Tag Archives: African-American voters

national news

Firewall stood firm for Biden

All that talk about the Joe Biden “firewall” in South Carolina showing cracks, fissures, weakness now appears to have been, well, just talk.

It held firm as the former vice president of the United States cruised to a smashing victory today in the Democratic Party presidential primary.

More than half of the state’s primary voters are African American. Biden depended on that base of support to carry him to victory. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ early wins in New Hampshire and Nevada and his strong showing in Iowa cast doubt on whether that firewall would withstand the pressure being applied.

Commentators described African American voters as “pragmatic,” that candidates’ strength becomes a factor in how voters would cast their ballots.

Then came an apparently pivotal endorsement from U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina political icon and the most powerful African American in Congress.

So, the firewall — if that’s what we’ll call it — got plenty of reinforcement.

It held the former VP in good stead. Now it is time to see whether a similar firewall forms in other states with substantial numbers of African American voters. You know, states such as, let’s see … Texas!

The primary caravan is on its way here.

national news, political news

‘Party of Lincoln’ … indeed

donald-trump-prayer-shawl

I cannot fathom what transpired today in that church in Detroit.

Donald J. Trump, of all people, is now seeking to don the mantle as the nominee of “the party of Abraham Lincoln.”

Yes, indeed. The Republicans’ presidential nominee — the guy who’s been endorsed by white supremacist David Duke — now seeks to make nice with African-Americans.

It was an amazing thing to see, Trump speaking to the black congregants seated before him.

“Our nation is too divided. We talk past each other, not to each other, and those who seek office do not do enough to step into the community and learn what is going on,” Trump said.

“I’m here today to learn so that we can together remedy injustice in any form, and so we can also remedy economics so African-American communities can benefit economically through jobs and income.”

Amazing, yes? This is the very same fellow who declared that African-Americans are enrolled in inferior schools, who live in neighborhoods that are less safe than combat zones in Afghanistan. He has infuriated minorities of all demographic groups with his incendiary rhetoric and by his abject failure to condemn in the strongest possible language any comments of support from infamous former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/294401-trump-claims-party-of-lincoln-mantle-in-speech-at-black

Now he wants voters to believe he is going to unite Americans, that he intends to do right by all of our citizens.

Trump steps into a church, makes a speech and then disappears. And that is supposed to be a demonstration of a politician who vows to step “into the community and learn what is going on”?

Unbelievable.

national news, political news

Not quite so gracious a concession?

I hope now we’ll hear from Mitt Romney and hear his version of the phone call he made to President Obama the night he lost the 2012 presidential election.

Why? Because a new book by the president’s one-time senior political adviser paints a fairly dubious picture of the call the losing candidate made to the winner.

David Axelrod’s book, “Believer: My 40 Years in Politics,” tells of Romney telling Obama that the president did a good job of turning out the vote in places like Cleveland and Milwaukee. The president took that to mean “black people,” according to Axelrod.

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/04/black_people_thats_what_he_thinks_this_was_all_about_how_romneys_2012_concession_irked_obama/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

So, there you have it. The president was re-elected by 5 million votes because African-Americans turned out en masse to put their guy over the top?

Let’s assume for a moment that Axelrod has it right, that Obama was “unsmiling” during his brief conversation with Romney.

The president then went on national television to declare victory. He said the following: “We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight.”

Well, Mitt, did you really and truly frame your “congratulatory phone call” in that light?