Howard Dean Race Baiting Again
One major fear that the Democrats have is that they lose the ability to fool the black community in coming election cycles. With vote percentages among blacks falling for Democrats, Republicans have found their messages to be received more often in the black community. Howard Dean, though, is trying to fight back in an BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“I think most black Americans understand the Democratic Party stands for civil rights and economic justice,” Dean said in an interview with BlackAmericaWeb.com Monday. “The Republicans have nothing to offer black Americans. What have they offered in the last 40 years? You can put lipstick on a pig, but it doesn’t make the pig a pretty girl.”
Method #1 – Restate that Democrats are the party that stands for “civil rights.”
Method #2 – Follow up with insult of Republicans that really says nothing of substance that can be disproven.
“Imagine trying to convince black ministers that cutting Social Security is a good idea,” he said.
Method #3 – Accuse Republicans of doing something negative that they really aren’t doing, but word it in such a way that it really isn’t an accusation. Republicans aren’t trying to cut Social Security, but Dean didn’t really say they were. He just said that blacks should “imagine” that they are trying to convince black ministers that cutting would be a good idea.
When asked if Democrats are taking blacks for granted:
”Absolutely not,” Dean said. “We have to keep the promises we’ve made over the years. We’ve invested in African-American radio ads, we’ve invested in national print ads. We want to make our message very clear that we’re the party for equal rights. We’re the party for economic justice. The Republicans are the reverse Robin Hood party — steal from the poor and give to the rich — and that is not good for black Americans.”
Method #4 – State that Democrats need to keep the promises they’ve made, but without pointing out that they haven’t actually been keeping the promises.
Method #5 – Say a lot. Dean says they’ve bought radio ads. They’ve bought print ads. They’ve said they’re the party for equal rights and “economic justice.”
Method #2 revisited – Insults again, this time by misstating the Robin Hood myth. Robin Hood, you’ll remember, stole from the corrupt government and gave back to the citizens, the exact opposite of what the Democrats want to do.
On the other hand, Danny Diaz, spokesman for the GOP, had the following to say.
”While Howard Dean’s Democratic Party is taking African-American voters for granted, the GOP is reaching out and engaging in an honest dialogue with black voters,” Diaz told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “African-Americans are realizing that President Bush’s leadership is benefitting their community, enabling a majority of minority families to become homeowners for the first time in our nation’s history.”
According to Diaz, the GOP is talking TO black voters and not AT them. Diaz says that President Bush’s policies ARE helping black Americans, not just promising to.
“President Bush’s agenda of hope and opportunity stands in stark contrast to the Democrats’ anger and pessimism, and enabled the president to increase his percentage of the African-American vote across the country last year,” Diaz added. “From creating jobs to holding our schools accountable, African-Americans are realizing that if they give the GOP a chance, we will give them a choice.”
Hope and opportunity -vs- anger and pessimism. That’s where the Republican -vs- Democrat argument is right now.
Back to Dean:
“They think if you have [former Secretary of State Colin] Powell or [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice, this means equal rights,” Dean said, “but the Democratic Party knows equal rights is about hiring power, and we know it’s important that people who make decisions should also be people of color.”
Dean says black people should be in decision-making positions, but discounts Powell and Rice actually being put in those positions. This is why we can’t take the Democrats seriously on race any more.
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