Defenders of Harry Reid’s comments about black people in the new book Game Change urge that the Senator be judged not by his words but by his actions. Setting aside that Barack Obama offered repeatedly during the campaign that words do matter, what record as a supporter of African-American interests is Reid touting exactly? His continued championing of Great Society policy initiatives and the welfare state that stifled and perpetuated a permanent black underclass and has done more harm to the very fabric of inner city communities than the most ardent of Klansman could have ever wished for? Perhaps he means the continued uncertainty in the business community that his Obamacare and cap-and-trade swords of Damocles are fostering — discouraging us from hiring until we see where this is all going and how it will affect our bottom line. Overall black unemployment was over 20% in the third quarter 2009 — up from 13% a year ago. Or is he referring to his irresponsible declaration in 2007 that the Iraq war was “lost” while our troops were in the field…winning? Over 400,000 blacks serve in the U.S. military… certainly a higher representation relative to their population percentage as a whole. Reid is no friend of a military which has been a driving force for integration and black achievement for half a century.
With friends like Harry Reid, blacks need no enemies. All we are seeing now is that his private thoughts towards his black constituents are congruent with his public record. To someone who has observed the Democrats take the black vote for granted for years, while offering mere lip-service in lieu of constructive policies, these revelations about one of their leaders come as little surprise. But I do think this points out that the black community, by so consistently and overwhelmingly casting its lot with one party (96% voted for Obama) come what may continues to do itself a grave disservice by vitiating any power it might wield within that party. If Michael Steele can drive this message home, that black interests would be well served if they opened their eyes and considered the Republican alternative before them, he will have done both the GOP and the black community a great service indeed.
21 responses so far
1 balconesfault // Jan 12, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Defenders of Harry Reid’s comments about black people in the new book Game Change urge that the Senator be judged not by his words but by his actions.
No – many of us contend that (a) his words, if racist, were racist against whites and not blacks, and (b) that sadly, there is too much truth in what he said. In particular, it is a shame that for a Harvard Grad running for President, speaking like Slim Pickens is no impediment, while speaking like Jesse Jackson would kill your candidacy.
Overall black unemployment was over 20% in the third quarter 2009 — up from 13% a year ago.
Out of curiousity, what was black unemployment when Obama took office? That seems a more relevant data point.
2 mlloyd // Jan 12, 2010 at 3:46 pm
This kind of argumentation is not going to convince a single person anywhere on the planet who doesn’t already agree with you. If this site is actually about building a new conservative majority, you should try to live up to it, or move on to more partisan pastures.
As TNC put it: “this entire affair proves that the GOP is not simply still infected with the vestiges of white supremacy and racism, but is neither aware of the infection, nor understands the disease. Listening to Liz Cheney explain why Harry Reid’s comments were racist, was like listening to me give lessons on the finer points of the comma splice. This a party, rightly or wrongly, regarded by significant portions of the country as a haven for racists. They aren’t simply having a hard time re-branding, they don’t actually understand how and why they got the tag. ”
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/on_harry_reid.php
3 rectonoverso // Jan 12, 2010 at 4:57 pm
“With friends like Harry Reid, blacks need no enemies. ”
And with pundits like you, Conservatism needs no opponents.
4 Newman // Jan 13, 2010 at 11:20 am
This is my first time on this blog. I have thought the same thing about the democratic party that this author offers up here. I think he makes a legitimate point…especially in Harry Reid’s case. How has this man from an almost lily white state been a friend to African-Americans? I see barbs hurled at Schaeffer, but I see no sunstantive rebuttal. That says much.
5 balconesfault // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I see barbs hurled at Schaeffer, but I see no sunstantive rebuttal.
If you’ll notice, all Schaeffer really offered against Reid were barbs. But the real key lies in the following statement:
His continued championing of Great Society policy initiatives and the welfare state that stifled and perpetuated a permanent black underclass
This is a tenant of faith among Republicans … but it is a premise that is virtually unanimously rejected by blacks – even middle class blacks. Far and away they favor those continued Great Society policy initiatives, and they still see welfare (and affirmative action) as a necessary redress for the significant disparities in wealth that still exist on the whole between blacks and whites in American, a remaining legacy of a century of Jim Crow.
To put it bluntly, blacks support Harry Reid and the Dems because they believe the ideology of Reid’s political opponents to be full of shit.
6 rbottoms // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Oh no you didn’t.
7 Newman // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Balcon. I appreciate your response. What survey’s statistics do you have to support your thesis Schaeffer’s admonishions of the Welfare State vis-a-vis Balcks and the damage it did to their core fabric as he says ” is a premise that is virtually unanimously rejected by blacks – even middle class blacks.” On what do you base this claim?
Schaeffer does not say that Blacks do not BELIEVE thatReid and his left-leaning mantra are good for them. He argues that they are wrong to believe this.
8 rbottoms // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:58 pm
What is this 1980 still? I seem to remember that whole welfare reform thing in the late 1990’s.
The GOP is stuck in some time warp where Jesse Jackson still matters and the middle class successes of black America never happened. Geezers like Reid are adjusting to this new landscape of black and latino middle class aspirations fulfilled and though they make the occasional gaffe, we know for the most part they get it.
But the GOP is fixated talking down to blacks as if nothing had changed. We know that there are many more Obamas out there than ever before and the party that helped us get there doesn’t not have the initial G, O, or P in the name.
Like I said before, drop me a line when you’ve managed to get one black person out of the more than 20 million of us elected to national office. Until then, talk to the hand.
9 Newman // Jan 13, 2010 at 2:09 pm
rbottoms…”The GOP is stuck in some time warp where Jesse Jackson still matters and the middle class successes of black America never happened.” What does this even mean?
As for your second challenge. What % of Blacks are Republicans as opposed to Democrats? It is pretty difficult to get any Black man elected to a national office when so few are even in the party and those who are are ridiculed by the left-wing intelligencia, and the far left activist crew as being “sell outs.” Is not Michael Steele Black? (Or will you dismiss him as a “token” wheras Obama–who only got consideration because of his color (certainly not his wafer thin resume)–was the real deal?)
10 Newman // Jan 13, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Rbottoms… I have two questions. You used the word ‘us’ so is it safe to assume you are black?
If so, do YOU believe that the Welfare State has been a net positive to black America?
11 mlindroo // Jan 13, 2010 at 3:15 pm
> do YOU believe that the Welfare State has been a net positive to black America?
Has the Welfare State/Civil Rights/Affirmative Action/The Great Society been a net positive to black America? I’d answer “yes” without hesitation! Obviously blacks face less racial discrimination and are (by and large) better off now than 45 years ago.
Opponents zero in on black out-of-wedlock births which supposedly can be directly attributed to welfare dependency and the evils of the Great Society programs… But it is important to notice that these trends affect all U.S. ethnic groups to some extent. E.g. it seems (see http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/images/chart-4.gif ) white out-of-wedlock births have increased from 5% in 1965 to 25% in 1999 while the black illegitimacy rate tripled (from ~25% to ~75%). In both cases the increase started before Great Society and the African American percentage was as high as 15% already in 1940 (while illegitimacy only hit 15% in the mid-80s) .
The bottom line is that African-Americans continue to vote Democratic by a 9-to-1 margin year after year. So they obviously like what they are getting in return, no?
MARCU$
12 Newman // Jan 13, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Crack addicts keep coming back for crack but that doesn’t mean it is good for them.
Recently Howard Stern interviewed several African-Americans on ths streets of Harlem and presented to them a litany of Obama’s positions on taxes, Iraq, Afghanistan, Health Care etc. He asked them if they supported Obama on these initiatives. To a man/woman they all agreed whole-heartedly with each and every position. There was one small glitch though…the positions he was attributing to Barack Obama were actually JOHN MCCAIN’S!
The point being, that very often people have no clue what they are voting for or why. They just do what their local leaders tell them to do. And these local leaders are all plugged in philosophically and, , more importantly, financially to getting the democratic machine moving on and on. Jesse Jackson (still very relevant), Al Sharpton, etc. have a very vested interest in race relations being in disharmony…it is how they derive their power, influence, celebity and, of course, income.
I submit that ANY group that vote 9:1 for one party is going to be completely taken for granted by the ones getting the 9 and written off and thus ignored by the ones getting the rare 1.
By saying Blacks have no reason to be in the GOP, you are basically saying that without the paternalistic programs and protection of the Democratic party they would not survive. Perhaps you are right. But then had they been 5:5 the last half century, perhaps this would have been different.
(By the way. Civil Rights–which has nothing to do with the Welfare State which was wealth re-distribution and hand-outs –were supported by a larger % of Republican than Democratic legislators but…whatever).
13 mlindroo // Jan 13, 2010 at 5:20 pm
> By the way. Civil Rights–which has nothing to do with the Welfare State which was wealth
> re-distribution and hand-outs –were supported by a larger % of Republican than Democratic
> legislators but…whatever
That’s a statistic considering virtually all the white racist conservatives used to be Democrats before Nixon’s “southern strategy” got the ball rolling towards realignment.
> The point being, that very often people have no clue what they are voting for or why.
“What’s the matter with Kansas?!” “They cling to their guns and bibles!” etc.. This works both ways, really.
> By saying Blacks have no reason to be in the GOP, you are basically saying that without the
> paternalistic programs and protection of the Democratic party they would not survive.
Well, let’s not forget blacks had to overcome outright OPPOSITION in the 1960s. Bill Buckley may have done some admirable things in life, but he was dead wrong about racial segregation in the 1950s and 60. And many white conservatives continue to dismiss the value of “multiculturalism”, quotas for minorities and women etc.. Little wonder then that minorities tend to vote Democratic.
MARCU$
14 balconesfault // Jan 13, 2010 at 6:33 pm
From a recent Kaiser poll reported on NPR:
Blacks (72%) are more likely than whites (52%) to rate poverty a big problem; to say outside circumstances are the main cause of poverty (57% to 44%); to say that poor people have hard lives (59% to 39%); to say it is harder today than it was ten years ago to get out of poverty through hard work (58% to 48%); to say that the government could eliminate poverty (67% to 40%); and to say that most welfare recipients really want to work (54% to 45%). Whites (49%) are more likely than blacks (36%) to say poor people are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty; to say that poor people have it easy (49% to 31%); to say the government cannot eliminate poverty (56% to 31%); and to say that welfare encourages women to have more children than they would otherwise (60% to 48%). These divisions generally hold across income lines.
Meanwhile from a very recent Pew polling:
“Has the country done enough to provide Blacks equal rights with Whites?”
Whites 54% yes, 42% no
Blacks 13% yes, 81% no
If you want to see the weirdest result from that poll, however:
Do you like the way Barack Obama and his family lead their life at the White House, or not?
Whites – 61% yes, 15% no (Republicans 24% no)
Blacks – 91% yes (8% don’t know)
I can’t think of a bigger divide than that last question – somehow, 24% of Republicans don’t like the way Barack Obama and his family are acting in the White House … while an infintessimal number of blacks find fault.
15 Kanzeon // Jan 13, 2010 at 9:12 pm
It strikes me as somewhat paternalistic and bigoted to argue that 96% of blacks aren’t smart enough to figure out they’ve been sold a goods by a bunch of paternalistic bigots.
16 RalfW // Jan 14, 2010 at 10:40 am
I’m with Kanzeon on this. In fact, i find it generally disconcerting how many privileged white people have been opining on whether what Reid said was damaging or hurtful to black people.
Lets let black people take the lead on the questionl. Oops. Obama has already forgiven Reid. TNC over at the Atlantic has a nuanced approach. But to watch the Sunday talking-head shows and almost exclusively see white faces chattering about this says a lot to me. Liz Cheney being outraged? Please.
17 Newman // Jan 14, 2010 at 10:40 am
I notice that no one commented on the Howard Stern experiment. I submit, Kanzeon, that if not 96% a good percentage of blacks ARE in fact too ignorant/mislead by leaders with personal agendas (which is differnt than “not smart”) to realize that there have very much been sold a bill of good by a bunhc of paternalistic bigots.
Hell, a few years ago, Barack Obama would be getting Bill Clinton coffee!
Let me ask you, if the GOP offered up as Senator a man who was once a card-carrying member of the KKK how would that be treated?
18 Newman // Jan 14, 2010 at 10:43 am
Ralf. I guess you have now offered up Barack Obama (a half-white, hack chicago machine politician straight up and down party man) as the arbiter of what is and is not racist?
Do you honestly think that if Mitch McConnel had said such a thing that Rev. Al, Jesse, Barack, et. al. would be so forgiving? You know the answer to that of course.
19 Newman // Jan 14, 2010 at 10:48 am
Someone please tell me if you think Blacks have been better or ill-served by the Great Society social welfare state created by the democrats.
20 mlindroo // Jan 14, 2010 at 4:04 pm
> if the GOP offered up as Senator a man who was once a card-carrying member of the
> KKK how would that be treated?
Robert Byrd has been a Senator since 1959, when KKK membership was not particularly rare or controversial in the South (Byrd left the organization in 1953).
Byrd now admits his racial views were badly misguided. So why should this still be an issue?
MARCU$
21 Newman // Jan 15, 2010 at 7:55 am
You really believe that about Byrd? Honestly?
You must log in to post a comment.