Edited~"Race is the Donkey in the room", but let's not talk about it and maybe it will go away

Alabama Democratic Party chair Judge Mark Kennedy told the media he was resigning as party chair before the told the ADP he was resigning.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Democratic Party Chairman Mark Kennedy will announce today his intention to resign the top job in his party.Kennedy confirmed to AL.com late Thursday that he will begin notifying leaders in the party today that he is resigning, effective noon Monday.

According to Left in Alabama Blogger countrycat, it's the beginning of the end for the ADP

Judge Mark Kennedy's resignation announcement closes a door on the Alabama Democratic Party and may succeed in bringing the whole house down.  Kennedy's resignation is effective at noon on Monday.  He cited continuing conflicts with the party's Executive Board, which is led by Dr. Joe Reed and Nancy Worley.

This whole media-enabled Civil War reminds me of the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, " that smashed the opening-weekend record for a baseball movie and is now looking, this weekend, to continue that hot streak, the reasons for the film’s success might seem to be obvious. It is — at least in my book — a rock-solid sports movie, and it’s also a drama of race in America that allows us to experience the well-worn past with a new vividness and insight. It’s worth noting that a number of people don’t agree with that: They look at 42 and see a complacent liberal message movie with a flawless and therefore overly sanded off and uncomplicated hero."    Stay with me now.

Without giving too much away for those who haven't seen it yet, there is a scene where Herb, the owner of the Philadelphia baseball team, tells Branch Ricky, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his team is not going to take the field if that negro, Jackie Robinson shows up.

Intentional or not, this it's time for Joe Reed to bow out gracefully and make room for a new generation of leaders,  withdrawing support, forming a third party, forming a new state party under Kennedy, and refusing to contribute support the Alabama Democratic Party as long as Joe Reed  has a visible role sounds a lot like what Herb said.

The Alabama Democratic Party in bankruptcy court.  I don't blame Kennedy for refusing to preside over that PR debacle.
Oh, and good luck with the fundraising and candidate recruitment after that happens.

It just does.

Mind you some of the same people making these declarations, are the same people who supported then democrat, now republican, Artur Davis for governor over the real democrat, Ron Sparks, and are the same loyalist who supported Judge Mark Kennedy for chair of the Alabama Democratic Party.

Kennedy is a former Alabama Supreme Court justice and the husband of Peggy Wallace Kennedy, the daughter of former Gov. George C. Wallace.
He agreed two years ago, at the urging of a small group of party loyalists, to seek the chairmanship when no other credible candidate wanted it. The party Kennedy took over in early 2011 had just lost control of both houses of the state Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. That loss, coupled with the Republican Party's dominance in gubernatorial and judicial races and its almost unchallenged dominance in mostly white suburbs across the state, had combined to leave the party at perhaps its lowest point in history.Since taking over, Kennedy has attempted to stabilize the party’s teetering finances while also beginning the effort to rebuild and rebrand a party that has fallen out of favor with a majority of voters across the state.

The reason the party is bankrupt is that the GOP supermajority in the state legislature banned PAC to PAC transfers which were the lifeblood of the party. The reason the Alabama democratic party has fallen out of favor with a majority of voters across the states is that the majority of voters are Suckers.

There are two types of republicans:  millionaires and suckers.  Considering the policies of the modern Republican Party, this is very true. Their main policy is to make the rich even richer at the expense of everyone else. Anyone who is not rich and still votes Republican is voting against their own interests -- and therefore is a sucker.

For the record, I do not know Dr. Joe Reed personally, but people I know and respect do know him. Any power Joe Reed has is power he earned the hard fashioned way.

Joe Reed brilliantly championed the cause of African Americans as a Montgomery city councilman and then as the leader of the Alabama Democratic Conference. For that he deserves a revered place in Alabama history books.

Joe Reed is a bold, unapologetic, liberal.  He is a reliable voice for civil, equal, human, woman, public schools, public school teachers, labor, immigrants,  protecting the poor, the marginalized and the working class.  You know, the Democratic traditions the party stands for. Or at least traditions the party used to stand for before some felt the need to "reinvent" it. 

My Daddy use to say never burn the bridge that carried you safely over the water.  Like him or not. Joe Reed is that bridge.   Blaming the demise of the party on him is like blaming Saddam Hussein for 9/11. People who won't contribute to or support the Alabama Democratic party unless Reed bows out must care more about personalities than the democratic party agenda. 

So long as Joe Reed has control of it, there will be no viable Democratic Party in Alabama. The best we will get is a zombie.  

Oh, really?  First of all Joe Reed doesn't have "control" of the Democratic Party and he doesn't want control of the ADP,  he is an elected leader. It's up to the people who elected him to decide when it's time for him to go. The people who say they won't join the party unless Reed doesn't have a visible role are people who probably aren't real democrats in the first place.

 The Democratic Party in Alabama is never going to be stronger until we deal with the issue of race. ... To me the greatest problem with the Democratic Party right now is that we've taken every Democrat in the state of Alabama and divided them into little categories.  And everybody stays in their little category and nobody wants to work together.  So then we can't have a cohesive message about something like the sales tax on groceries, which is something that everybody agrees on.  It would have been a fantastic message for this election.  But we can't have a cohesive message until everyone gets out of their corner.

Imagine an Alabama Democratic Party without black folks. Intentional or not, that's what you are asking for when you say it's time for Joe Reed to step aside.  If the party is tired of one, the party is tired of all.   United we stand.  Divided we fall.  That's the lesson Alabama democrats should heed.

Captain America said:

 I'm as anti-Reed as aynone... (sic) but I saw little out of Kennedy and his operation to indicate that he had any real plan to move things in the right direction.He talked about blowing up dysfunctional county parties? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about throwing people off the committee who missed multiple meetings? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about distilling the ADP message into a bumper stick approach? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about reinviograting (sic) fundraising? I saw no evidence of that.In a choice between Kennedy and Reed, I'd choose Kennedy every time - but the man was chair for 2+ years and I am not sure what he did other than get into fights with Reed.

For the record, I am not anti-Kennedy or pro-Reed, I am pro the Alabama Democratic Party.  While we are waging war with each other the red, republican, controlled state legislature is getting away with murder.  Para quoting Dubya, you are either with the Alabama Democratic Party and what and who it stands for or. you are against the Alabama Democratic Party and what and who it stands for.

EYE report.
You decide.