Kevin Drum blasts the NAACP for its heavyhanded treatment of the Democratic candidates for president. I agree although, as I note in his comments section, I’m afraid the NAACP has been in this position for quite some time vis-a-vis the Democratic candidates. They and their fellow travellers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been kowtowed to in much the same way as the Bob Jones crowd has by the GOP. It is indeed sickening and shows how spineless politicians can be. While Clinton’s Sista Souljah moment in 1992 was crass and opportunistic, it at least showed some recognition of how corrosive letting the nutty part of your coalition run the show can be.
I actually liked Kweisi Mfume when he was in Congress and had honest hopes that he would restore some dignity to the NAACP, which was once an honorable organization. Instead, he’s let it get even worse. The despicable ads during the 2000 campaign equating then-Governor Bush’s failure to sign a hate crimes law (which he had in fact by then signed) to the brutal murder of James Byrd Jr. by white supremacists forever ended the credibility of that organization in my mind. The NAACP is about as representative of black America–even liberal black America–as Bob Jones University is of evangelical Christians. And it’s about time for politicians of both parties to realize that and act accordingly. The first major candidate who does that should significantly improve his chances in the primaries and win even moe support from moderates in the general election.
