a great post on that prehistoric moron, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan, who appeared on the November 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes to discuss his new book, Day of Reckoning:



Mr. Pat "Neanderthal" Buchanan, himself, spoke about how Hubris, Ideology, And Greed Are Tearing America Apart (Thomas Dunne Books, November 2007), in which he writes that America is "on a path to national suicide" and later asks: "How is America committing suicide?" answering: "Every way a nation can." He proceeds to claim that "[t]he American majority is not reproducing itself. ... Forty-five million of its young have been destroyed in the womb since Roe v. Wade, as Asian, African, and Latin American children come to inherit the estate the lost generation of American children never got to see." On Hannity & Colmes, Buchanan asserted: "You've got a wholesale invasion, the greatest invasion in human history. Read More HERE


Pat "Neanderthal" Buchanan, lets not get it twisted, it was an estate stolen from Native Americans, Latinos and Africans. African Americans gave there body and souls to create the corporations your scared of losing during slavery, during Jim Crow, and after legal segregation. Maybe just maybe, the inheritance as you call it, is far over due for at least for Native Americans, Black Americans, Latinos, and some Japanese who were incarcerated during the war.

Black Preachers, Still "carrying the water for the Republican party"

File this post under, Politics of Race, Religion, and 21st Century black water boy.

As reported by WaPo the GOP is now seeking black votes after ignoring Presidential issue forums addressing black concerns and needs They the GOP even have black preachers still acting as water boys for the Republican party (even though, get this, they say in the Washington Post article , they have stopped carrying the GOP's water).

Yes, as black folks get ignored by Republicans, my sources, indicate the GOP has plans to try to sneak into black churches across the country and talk with conservative black preachers to gain political support in the Presidential primaries and general election.

Enter, Pastor Harry R. Jackson Jr. who calls his group, High Impact Leadership Coalition, the "moral compass of America."

WaPo reports In his rhetoric and his political agenda, Jackson has much in common with other evangelical Christians who are part of the conservative wing of the Republican party, except that Jackson is African American and so is his congregation at Hope Christian Church in Prince George's County.

The washington Post article notes "black pastors called the High Impact Leadership Coalition, in many ways personifies the possibilities that Republican strategists such as Karl Rove have seen in appealing to the social conservatism of many African American churchgoers. Blacks overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats and typically support Democratic candidates, but optimists in the GOP think one way to become a majority party is to peel off a sizable segment of black voters by finding common ground on social issues.

As a group, blacks attend religious services more frequently than whites and are less supportive of gay rights. In a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University poll this summer, 43 percent of white Democrats supported same-sex marriage, about double the percentage of black Democrats who said they do. More than half of blacks said they oppose both same-sex marriage and legal recognition of same-sex civil unions.

In the 2004 election, there was evidence that an appeal aimed at those differences could work. President Bush nearly doubled his share of the black vote in Ohio, thanks to a same-sex-marriage initiative on the ballot and the targeting of black churchgoers through mailings and radio ads. But it's unlikely that the 2008 Republican presidential candidate will be able to consolidate those gains, and Jackson is one indication of why.

During the last presidential election cycle, Jackson prayed for Bush and crisscrossed the country pressing conservative social issues. Now he's pushing an issues agenda rather than "carrying the water for the Republican party." More HERE

AAPP: I guess the GOP is telling black preachers, get me some of that water "boy."

Latasha Norman.

Where is Latasha Norman?

Why is it that when a white college student disappear the white media will go across the globe looking for her. When a black college student disappears. The white media shuts it down. Bridget Johnson at Pajama Media notes "For every Chandra Levy, Laci Peterson, Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway, there are dozens more victims whose cases go ignored by the media." She goes on to ask" if some lives - those of the cute, white, female, wealthy and preferably blond - are worth more than others." More HERE Even the Chief of Police says the her case is ignored because of her race. It's a disgrace that the national media gave limited air time to this situation. Thank god for black bloggers who have been getting the word out. Black web sites, and bloggers like, Paula Neal Mooney, Black Perspective, Voices of color , Black Universe the colored Section , George L. Cooke and finally, ABC News who reports on: Why One and Not the Other? It's interesting that very few progressive white bloggers have commented on the case, Missing Woman Coverage a Black and White Issue.

Where is Latasha Norman?

This is the case involving Jackson State university (JSU) student Latasha Norman. More HERE

The Jackson State University Department of Public Safety, Jackson Police Department and Hinds County Sheriff's Department are continuing the search for missing JSU student Latasha Norman. Latasha, a junior, has been missing since approximately 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13. The 20-year-old accounting major from Greenville, Miss., is of medium-brown complexion, stands approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs between 115 and 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.

To report information regarding Latasha’s whereabouts, call 601-960-1210 0r 601-960-1234

News Update - Black Accountability Project

Black Accountability Project
News UPDATE

In today's update: Politics, Race and the Black vote, Internet Use and the $860 billion black family, and bad news.

Most Democratic candidates are ignoring African Americans
Chicago Sun-Times, United States - Yet the Democratic candidates -- with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans' Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign -- have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country. The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention. No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, La., not one candidate showed up.

Black Accountability Project says That's because no one is holding them accountable, including Jesse Jackson who endorsed Obama! Read More HERE

Black voters tilt toward Clinton: study

Boston Globe, United States - Hillary Clinton is overwhelmingly popular with black voters, drawing higher approval ratings than the only major African-American candidate running for president, according to a study released today by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Clinton's own record as First Lady and New York senator -- along with her marriage to former President Bill Clinton, who is very popular among black voters -- earned her an 83 percent approval rating among likely black voters, compared to 75 percent who ranked Illinois Senator Barack Obama positively, the study said.

It's not that black voters don't like Obama as much, said David Bositis, senior research director for the Washington-based group. But African-Americans -- especially those in the South -- haven't seen black candidates do well statewide, and are concerned Obama can't win, Bositis said.

Black Accountability Project says: What do you expect when black political and social bloggers have failed come together as a group to give black communities information that will provide them with opportunities to become more intelligent voters? Time is running short folks, the 2008 primaries are near. time to develop 50 Questions for all the presidential candidates to answer on issues of importance to black communities, and give the all a report card. OK afrospear it's time to come up with 50 of the most important and toughest questions for the Presidential candidates to answer.

African Americans Will Make Up 11.8% of All US Internet Users
Business Wire (press release)
Following Hispanics, African Americans are the second-largest minority market in the US. Researchers estimate they will spend $860 billion in 2007, rising to $1.1 trillion by 2012. The factors driving this buying power, such as improvements in education, income and employment, are also increasing African American Internet usage.

The African Americans Online report analyzes the many factors that have gone into creating the digital divide, including why it is closing slower than expected.

eMarketer estimates that African Americans will make up 11.8% of all US Internet users in 2011, up from 10.8% in 2006.

But despite the fact that the costs of computer equipment and Internet access have fallen over the last few years, there continues to be a significant digital divide between White and Black America.

Key questions the African Americans Online report addresses:

-How many African Americans are online?
-Is the digital divide closing?
-What is distinctive about the attitudes and values of African Americans that drive their spending behavior?
-What lessons can be learned from successful marketing targeting African Americans?
And many others

Black Accountability Project says: Buying power? yes, In debt power ? yes, Building personal and family wealth? no. Political power? yes, using our political power? no, Time for individual accountability? Yes.

Why is bad news about African Americans so popular?
Louisiana Weekly, LA

Last year the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta issued a report showing that the steady increase in the HIV/AIDS infection rate for African Americans had actually declined. This was very good news! It suggested that at least in the area of slowing down the spread of a killer disease Blacks as a group were doing something right. Thus, as a journalist who stays pretty well abreast of what is taking place in the media, I was saddened and disappointed when this news received virtually no mention in the mainstream media and very little coverage even in Black media.

History teaches that if the news had been negative or the HIV/AIDS infection rate had increased significantly, it would have been given widespread coverage. The episode prompted the following question: Why is virtually all the news receiving massive coverage and specifically relating to African Americans usually negative? Read more Here

Black Accountability Project says: It's time to flip the script. Bring positive messages to our community about what we can do instead of what we cant do. Anybody that is willing to flip the script in America, and in Black America, come join us.

Black American opinion and social networking members: You can become a Black Accountability Project Blogger in your city/state. Learn more by emailing BlackAccountabilityProject@GMail.com

Are Democratic candidates ignoring African Americans ?

Jesse Jackson says most democratic candidates are ignoring African Americans in a Op-Ed in todays' Chicago Sun-Times, United States

By Jesse Jackson jjackson@rainbowpush.org

Can Democrats get the votes they need simply because they're not Republicans? You might think so in this presidential campaign. African-American and urban votes are critical to any Democratic victory. Bill Clinton won two terms without winning the most white votes. His margin was the overwhelming support of black voters. George Bush learned that lesson; that's why his campaigns spent so much effort suppressing the black vote in key states like Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. His victory margin was the tally of votes suppressed or uncounted.

Yet the Democratic candidates -- with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans' Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign -- have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country. The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention. No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, La., not one candidate showed up.

Democratic candidates are talking about health care and raising the minimum wage, but they aren't talking about the separate and stark realities facing African Americans.

The civil rights movement succeeded in ending segregation and providing blacks with the right to vote. But the end of legal apartheid did not end the era of discrimination. And the ending of institutionalized violence did not end institutionalized racism.

Patterns of discrimination are sharply etched. African Americans have, on average, about half of the good things that whites have, and double the bad things. We have about half the average household income and less than half the household wealth. On the other hand, we're suffering twice the level of unemployment and twice the level of infant mortality (widely accepted as a measure of general health).

African Americans are brutalized by a system of criminal injustice. Young African Americans are more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched if stopped, more likely to be arrested if searched, more likely to be charged if arrested, more likely to be sentenced to prison if charged, less likely to get early parole if imprisoned. Every study confirms that the discrimination is systemic and ruinous. And yet no candidate speaks to this central reality. More HERE

Blogging While Brown Conference

It's about time.

Source: Blogging While Brown.com

If 2007 has shown anything in the vast landscape of the Internet, it's that bloggers of color have power, and they're using it.

Whether it's fighting the injustices of our justice system, debating racism in the media, the current immigration debate or celebrating our best and brightest, bloggers of color are a vital and viable part of the blogosphere who aren't afraid to voice their opinions on a number of subjects, and are willing to take it to the streets in order to make that presence known. Bloggers of color are at an inflection point in the continued development of the blogosphere.

To that end, the Blogging While Brown Conference was born.

Our ideas and thoughts matter! With several other tech/blogging conferences such as SXSW, BlogHer and YearlyKos, it's about time for something simliar for bloggers of color which talks about more than technology and blogging, but how to use the tools available to us with the Interent in order to influence and create change in our world.

The Blogging While Brown Conference will take place in Atlanta, GA July 25-27, 2008. More HERE

Note: I plan on attending the conference. I hope to see you there!

Shiffless, trifullin and lazy

AAPP: That shiffless, trifullin and lazy Fred Thompson.

See now you thought I was going to talk about someone black right?

No I'm talking about that real lazy, trifullin and shiffless Republican who on yesterday’s installment of “Fox News Sunday,” criticized the Fair and Balanced folks for what he considered an anti-Fred tone to their coverage.

Check out what cbsnews.com is saying about this lazy dude.



According to the Politico:

Fred Thompson attacked Fox News on Sunday for what he called a "constant mantra" that his floundering campaign for president is troubled, and he accused the network of skewing things against him.

Thompson certainly isn't the first politician to make that accusation, but he's the first high-profile Republican to do so.

The exchange has been one of the big topics in the media today, with people questioning his tactic of criticizing the channel that had given him a forum multiple times in the past.

Maybe this is the week that Fred sets the record straight?

If so, now that he has taken on Fox, he can move down the list to:

The New York Times

Newsweek

Time

Slate

Fortune

The Los Angeles Times

The Washington Post

Reason

These are but a few of the media outlets that have trotted out the stereotype of Mr. Thompson as “lazy” in recent memory. Fred Thompson, he is one Lazy, trifullin and shiffless Republican. Update: It's not only this pundit that sees Thompson is useless, check out what the right is saying about Thompson’s demeanor.

Black Leadership Missing In Action at SEC

MISSING IN ACTION



National Urban League



Rainbow Push Coalition




The NAACP


Well it looks like black leadership is missing in the SEC proxy discussion. According to William Michael Cunningham. You see Mr. Cunningham tracks these issues for a living. He is an expert in the field. He finds black leadership continue to be Missing in Action (MIA) on the important topics and issues that have major impact of our communities. Michael Cunningham writes in his blog:

Black Leadership Missing in SEC Proxy Debate

By Michael Cunningham

"The leader of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Christopher Cox) told lawmakers yesterday that he is poised to move ahead with a controversial shareholders rights proposal, drawing sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers and officials from unions and pension funds. In July, Cox voted to seek comment on two conflicting proposals. One would codify the way the SEC has typically done business in a manner that allows companies to exclude investor proposals from proxies sent to a company's shareholders. The second, broader plan would have allowed investors that hold at least 5 percent of a company's stock greater leeway in proposing board candidates in exchange for more disclosure about their operations."

According to another source, the "SEC chief cites legal ‘confusion’ as reason to curtail shareholders’ ability to nominate directors, but says he’ll revisit the issue in spring."

Shareholder proposals have helped to increase the number of women and minorities serving on corporate boards. They have also helped encourage diversity initiatives at these same corporations.

To ignore the risk these SEC proposals pose to efforts to better manage corporations is to ignore demographic trends.

We invited Andrew Carr, head of the Operation PUSH sponsored Wall Street Project to a meeting we had on 11/24/07 with staff in the SEC Chairman's Office to discuss the matter. We never received a reply. Of course, we went without him, (or the Urban League or the NAACP, for that matter). Read MORE HERE

AAPP: It's time for some black accountability people!

Cross posted on The Black Accountability Project

Trent Lott

The blog, politico is reporting that Red Neck of all Red Necks Trent Lott will be resigning. Yes, the Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is planning on resigning from the Senate this year and may make a formal announcement as soon as today.

You know Trent Lott, the racist who at a 100th birthday party for Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina senator who in 1948 ran an overtly racist campaign for president on the State's Rights Party ticket: "I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."

As the The Nation reported some time ago, Those remarks have caused a major stir, which is appropriate. But this is hardly the first time that Lott, who began his political career in the 1960s as an aide to segregationist Democratic Congressman William Colmer, has hailed the legacy of those who fought to defend the practices of slavery and segregation. Nor is the tortured "apology" Lott has issued the first to come from the senator.

Indeed, there is no greater constant in Trent Lott's political career than his embrace of all things Confederate.

To wit:

* In 1978, after his election to the US House, Lott led a successful campaign to have the US citizenship of Jefferson Davis restored. Davis lost his citizenship when he became president of the Confederate States of America when southern states were in open revolt against the US government.

* During the 1980 campaign, after Thurmond spoke at a Mississippi rally for Ronald Reagan, Lott said of the old Dixiecrat: "You know, if we had elected that man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."

* In 1981, when he was lending his prestige as a member of the US Congress to an effort to preserve the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University -- the notorious South Carolina college that was under fire for prohibiting interracial dating -- Lott insisted that, "Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy."

* Despite the fact that he represents the state with the largest percentage of African-American citizens in the US, Lott has throughout his career been an active supporter of the Sons of the Confederacy, a group that celebrates the soldiers who fought to defend the "right" of Mississippians to own African-Americans as slaves." Lott even appears in recruitment videos for the group.

* Speaking at a 1984 convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lott declared that "the spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican Platform." Asked to explain his statement in an interview with the extreme rightwing publication Southern Partisan, Lott said, "I think that a lot of the fundamental principles that Jefferson Davis believed in are very important to people across the country, and they apply to the Republican Party... and more of The South's sons, Jefferson Davis' descendants, direct or indirect, are becoming involved with the Republican party."

* Lott gave the keynote address at a 1992 national executive board meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a successor organization to the old white Citizens Councils, segregation-era groups the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as "the white-collar Ku Klux Klan. The C of CC may have changed its name, but it remains a passionate "white racialist" group that condemns intermarriage, integration and immigration by non-whites. As Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson, who has researched the group, argues, "There is no question of the resegregationist agenda of the Council of Conservative Citizens when four of the seven links listed on the home page for former Klan leader David Duke link back to the Council of Conservative Citizens." Other links, Jackson has noted, "deny the Holocaust and sell T-shirts with swastikas and Nazi stormtrooper symbols." But when Lott appeared at that Greenwood, Mississippi, meeting of C of CC leaders, he did not address his disdain for racism or anti-Semitism. Rather, he discussed his concerns about "the dark forces" that he said were overwhelming America and said, "We need more meetings like this across the nation... The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries."

* In 1997, Lott was photographed meeting with national leaders of the C of CC in his Washington office. At his side were two prominent C of CC leaders: Gordon Baum, a former field organizer for the Citizens Councils in the days when they were referred to as the "uptown Klan," and William Lord, who has acknowledged using the mailing lists of the Citizens Councils to build the C of CC in the 1980s and 1990s. That same year, the C of CC used an endorsement quote from Lott in recruitment literature.

* When the Washington Post began to detail Lott's ties to the C of CC, his office announced that he had "no firsthand knowledge of the group's views." But when The New York Times asked Lott's uncle, former Mississippi state Sen. Arnie Watson, a member of the C of CC executive board, about ties between the senator and the organization, Watson said, "Trent is an honorary member." When a reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger showed up at a 1998 C of CC meeting in Mississippi, he was told by those in attendance that Lott was a member. Lott's office never challenged the report when it appeared in his homestate's largest newspaper. But a year later, when the Washington Post took the issue up, Lott said, "I have made my condemnation of the white supremacist and racist view of this group, or any group, clear."

* Yet, a column written by Lott still appeared on a regular basis in the Citizens Informer, the group's publication, alongside articles thick with statements like: "Western civilization, with all its might and glory, would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race. Any effort to destroy the race by a mixture of black blood is an effort to destroy Western civilization itself."

* Go to the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens today and you will find, beneath the Confederate flag and the section attacking an African-American professor at Vanderbilt, a big smiling picture of the Mississippi senator next to headlines that read: "A Lott of Courage!" "C of CC Passes Resolution Commending Lott" and "Lott Needs Your Support." More HERE

If he resigns, Lott would become the sixth Republican senator to announce they were stepping down this election cycle. His term expires in 2012; and a resignation would prompt a special election to fill the remainder of his term. Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) would be tasked with appointing a replacement for Lott to serve before the special election is held.

In 2006, Lott was re-elected with 64 percent of the vote.

AAPP: it seemed like every redneck in Mississippi came out to vote for Trent Lott. Now Haley Barbour, another Redneck will have the opportunity to select a replacement. Don't be surprised is George W. Bush gives Trent Lott some sort of "White House" medal.

Afghan War Effort Is Deteriorating Admits White House

WaPo reports a White House assessment of the war in Afghanistan has concluded that wide-ranging strategic goals that the Bush administration set for 2007 have not been met, even as U.S. and NATO forces have scored significant combat successes against resurgent Taliban fighters, according to U.S. officials. WaPo notes "The Taliban's unchallenged expansion into new territory, an increase in opium poppy cultivation and the weakness of the government of President Hamid Karzai as signs that the war effort is deteriorating." More HERE

AAPP: This report took me back to an article I read years ago in the Village Voice about

How We lost Afghanistan -Fighting Terror on $1 Billion a Month, by Ted Rall. Check out the article HERE. It's a great article that the Washington Post would never print. I bet you the folks at the blog Pros and Cons would never print it either.




What do Afghans want from America? "Go home and leave us alone."

My question to the readers of this blog is, "are we getting our ass beat in both of Bush's Wars"?

Shelby Steele - Hating on Barack Obama?

Is Barack Obama an Iconic Black? Well that is what Shelby Steele, a Hoover Institution scholar and author of "The Content of Our Character," is arguing. He argues that Obama's public stance is essentially synthetic. As reported By David S. Broder in the Sunday, November 25, 2007 edition of The Washington Post

Selby Steele

In "A Bound Man," Steele makes the case that Obama has adopted "a mask" familiar to many African Americans, designed to appease white America's fear of being thought racist by offering it the opportunity to embrace a nonthreatening black person.

Steele writes that "the Sixties stigmatized white Americans with the racial sins of the past -- with the bigotry and hypocrisy that countenanced slavery, segregation and white supremacy. Now, to win back moral authority, whites -- and especially American institutions -- must prove the negative: that they are not racist. In other words, white America has become a keen market for racial innocence."

Steele likens Obama's success to the fame and fortune won by Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. But the earliest of the crossover heroes he calls "iconic Negroes" was Sidney Poitier.

Steele, who shares with Obama the lineage of having a white mother and a black father, writes sympathetically of the pressures that drove both sons to choose to live their lives as blacks while operating in largely white institutions.

"The problem here for Barack, of course, is that his racial identity commits him to a manipulation of the society he seeks to lead," Steele writes. "To 'be black,' he has to exaggerate black victimization in America. . . . Worse, his identity will pressure him to see black difficulties -- achievement gaps, high illegitimacy rates, high crime rates, family collapse, and so on -- in the old framework of racial oppression." Read More HERE

So what do you think? Is Barack Obama an Iconic Black? Is there something wrong with that?

Is Steele's case that Obama has adopted "a mask" familiar to many African Americans, designed to appease white America's fear of being thought racist by offering it the opportunity to embrace a nonthreatening black person - a big deal? Is Shelby Steele just hating on Barack? Or does he have some good points?

"You're Not The Woman" But " Are You The Man"

As Hillary braces for a possible letdown in Iowa, Jack at Jack and Jill Politics has a great series on why he won't Support Hillary Clinton. I have big respect for both Jack, Jill and all the bloggers at Jack and Jill Politics. Jack raises some great points on why he and others won't be supporting Hillary.



I have to give the brother a big hat tip. I also want to thank him for the link to the Code Pink demonstration, when they called Hillary out years ago regarding Bush's war on Iraq. I have have big respect for Code Pink, the women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities.

There are differing views on if black folks should vote for a president based on a candidates race. But guess what we have been doing that since Shirley Chisholm ran for office right?

Faye Anderson at her Blog Anderson@large has a lot to say about the topic of race and the presidency. She has followed Obama and his wife Michelle campaign for some time. Faye Anderson notes in a recent blog post, Barack Obama says "the American people have moved beyond race (and here). Perhaps. A new Pew Research Center survey found that nearly 40 percent of blacks think "blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race." Black support of Sen. Hillary Clinton suggests black voters have indeed moved beyond race."

But, as Faye Anderson Notes, in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Michelle Obama dismissed the possibility that they are making informed decisions. Instead, in her worldview, black support for Hillary stems from a clinical disorder.

I understand what Faye Anderson is pointing out regarding Obama's wife when Faye wrote, "Michelle Obama is the one who needs to “wake up and get it.” For black voters, it’s about experience and electability – not race." Read More HERE

AAPP: I agree with most people who feel that race should not be the sole part of the decision-making process, yet, anyone who says it will 'not be part' of the decision-making process in the 2008 presidential race is not being honest with themselves.

I don't think that we as Black Americans should vote lock step with Obama or Hillary unless she outlines her plans to target resources to African American communities. There should be some systems in place to gain commitments from those running for the highest political office in the land to better the lot of black communities. Why is it that the democrats can authorize billions of dollars every six months for Iraq, but can't commit billions to inner city and decaying schools, health care, child care, housing, drug treatment, anti gang programs for every major city in America? Neither Clinton nor Obama has laid out a Clinton Plan or Obama Plan to rebuild New Orleans, or for that matter any city in America. Where is the Obama plan to rebuild urban areas of America? Or the Clinton Plan to rebuild Newark, or Gary, IN? Why are blacks not coming together and pressing the issue in a United Front?

Should the best man or woman with a plan win the black vote? There is no mistaking his campaign theme: it's time for the old to move over and make way for the new.

Or will it be politics as usual in the black community, with black folks having the opportunity to place a hold on the evil parts of the other American Dream? I'm not sure only time will tell. Will experience really count, or will it be the color of ones skin?

I'm old school, the old school that Obama seems to care less about. can you remember this old school joint from Marvin Gaye? it's relevant today, and may be something that Marvin Gaye wrote for Barack Obama without knowing it:

MARVIN GAYE lyrics - You're The Man

People marching on Washington
Better hear what they have to say
'Cause the tables just might turn against you, brother
Set around Election Day
Politics and hypocrites
Is turning us all into lunatics
Can you take the guns from our sons?
Right all the wrongs this administration has done?
Peace and freedom is the issue
Do you have a plan wager?
If you've got a plan
If you've got a master plan
Got to vote for you
Hey hey, got to vote for you
'Cause you're the man