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Thursday, January 20, 2011

So, now we know how "white Dems" really feel

This is one of those times I really hate no longer being allowed to post at Left in Alabama, but it's also one of those times I realize why I'm no longer allowed to post at Left in Alabama. The white wing of the Birmingham/Jefferson County Alabama democratic party held a forum to try and figure out How will Alabama Dems Rise Again after the November massacre. Calling themselves Dems instead of Democrats should have been my first clue, but this comment by mooncat defines how Dems really feel about the Democratic Party and African American Democrats specifically.
There is a perception that the ADP caters to black voters but ignores white voters. A significant number of Democrats, some on the SDEC, have expressed concern to me that the ADP will "become like Mississippi" where, I gather, race is the significant difference between the two parties. If you want to run for office and you're white, you run as a Republican, if you're black you run as a Democrat. Now, I know that isn't strictly the case in Mississippi since they recently had a white Democrat run (unsuccessfully) for Senate, but this is a huge concern for people who care about the Democratic party in Alabama.
Wrong mooncat, the ADP doesn't cater to black voters, they take black voters for granted. If you want to run for office and you're white in Alabama you run as a conservative democrat, with emphasis on conservative, to garner the white vote. and democrat to garner the black vote. Black voters have no where else to go but the ADP.

And how exactly does the ADP cater to black voters? By giving them a seat at the table? By addressing their issues and concerns?

If race is the elephant (is that a pun?) Joe Reed is the mahout And this is why he needs to step back gracefully.

Oh really now?

So now we know how white democrats, strike that, we know how some white democrats feel about it's minority members and it's leader. Black democrats need to go somewhere and STFU and STFD because they are driving white democrats away. Not.
In last year's midterm election, white voters favored the GOP by a margin of 60 percent to 37, according to the national exit poll conducted by Edison Research. It was a higher percentage than the margin claimed by the GOP during its 1994 landslide victory.
Anzalone argued that margin was reflective of the "political environment" and didn't mean there was a "death sentence" on Southern Democrats.
"We had this same conversation after the 1994 elections," he said, before citing a series of Democratic victories over the last two decades. "The reality is that white voters are up for grabs for Democrats.
"You've got to be patient, you've got to build your argument. Will it come immediately after a big swing like this? Not with big gains," he said.
White voters will come back to the party when they feel "comfortable" with a particular Democratic candidate, Anzalone predicted.
Rep. John Lewis doesn't have to be concerned about a "mass migration" of African-Americans to the GOP. He needs to be concerned about a mass migration of African Americans becoming Independents because as much as it pains me to para quote Dale Jackson, the democratic party doesn't want us and the republican party won't have us.

 What to do and where to go?

5 comments:

Dale Jackson said...

as much as it pains me to paraquote Dale Jackson, the democratic party doesn't want us and the republican party won't have us. What to do and where to go. Boy, I'd love to see where that quote came from.

Dale Jackson said...

Take 2:

"as much as it pains me to paraquote Dale Jackson, the democratic party doesn't want us and the republican party won't have us. What to do and where to go."


Boy, I'd love to see where that quote came from.

Redeye said...

It's a para quote, meaning it's not a direct quote and this is where it came from;

Fsct: The 90+% Dem vote for blacks regardless of behavior has rendered that block feckless. You get lip-service and nothing more. The GOP won't get you and the Dems got ya.

Dale Jackson said...

"the republican party won't have us" =/= "The GOP won't get you"

The GOP will have you, you won't have them.

Redeye said...

Today's republican party is yesterday's Democratic party.