Posts
The NAACP held two presidential forums on Thursday, one for the Democratic candidates and one for the Republican candidates. All of the Democratic candidates attended the forum, but Tom Tancredo was the only Republican to show up.
From Jeffery Feldman...
The NAACP invited all 9 Republican candidates to the forum, but only one showed up: Tom Tancredo. All the Democratic Presidential hopefuls showed up for their forum.The excuses given by the Republican campaigns mostly had to do with scheduling conflicts--just too busy to make it.
The resulting photo of Tancredo--standing on a stage of empty podiums--sums up the Republican party's commitment to civil rights in America: the only Republican interested is the guy running to deny immigrant workers their rights.
Democrat Bill Richardson had this to say about the lack of participation in the Republican forum...I want to thank the NAACP for inviting me here. It's a great honor. But I have a little beef to pick with you. You just invited Congressman Tancredo, who I think said he wants to send me back to Mexico.This pretty much tells you what Republicans think about civil rights.
2 comments:
The more I read remarks by Bill Richardson the more I like him. I'm not sure he's necessarily the right pick for the top of the ticket (though they're are worse choices). He seems like the perfect VP candidate though...his wit cuts deep and would be the perfect "attack dog".
As for the topic of the post...I remember during the early 90s when there was much ink spilled about how the Republican party was trying to brand itself as a friend of the African-American. Since W on seems like that approach has been completely abandoned. W has snubbed the NAACP every chance he's gotten and this latest turn out is about as in your face insulting as you can get.
Granted the NAACP doesn't speak for all African-American's any more than a single organization speaks for any ethincity. Still I can't see the entire Republican field writing off AARP or the American Legion.
I found this article that pretty much says the same thing you did...
"The striking thing about Tancredo's solo appearance at the NAACP convention is that only recently has the GOP decided to completely ignore the historic organization. Readers may recall that George W. Bush was the first President in who knows how long to skip the annual convention for his first five years in office, which of course means that noted Southern Strategists Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan managed to make an appearance, as well as of course Bush Sr. It's true that during primary election season, this sort of appearance may not be the best use of a Republican candidate's time, but you'd think a few more candidates would want to make at least a token effort to appeal to African-American voters."
Post a Comment