BLACK REPUBLICANS
Steve Miller reports an ambitious plan by the GOP to win 25 percent of the black vote for President in 2004.
Bolstered by unprecedented Republican overtures to black voters, such as the $15 billion AIDS package to Africa and the Caribbean, appointments of blacks to key Cabinet positions, and the faith-based initiative, black Republicans are convinced they have a viable product to sell.
The effort includes an attempt to identify “closet Republicans” among blacks and encourage more of them to run for office.
This doesn’t sound like much of a plan, frankly, and strikes me as highly unlikely to succeed. Even with the success in Iraq and a focus on national security likely in the next election, this is going to be another very bitter campaign. And black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP have proven they will stoop to any level–the James Byrd ad in 2000 the most obvious example–to ensure a monolithic black vote for the Democrats.
You forgot the quotes for the term, “leader”. Unless, of course, you genuinely believe that Jesse “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” Jackson and Al “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor” Sharpton deserve serious consideration as leaders.
Heh. Well, they have lots of followers. I don’t have much respect for Jackson and have far less for Sharpton, but it’s undeniable that their utterances carry great weight with a large segment of black America. Not to mention the mass media.
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