Judge #RoyMoore is on TV again, blame the Alabama Democratic Party/Majority, again

Roy Moore Should Be Known As "Hypocrisy Judge"

Yes, Roy Moore is on the TV, again, and we have no one to blame but the Alabama Democratic Party/Majority under the leadership of Judge Mark Kennedy, who wasted precious time and limited resources fighting Joe Reed and his bunch.  instead of fighting the Alabama GOP.

Why are some Alabama democrats trying to reinvent the wheel, I mean party? Not sure, but I think it has something to do with the perception the party caters and cow tows to black voters, like that's a bad thing. I mean, what's wrong with being the party of civil, equal and human rights for all people regardless of race, creed or gender? What are we...chopped liver?

Let's recap

Roy Stewart Moore is the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He was re-elected in 2012 to the position he held from 2001 to 2003. He replaced Chief Justice Charles Malone. His current term expires in 2018.[1]
In 2003, Moore gained national attention for refusing, as the elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse—despite contrary orders from a federal judge. On November 13, 2003, Alabama's Court of the Judiciary unanimously removed Moore from his post as chief justice. In the years preceding his election to the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore had successfully resisted previous attempts to have a display of the Ten Commandments removed from his courtroom.

How did we get here? 

In 2011, Moore initially considered a bid for the Presidency, but instead Moore chose to enter the race for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court once again. He ran in the March 12, 2012 Republican Primary against two candidates. They were the sitting chief justice, Chuck Malone, who had been appointed to the office seven months earlier and former Democratic Attorney General Charles Graddick, who had become a Republican in 1994. Moore unexpectedly defeated both without a runoff despite being heavily outspent. Surprised Democrats had expected Chief Justice Malone to win and did not run a serious candidate and only had a perennial gadfly nominee. Democrats quickly disqualified him and hand-picked Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance as his replacement. Vance, who also outspent Moore lost the General Election but garnered almost 48% of the vote.
In January 2012, the Montgomery Advertiser reported that the single-biggest donor to his campaign (having contributed $50,000 of the total $78,000 received by Moore until December 31, 2011) is Michael Peroutka, a longtime acquaintance of Moore's who is associated with organizations such as the Constitution Party and the League of the South and is a frequent guest on The Political Cesspool. In response, Moore said he did not share the ideas of those organizations.
After winning the Republican nomination for the Chief Justice position, on November 6, 2012, Moore was elected as Alabama Chief Justice over replacement Democratic candidate Bob Vance.

Now, let's go back to THIS:   Surprised Democrats had expected Chief Justice Malone to win and did not run a serious candidate and only had a perennial gadfly nominee. Democrats quickly disqualified him and hand-picked Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance as his replacement.   

As mentioned in last week's Election Brief, on Friday the Alabama Democratic Party held a hearing to determine whether Harry Lyon was fit to stand as the party's candidate for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He was to have competed against former Chief Justice Roy Moorein the general election. During the hearing, the committee provided evidence in the form of Lyon's private Facebook postings during the campaign. After being disqualified, he again took to the platform to express his opinion on the matter. Below is an excerpt from his page. The capital letters are carried over from the original posting.
“ I WISH THAT CHAIRMAN KENNEDY RENOUNCE HIS POSITION OF AGREEING WITH SAME SEX MARRIAGE AND BELIEF THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS HEALTHY AS, IN MY OPINION, HIS DIRECTOR BRADLEY DAVIDSON, POLITICAL FRIEND DOUG JONES AND OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE EMBRACE. AMEN.”

The Chairman of the Republican Party responded by noting that the removal of Lyon from the ballot showed "that Democrats are truly liberal and out of touch with Alabama values."
Stepping in to take on the role as the Democratic candidate is Judge Robert S. Vance, who has served on the Circuit 10 Court since 2002. He was most recently re-elected to the circuit court in 2010, when he ran without opposition.Vance mentioned that he did not enter the race before the March primary because he supported the work of current Chief Justice Charles Malone. 

EYE tried to tell some of Y'all this was going to be a Gang Banging, but did you listen?

The time to inform democratic voters the democratic nominee for the Supreme Court is a bigot is BEFORE the democratic primary not AFTER the fact. It's kind of like trying to UN-RING a Bell.

So, the ADP under the leadership of Chairman Mark Kennedy, was fine with a bigot on the ballot before they discovered a bigger bigot was on the ballot.   This illustrates the problem within the Alabama Democratic Party. There is a huge disconnect between the Big Cats and the Big Dogs within the ADP, which manifest itself in the Big Cats deciding who should represent the interest of Alabama's poor/black/brown citizens . The Big Cats and Dogs recruit/ select these so called "viable" candidates then when they don't win, blame it on Joe Reed and his Bunch.   

What Anonymous said

We had a choice of Roy Moore, Robert Vance, or Harry Lyons? Isn't that sad? I'm starting to think Harry Lyons might have been the best choice--and I'm not entirely joking about that.

From the Files of Stuck on Stoopid in #AmeriBama Tuesday Edition

Fist Dap Frank Matthews

How often does a newspaper fire a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter?

 As nonsensical as it sounds, al.com/The Birmingham News pulled off the unusual feat by ushering reporter Joey Kennedy out the door recently. Veronica Kennedy, Joey's wife, broke the news on her Facebook page and said he received no severance pay, just a final paycheck and notice that his insurance would end on February 28.

Left in Alabama, the Informed. Involved. Progressive. Blog of record, has the nerve to  blame the Alabama Democratic Party, and the Alabama Education Association for the Decline and Fall of the ADP and the AEA,  they enabled. 

In 2010, many Alabama Democratic candidates forgot their base, ran from their party, and failed to run on any issues that mattered to Alabama families.

Eye tried to tell some of Y'all, A party divided will NOT stand.  But did you listen?  Noooo.  That would have been too much like right(pun intended).

What Nancy Worley said all the damn way!

Worley said in a phone interview Monday it was unfortunate that Kennedy decided to resign and “take his toys and go home,” but she feels that people will return to the Alabama Democratic Party as they see the policies of the Republican super majority in the Legislature “taking care of the rich” and how those decisions affect them.
“We’re looking at a golden opportunity in the upcoming election in 2014, because quite frankly the Republicans have so many negative situations they have created for the state that I think people are going to feel the pinch in their pocketbook and they’re going to vote Democratic, like they once did,” she said.

Psst President Obama...please read this letter in preparation for your speech in #Selma on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Dear President Obama,
This letter is in part to let you know that we are proud of you and your leadership. We are proud of the positive images you and your family provide for the nation in general and African Americans in particular.
However, we also write to share serious concerns voiced by many African Americans. We feel that an open letter will stimulate a broader dialogue.

Read On. Read Often.

"Democrats" are waging a War on Whites? Who knew?

H/T Left in Alabama

Finally a war I can support!  Just kidding. Those who know me know I am anti-war/anti-violence of any kind. My weapons of choice are words and the ballot box, but I got to thinking....what if democrats did wage a war on white folks?  Maybe if Democrats had waged a war on white folks we wouldn't be in this mess.  By mess I am referring to sending our troops to war based on dead wrong intelligence, raiding the surplus to give the rich a tax cut, spying on the American people without a warrant, outing CIA  agents,  massive unemployment, record foreclosures, failing public schools and infrastructure, and the list goes on and on, like the Energizer Bunny.

Before we jump into Congressman Mo Brooks (r. AL 05) #WarOnWhites we must decode his code words.  First, democrats are code for black folks, African Americans, Negroes, coloreds, and whatever else you want to call people of color, not to be confused with them their illegals, which is code for Mexicans, Hispanics, anyone else from south of the border.  So when Congressman Brooks says democrats are waging war on white folks, he's really saying black folks are waging war on white folks, because everybody knows the democratic party panders to black voters at the expense of white voters.  Now, this is not true, but this is the perception held by some, not to be confused with all, white folks.

A generation ago, the Alabama Democratic Party’s black caucus had to fight for representation on the party’s executive committee, but today the party and that caucus, the Alabama Democratic Conference, overlap so much they are nearly synonymous.

Under a 25-year-old consent decree, ADC can select at-large executive committee members to make the committee racially proportionate to the party’s electorate. But it has exercised that power only in terms of black and white. Hispanics and other minority groups are not represented well, if at all, on the committee.

The ADC’s power has put its president, Joe Reed, squarely in the party driver’s seat and has made him a divisive figure. Last year, a spat with then-party chairman Mark Kennedy ended with Kennedy resigning his position and creating a new political group, the Alabama Democratic Majority, which some in the party hoped could reform or replace the state executive committee. At the time, Kennedy denied that was its purpose, but the message was clear: For at least part of the leadership, Alabama’s Democratic party had become too dysfunctional to be salvageable.

What Kennedy and his allies left behind was a smattering of white faces in a mostly black crowd.

I tried to tell them instead of creating their own separate and unequal party to get rid of Joe Reed and his bunch, they should have been joining Joe Reed and his bunch.  But did they listen to me?  Naaaaah. So here we are 3 months before the election and democrats in the fifth congressional district have a choice between Mo Brooks and Mo Brooks Lite.  My only hope is Mo Brooks Lite has the decency not to publicly disrespect the President of the United States of America, and if elected he will put his republican past behind him, and put people over party.  But I digress.

Before we return to the #WarOnWhites, there is one more word we have to define, and that word is psychological projection.

Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others.^[1] For example, a person who is rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude.

So, when Congressman Mo Brooks accuses democrats (blacks) of waging war on whites, he really means republicans (whites) are waging war on democrats (blacks).

Alabama has an ugly racial past that has taken decades to overcome. Still, for many outside the state, Alabama is remembered for Bloody Sunday in Selma and Bull Connor's fire hoses turned on peaceful protesters in Birmingham. Those images belong in the past in the wake of the civil rights movement, but Brooks' comments will only reinforce those images.The irony in Brooks' comments is he accuses Democrats of "... launching this war (by) claiming that whites hate everybody else." Really? With our first African-American president in his second term, is it he and his party fomenting hate? No.Brooks embodies all that is wrong with the contemporary Republican Party. He's too far right to understand ordinary people's problems, and he won't engage with Democrats to craft legislation — such as immigration — that has long needed to be addressed. He is mired in political theory and ideology, refusing to accept that others, even in his own party, have something to bring to the table. That is arrogance.Sadly, Brooks will find a willing audience for his incendiary views in a state and a nation increasingly divided against themselves.

Whites are waging a war on blacks, and the opening salvo was the certification of the 2000 election. 

Addendum

The real reason that I oppose the Republican Party has nothing to do with my being a Democrat. I'm not. I'm an independent, with no political party. I don't oppose the Republicans in order to support the Democrats, I oppose the Republicans because the kind of people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing have joined the GOP. Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Nixon's Southern Strategy, these people were loyal Democrats, partly because of the New Deal but mostly because of Reconstruction and the Civil War. When the Democratic Party split along sectional lines in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act, the Republicans reached out to the disaffected Southern Democrats, encouraged them to join the GOP. The party did not change the Dixiecrats, the Dixiecrats changed the party.

Whatever political party draws its strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat
Whatever political party draws its strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat.

The End.

Update~ Mo Brooks is right (pun intended) #waronwhites

No brainer

Mo Brooks (r. AL 05) is the Trent Lott (r. MS) of the republican party.  Like Lott, he said publicly what  some circles say privately.  Don't get it twisted, some (not to be confused with all)  aren't mad at what Mo said, they are  mad because he said on the radio and on TeeVee.  Rule 101 of James Crow Esq. is don't reveal your identity or your strategy.  If you hate blacks/women/Hispanics/LBGT, pretend you love them, that way you can be more effective  in thwarting their success or advancement, i.e. justice system, school system, housing system, banking system, employment system, and last but not least the social system.

"I want the American people to start recognizing what the heck's going on," Brooks said. "When the Democrats bring up race time after time after time, what's the theme? It's skin color. Who are they saying who dislikes whom? They're saying the whites dislike the blacks, the whites dislike the Hispanics and the Democrats are the ones who will protect you from those whites.
"That's the subliminal and sometimes open message."

Rep.Mo Brooks has a documented history in the 5th Congressional District, this is not his first tell us how you really feel moment.  This is the former appointed DA who voters, black and white, rejected in the general election (thank goodness). This is same individual who ran for a seat on the Madison County Commission and won due to it's gerrymandered composition.  This is the gentleman, who believes whites have a higher I.Q. than blacks, and children who live in public housing should not be allowed to attend south Huntsville schools because they lower test scores.  This is the sitting United States Congressman who was forced to withdraw use of the word socialist on the house floor, and,  who refused to back off his "anything short of shooting them" illegal immigration threat.

 And Mo says democrats are waging a war on white folks?

" Certainly if you were to flip the coin and a white person were to say vote for me because I'm white, it would be an uproar and deservedly so. So why do we allow blacks to say vote for me because I'm black or Hispanics vote for me because I'm Hispanic? " 

 Shhh!  Don't tell anyone but that is exactly what Mo Brooks is saying to his base, you know, the people who hate President Obama more than they love themselves.

Not to be left out, AL.com's  Mark McCarter wasted no time jumping into the fray to defend Mo by attempting to drag state Representative Alvin Holmes into Mo's mess.   This is not about Alvin Holmes or anyone else.  It's about Mo Brooks and the dark heart that is represented by his views.  These views speak to the content Mo's character, and those of his supporters, not to Alvin Holmes character, or any other false equivalency.

Congressman Brooks is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama, and the voters who elected him.  He is not the first Alabama politico to rant racist views, but hopefully he will be the last.  Voters have the chance to send him, and others like him, to the unemployment line.

Before Mo and Company took over, north Alabama was considered to  more cosmopolitan (for lack of a better word) than other parts of the state because of it's diversity. These views most certainly do not represent the diverse community Mo was elected to represent.  Huntsville depends on federal programs to fuel it's economy.  Local leaders must be cringing with fear.  Of course I won't hold my breath waiting for someone to step up and denounce, repudiate, and reject Mo Brooks they way they made candidate Obama reject Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  That would be too much like right (pun intended).

Let me end by saying we all have some degree of prejudice in our hearts, but it takes power to exercise racism.

Ordinarily we might expect to hear talk of a “war on whites” from those on the radical fringes of American society. When the phrase comes from a sitting member of Congress, the rhetoric is far more alarming.

I'm talking about you Mark Kennedy and the Alabama Democratic Majority.  Where are all those candidates you were going to recruit once you got rid of Joe Reed and his bunch?

In theory, these are the kind of remarks that would tarnish, if not irreparably harm, a politician’s career, but Brooks has very little to worry about – his Alabama district is ruby red, and this fall, Democrats won’t bother to run a candidate against him.

 Enough!

RedEye Around Red State AlaBAMA~Update

 H/T Teanderthal Party

Most red states are dirt poor because they are fed a steady diet of distortions via News(sic) Talk  Radio, whose job it is to use the public airways to misinform the uniformed, and, distract them with so called wedge issues, which in turn, makes them vote against their self interest.  

I meet you all the time. You hate Obama. You hate gay people. You hate black people, immigrants, Muslims, labor unions, women who want the right to make choices concerning their bodies, you hate em all. You hate being called racist. You hate being called a bigot. Maybe if you talked about creating jobs more than you talk about why you hate gay people we wouldn't call you bigots. Maybe if you talked about black people without automatically assuming they are on food stamps while demanding their birth certificates we wouldn't call you racist. You hate socialism and social justice. You hate regulations and taxes and spending and the Government. You hate.

RedEye's  Right Wing Watch

I'm glad I have my own blog to debunk the right wing distortions since Dale "Jackson" won't allow me to comment on his blog because he's afraid to engage me in a debate/discussion.Yep, the same Dale who refuses to debate me online is demanding that Huntsville City Councilman Will Culver bow down, I mean, apologize to him, for daring to walk out of the Council meeting after Dale took aim at him and Calhoun Community College , and, for (get this) threatening to sue Dale, which he really didn't threaten to do, and even if he did so what? 

"I'm saddened by the inaccuracy of the information that's being disseminated," said Culver. "All those things that are being alleged did not happen."
During the ensuing debate over whether Jackson should be allowed to continue speaking, a clearly agitated Culver packed his briefcase, walked out of the meeting and did not return.
On Friday, Culver called Jackson's allegations "totally unfounded" and said he is "looking at my legal options."

Psst Dale!  Will Culver has the right (pun intended) to pack up his briefcase and walk out of  meeting and to look at his  legal options.  You can't force him to recant his charge any more than he can force you to recant your charges.  You both have 1st amendment rights, remember?  You might want to read  this.  I'm just saying...BTW, you are welcome to comment on my blog anytime because I believe in freedom of speech.

The same Alabama Red Republican Controlled State Legislature that wants to arm teachers, recently passed new gun laws, and the so called Alabama Accountability Act, want to ban certain books in public schools because (wait for it), State Senator Bill Holtzclaw (yes you read it right) finds Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye highly objectionable and sees no value or purpose in this book, educational or otherwise.  And you wonder why most red states are dirt poor?

The University of  Alabama sorority row bought, I mean, brought, a late surge in voter registrations for Tuesdays election which helped elect  Lee "Penis Nose" Garrison President of the Tuscaloosa City School Board. And how did the Sorority girls pull off such a feat you ask?  Why they did what any self respecting Southern Belle, I mean, Sorority girl would do...they chartered them some stretch limos and offered free drinks to members who voted.  There are allegations,  not to be confused with facts, that some of the voters weren't even from Alabama.  Why does this remind me of State Senator Scott Beason's infamous Aborigines comment?

The recording followed a different conversation that jurors heard Thursday in which Beason and other Republican senators can be heard talking about “HUD-financed buses” taking black voters to the polls in the November 2010 election if the ballot included a referendum to legalize electronic bingo.

Meanwhile way down yonder in Mobile, Alabama,  the white candidate mayoral beat the incumbent black mayoral candidate with a white surge . Surge must be the word of the day for Al.com.

Mayor Sam Jones lost support among both white and black voters in Tuesday’s election, compared with his first successful mayoral race eight years ago, an AL.com/Press-Register analysis suggests.

White voters left him for challenger Sandy Stimpson, while black voters abandoned him for home.

The difference is that there were fewer black voters, while white turnout was higher and went emphatically for Stimpson.

 Steve Raby, the mayor’s political consultant, said he did not know why white voters turned out in such higher numbers than blacks.

 There's just one little problem with this analysis....

Overall, voter turnout was 46 percent, roughly the same as in 2005.

Which leads me to believe the part about black voters abandoning the black candidate for home, which black voters don't do because the right to vote is sacred to black voters, which is why republicans are trying to suppress the black vote, is not true, but the part about white voters abandoning the black candidate, is true.

On Tuesday, Jones did not come close to winning a district where white voters outnumber blacks. Turnout averaged 48 percent in the precincts that are at least 55 percent white and exceeded 50 percent in five of them. In the precincts that are at least 55 percent black, meanwhile, turnout averaged only 39.2 percent

Rut Rho...Absentee ballots brings scrutiny and confusion on Election Day.

Less than an hour into the Mobile municipal election, people were already complaining of issues at the polls — the most common of those being that when the voter went to the poll, he or she was marked as already voted by absentee ballot. 

The absentee ballots in this election have become a flashpoint over the past few days after it came to light Friday that the U.S. Postal Inspector was looking into possible mail fraud in regard to the way the ballots were being sent in. The inspector, Tony Robinson, told FOX10, "We do have an active investigation in the Mobile area and inspectors there will be seeing that through toward prosecution.”

Herding Alabama DemoCats Rant

So, the Alabama Democratic Majority, which seceded from the Alabama Democratic Party because they refused to bow down to Joe Reed and his bunch,  held a democratic revival were they were supposed to be preaching the democratic gospel of of education, equal opportunity, voting rights, and inclusiveness (sic), however the headline in AL.com said Mark Kennedy's Alabama Democratic Majority seeking Dem's, Republicans to run for Legislature.

Add Republican candidates for public office to the growing umbrella of the Alabama Democratic Majority organization.
Speaking at a reception in his honor tonight, Mark Kennedy, who formed the Alabama Democratic Party in April following his resignation as chair of the state Democratic Party, said his group is seeking not only Democratic candidates to support but also Republicans.
"We're going to support Democrats but we're also going to look at opportunities to support independents and even Republicans to have a more balanced approach to government," Kennedy said.

Add this to the list of  I tried to tell some of y'all this is a farce.  Now why would Democrats seek republicans to run for office?  I don't see republicans say they are seeking democrats to run for office.  You know why? Because democrats and republicans have an entirely different agenda.  I'm sick and tired of  candidates running on the democratic ticket, getting elected with democratic votes, then governing like a republican.  If my choice is between a conservadem and republican I will stay my Ebony Donkey at home on election day.  If I wanted to vote republican, I would be a republican.  Maybe Kennedy and Company didn't get the memo that recent polls suggest calling Someone a republican is an insult?

 The independent political polling company NSON Opinion Strategy [1] recently published the results of a case study in which 250,000 randomly selected American voters were asked a series of questions. The details of how and where the study was conducted have yet to be released but the results are clear: 87% of Americans consider the word “Republican” to be synonymous with greed, racism, and violence.

No Absence of Malice in Bama  Update;

Attorneys for former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who is in jail for something that is not a crime,  filed a brief with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals asking for a new trial, or at the minimum additional discovery about the role of former U.S. Attorney Leura Canary.  Maybe now that President Obama's former White House counsel is listed as the lawyers on is defense team this travesty of injustice will be over for the Siegelman family.

 Seven years after the former governor was found guilty, and after numerous failed appeals, Dana Siegelman said the family is still driven to overturn what she describes as a miscarriage of justice carried out by those who wanted her father exiled from state politics.

Free at  Last!  Free at Last!  Thank God Almighty Chris McNair is Free at Last!

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A federal judge this afternoon issued an order for the immediate release of 87-year-old former Jefferson County Commissioner Chris McNair, who is serving time in prison for his conviction on public corruption charges related to the county's sewer system. 
 McNair is the father of Denise McNair, one of the four little girls killed in the KKK's bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963. The 50th anniversary of that  pivotal moment in Civil Rights history is 17 days away.

RedEye Around Red State AlaBAMA over and out for now.

Lessons Learned? I don't think so....

Per Left in Alabama blogger countrycat;   approximately 300 people attended the Alabama Democratic Majority's first Grassroots Convention at the University of Alabama this weekend, where Judge Mark Kennedy opened the event with one of his barn burner speeches, Congresswoman Terri Sewell provided a free lunch to participants, and Executive Director Bradley Davidson listed the the following goals:

1. Defeat the GOP super-majority.
2. Expand the electorate.
3. Equip the electorate with voter IDs.
4. Build a progressive infrastructure that lasts past a single election cycle.
5. Launch a grassroots donor base instead of relying on a few large donors.  That shifts power to the grassroots instead of a few party bosses.

Now these goals sound fine and dandy but my question is, why was there a need to form a separate party to achieve these goals?  

Oh, I forgot....because of Joe Reed and his bunch.

Joe Reed and his bunch want to Defeat the GOP super-majority.
Joe Reed and his bunch want to expand the electorate.
Joe Reed and his bunch want to Equip the electorate with Voter IDs.
Joe Reed and his bunch want to Build a progressive infrastructure that last past a single election cycle.
Joe Reed and his bunch want Launch a grassroots donor base instead of relying on a few large donors.

According to Davidson this is the path to victory for democrats;

The Democratic path to victory, he explained runs through the Senate and the ADM will work to help all Democratic candidates, but particularly Senators Tammy Irons & Mark Keahey.  Both intimidate the GOP because they're young, articulate, and popular in their districts.  The GOP has targeted their races and the Democrats have to hold those seats.
Targeted GOP seats include:

• Senator Paul Sanford, District 7 in Madison County. 
• Senator Bill Holtzclaw, District 2 in Madison County. 
• Senator Shadrack McGill, District 8 in Jackson, DeKalb, & a sliver of Madison County.
• Senator Phil Williams, District 10  from Gadsden.
• Senator Gerald Dial, District 13 in Randolph, Cleburne, Chambers, Cherokee, & Lee counties.
• Senator Gerald Allen, District 21 from Tuscaloosa.
• Senator Del Marsh, District 12 in Calhoun & St. Clair Counties. He's the GOP Senate leader.

Question:  Why waste time and resources on candidates who young, articulate, and popular in their district just because the gop has "targeted them"?  If they are as popular as you say it won't matter if the gop "targets" them or not.  And wouldn't it be helpful to have actual candidates to run against  Sandford, Holtzclaw, McGill, Williams, Dial, Allen, and Marsh?  Where are the candidates?

This is is precisely why I oppose the creation of this organization.  It is dividing the Alabama Democratic Party.

Strike that, it is destroying the Alabama Democratic Party. 

For too long we have been seen as stupid, redneck, backward and just plain simple. Serious thought and consideration must be given to the path of destruction that beckons our state, and we as a people must march out of the abyss of our own making.
In the overall scheme of Alabama politics, there are choices, and they are not difficult ones to make. If you are poor, you are a Democrat, even if you deny the obvious.

A party divided will NOT stand.

 My advice to them at the time? The real progressive Democrats in Alabama — and there are many, in spite of the false picture painted by the corporate media institutions here — should unite and figure out a way to take over the Democratic Party and rewrite the platform, like the conservative, religious wing of the Republican Party took it over in the 1980s.

Real  Alabama democrats can't win for the journalist.

And we wonder why the Alabama Democratic Party is dysfunctional?

The Alabama Democratic Majority, a grassroots organizing group (aka the Artur Davis wing of the Alabama Democratic Party), started by former ADP Chair Judge Mark Kennedy  "is only a few months old, but according to countrycat,   it's already making progress on its goals of registering, organizing, and informing voters  "

Oh, really?

 Left in Alabama  (links inserted for emphasis are  mine and mine alone):

 Judging by the response to its first Grassroots Convention, it appears that many Alabamians have responded to the ADM's message - so much so that the conference is being moved to a larger venue, and,  ADM Executive Director Bradley Davidson is expecting "a packed house."

The Locust Fork Journal's Glynn Wilson says;  If this doesn't wake some  people up I don't know what will.

It has now become obvious that Kennedy, the paid party executive director Bradley Davidson and former state campaign chair for Obama’s campaign, Leanne Townsend, had been planning to walk away from the party to start something new for some time before the budget meeting where Kennedy and Joe Reed got into it.
According to key sources, the state party’s fund raising Website had already been disabled months before the April meeting when the visible split occurred. Members of the Over the Mountain Democrats had tried to make donations, but got nothing but error messages. When they tried to report it, they were given the cold shoulder.

 I said it once, and I will say it again, a party divided will not stand.

(Emphasis mine)

 My advice to them at the time? The real progressive Democrats in Alabama — and there are many, in spite of the false picture painted by the corporate media institutions here — should unite and figure out a way to take over the Democratic Party and rewrite the platform, like the conservative, religious wing of the Republican Party took it over in the 1980s.~ Glynn Wilson

Amen and Amen.

"Before jumping on any bandwagons, know who is driving the rig and which direction it's headed "

 Left in Alabama commenter maebabs made this comment in reference to Ron Sparks (D) and Artur Davis(DINO) differing positions on charter schools during the 2010 Alabama Democratic gubernatorial primary.  This comment runs parallel to my previous post regarding the New Democratic Majority.  The more I read, the more I'm convinced  the Artur Davis wing is holding the reins, and it's all about driving  Joe Reed off a cliff.

We white Democrats who grub for white votes one at a time at feed stores, convenience stores, wherever the opportunity arises, sometimes get a response which is "the (N) own the Democratic Party." It's always the "N" word and it's always summed up just that way. Now, recall a few years ago when a black Bham area legislator retired and a white woman upset black candidates and won the Democratic nomination. Joe Reed screamed it was "a black" seat, which only helped reinforce white antipathy to black democrats. Reed helped finance a challenge, and demanded futilely to be on the State Dem party committee deciding the challenge. He lost the battle, but he got even by engineering the removal of the chair of the committee from her state party post, who, ironically, is a white woman with a long history of working for black equality. That's just a little of Joe Reed. Go back to his relationship with George Wallace before he didn't have a relationship with George Wallace. Of course artur knew that Reed is lining his organization up for sparks. He could have gone in and begged for no endorsement in the primary. I like what he did. Alabama politics is better for it.

I refuse to believe the MAJORITY of Alabama DEMOCRATS are anti AEA(Alabama Education Association).

I have a child in the public school system, and it appears to me that the AEA's main purpose is protecting tenured teachers, rather than the best teachers or all students. While I haven't done in-depth research into charter schools or vouchers, the fear-mongering advertisements I heard on the radio during the primaries (funded by the AEA) infuriated me. 
I realize the AEA was created when the two pre-existing teachers' unions headed by Hubbert and Reed merged, and from what I understand they did much to make integration relatively smooth. However, that was decades ago.
Currently, the state party is dominated by the AEA. My county chairperson is an employee of the AEA. The meeting place for the county party is in the AEA headquarters building. It's rather difficult to be a part of the Democratic party in this state without supporting the AEA -- so tell me why I should.

I refuse to believe the MAJORITY of Alabama DEMOCRATS are willing to pander to the right at the expense of the most loyal democratic voting block for personal, political gain.

Congressman Davis has often admitted in his interviews his admiration for Rev. Jackson.  It is time to move past race and engage in critical, thoughtful dialogue that moves Alabama forward.  Honoring the leaders that have sacrificed and paved the way for all Americans, we need to be able to think about practical solution and ways to implement them.  More so, we need to find and support leaders that will go against the grain to push us forward.  Artur Davis is that candidate that I truly believe is able to deliver on what Alabama needs. This is also relevant to the health care reform where he obviously wants MORE for us.  This health care reform must work for Alabama and the small businesses.  Kudos to Congressman Davis for taking a stand!!!!

It's De Joe-Vu all over again.

 In reality, Davis hasn't rejected the black vote, he's rejected the black gatekeepers and gone directly to the people.  It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton also came and spoke directly to the ADC in late 2007; Barack Obama did not.  Obama went on to win the Alabama primary -- and the general election.

I HOPE the MAJORITY of Alabama DEMOCRATS don't feel this way about the traditional democratic base.

The endorsement of these groups is not about who has the best position on health care, or bingo or ethics reform, or unemployment, or jobs -- New South endorsed Earl Hilliard, Jr. over Davis in both 2000 and 2002 and they've never given him more than token support in the years since.  These endorsements are about kow-towing to the power brokers and Artur Davis has never been willing to do that.  Bottom line, history tells us Joe Reed would move heaven and earth to keep ADC from endorsing Artur Davis.  Ditto Hank Sanders and New South Coalition.  It's the status quo vs. a new way of doing business in Alabama, and the folks who wield power with the current system aren't going to give it up quietly.

Ron Sparks will happily kow-tow and they'll endorse him.  No surprise there.

 All that glitters is not gold. 

 There is the perception that the Democratic Party is the party of black folks and the Republican Party is the party of white folks.  What can we do in Alabama to address openly and honestly the issues of race that divides the Democratic Party but has no role in the Republican Party?

Well we can start by stop being afraid to talk openly and honestly about race.

We can't expect voters in Alabama to get over the race issue when the Democratic Party in Alabama can't get over the race issue.  ...  Everybody wants to pretend like it doesn't exist.  But it does.  I got phone calls that would say things like, "did you send black canvassers to white doors?"  As a party we need to decide that we're going to get over race before we can expect voters to do that.

Secondly, we must purge the party of infiltrators.  You are either with the Alabama Democratic Party and it's agenda, or, you are against the Alabama Democratic Party and it's agenda. There is no in between. The Democratic Party can't just say we are ALL on the same rig and the driver is driving the rig  in the same direction when it's convenient (aka election time).

This is not your Daddy's Alabama Democratic Party...Or is it?

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., shares a moment with Peggy Wallace-Kennedy, daughter of former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, prior to being introduced to the congregation gathered at the Brown AME Chapel in Selma, Ala., on Sunday, on the 44th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Key words... a symbol of change in Alabama.   From where I sit I see lots of symbolism but very little change due to the deep racial divide within the Alabama Democratic Party.  The white wing needs the black wings vote in order to "win" elections, but after they win, they govern like republicans. When the black wing dares complain about their mist-treatment, or demand equal rights they are accused of being divisive, code for shut up, stop whining,  go along to get along.  

The present Chairman is trying to "reinvent the Alabama Democratic Party"  but what does that mean exactly?  Based on actions and comments it means getting rid of Joe Reed and his bunch of people.  There's only one problem with that...getting rid of Joe Red and his bunch of people will return the Democratic Party to the party of Segregation Today.  Segregation Tomorrow.  Segregation Forever.

So who are Joe Reed and his bunch of people?  

The Alabama Democratic Conference, formerly known as the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, was established in 1960. Its leaders were African Americans who wished to encourage all voters, but especially other African Americans, to vote for the democratic candidate, who at the time was John F. Kennedy with vice president Lyndon B. Johnson. The founders of this influential group include Arthur Shores, Rufus Lewis, Dr. C.G. Gomillion, Q. D. Adams, Isom Clemon, and Beulah Johnson. All of these individuals held respectable positions in their communities and were looked up to by the people, especially by other African Americans.

Since the time of its establishment, the Alabama Democratic Conference has only gotten more influential. In fact, it now promotes the democratic party throughout the entire state thanks to having many chapters and other affiliated organizations.

The mission statement of the Alabama Democratic Conference is simple. It is to "organize" and to "unify" the vote of the African American population and also to make the African American vote and opinion appreciated and respected. The organization worked tirelessly for ten years after its inception before these results truly began to manifest themselves. It was a long, hard road, but the members were simply not willing to give up on what they thought as important. Things really changed for this group in 1970 when it began to screen and endorse actual democratic candidates. This brought more attention to and knowledge of the group. The Alabama Democratic Conference also focused on having voter registration drives, monitoring voting, employing African Americans, and helping African Americans to be able to run for office and to hold high positions. Thanks to the group's hard work, there are now more African American elected representatives in Alabama than there are in any other state. While this cannot be due entirely to the Alabama Democratic Conference, it certainly wouldn't have been possible without its dedicated efforts and concern.

There are some (not to be confused with all) white democrats who believe this group and it's leader(s) have served their usefulness and it's time for the Alabama Democratic Party to unite, but that's kind of hard to do when one group takes the other group for granted.  What ever his faults ADC Vice Chairman  Dr. Joe Reed has always been reliable voice for progressive issues in Alabama.

Joe Reed served as Executive Secretary of the Alabama State Teachers Association from 1964 to 1969, where he became nationally known as a champion of employee rights. He was the key negotiator for the ASTA leading up to the merger with the AEA, and subsequently serves as Associate Executive Secretary of the Alabama Education Association (AEA) to this date. Joe Reed is also a member of numerous professional associations.

Joe Reed has served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention eight (8) times; he served as Chairman of the Alabama Delegation during the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. He is Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC) and Vice Chair of the Democratic Party for Minority Affairs, and he was National Co-Chair for the Committee of Educators for the Humphrey/Muskie ticket in 1968. In 2008 Hillary Clinton outreached to Joe Reed (before Barack Obama was viewed as a serious contender in the 2008 Presidential race), to be her pointman in the area.

In 1975, Joe Reed led the efforts to get equitable representation for blacks on the Montgomery City Council. His efforts resulted in four blacks of nine being elected. He served on the Montgomery City Council for 24 years. In the Democratic Party today, Alabama’s black representation exceeds all other states in the nation. For over 40 years he has led the effort to get more blacks elected and appointed to public office, including federal marshals, federal and state judges, members of the boards of registrars, legislators, county commissioners, city councils, and school boards. He drafted two plans that increased black representation in the Alabama House of Representatives from 13 to 27; and in the Senate from 3 to 8 in 1982, and 1992, respectively. He also drew a reapportionment plan that provided for 25% (two of eight) majority black districts on the State Board of Education. Alabama is the only state in the nation where the Legislature reflects the state’s population of blacks and whites.

As long as some (not to be confused with all) white democrats see Joe Reed and his bunch as the problem the Alabama Democratic Party will continue to be Your Daddy's Alabama's Democratic Party.

 Symbolism is nice, but substance is better. 

 I'm just saying....

Be careful what you wish for...

 Because the finger point gesture establishes superiority, the gesture is even worse if a White person does it to a Black person, due to the history in this country of White supremacist violence and cultural demeaning of Black folks.~Phillis Remastered

Pictures do speak volumes.  Thanks to facebook, and to some extent the Alabama media, I know how some, not to be confused with all,  white Alabama Democrats really feel about black Alabama Democrats....  they want black democrats be seen, but not heard.

Evidently Vice Chairman Reed and others dared challenge Kennedy's management of the democratic party and his proposed budget party during a state executive board meeting.  Reed accused Kennedy of trying to usurp the authority of the board.

“Sometimes when you try to expand your base, and be more open as it relates to opportunity, it’s difficult for some people,” Kennedy said.

Huh?  Is Kennedy trying to expand the base at the expense of the traditional democratic base, minorities, women, labor, and educators?

Sebastian Kitchens

“All over south Alabama, we’ve got to build the Democratic Party, especially with whites,” Reed said. But will white Alabamians considering a move back to the Democratic Party be impressed with those actions Friday, old party bosses undermining the new chairman? How is he going to build the white base in the party using the black wing of the party, the ADC?

The answer is,  NO Mr. Kitchens.  And therein lies the problem.  The only way white Alabamians will consider moving back to the democratic party is if  they kick Joe Reed, and by extension black folks, out of the party, and if they do that, Alabama will officially be a one party red republican state.  Now if that's what you want....

African American  make up 26% of registered voters in Alabama, and are critical to any democratic victory.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if 30% of white democrats would vote with black democrats instead of against black democrats,  ALL democrats would control the state house, the governors office, and the Supreme Court.  I'm just saying.....

Note how the Alabama press and democrats fell over themselves denouncing the racially charged emails of State Representative Joseph Mitchell but are silent about fingers pointed at black faces. 

Today's Must Read
The White Elephant in the Democratic Tent

"Is Alabama going to be left behind" because the "Alabama Democratic Party is on Life Support"?

Let me think about that for a minute........

In a recent column al.com's Joey Kennedy points out the majority of Alabama sore losers, I mean voters, proved they hate our President and democrats more than they love their country or themselves,  by sending the same old obstructionist back to Washington D.C. to put President Obama, and them there freeloaders, in their places.

So it's 11 days after the election, and some Alabama Republicans (and Republicans in other states, too, I suppose) are still firmly parked in denial. They can't believe -- gasp! -- that Barack Hussein Obama (they often use all three of the president's names, part of their birther pride) actually won re-election. These avoiders would rather have confrontation than cooperation. And it doesn't look as if the Alabama GOP is about to eject the extremists who have far too much authority in the party.

While the Alabama GOP is hunkering down and circling the wagons,  WSFA's Ken Hare notes the Alabama Democratic party is not dead, but it's on life support.

After state Democrats failed to field candidates in 10 of the 12 statewide races on the ballot on Nov. 6 and saw their candidates lose in the other two races, talk of Alabama once again being a "one-party state" -- just with Republicans in power instead of Democrats -- started being bandied about.

Why is the Alabama Democratic Party on life support you ask?  Because they insist on doing the same thing over and over again HOPING for a different result. 

"We still have more than 50 percent of the elective offices in courthouses throughout the state," said Kennedy, a former associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
He admitted disappointment over the party's poor showing in the election, but said he was "encouraged that we still have a lot of grassroots support." He spoke of the need to become better organized at the grassroots level, to develop "more intense messaging," and to "have a better conversation with people we know share our values."

See what I mean?  Now,  I am not the head honcho of the Alabama Democratic Party, and no one asked for my opinion but I'm going to offer my prescription for getting the Alabama Democratic Party off life support now and forever in 5 easy steps.

1.  Expel all INFILTRATORS,  paraquoting George Dubya Bush "yer either wit us or aginst us".

2.  Stop suppressing MINORITY voices.  All WHITE   is not right (pun intended).

3.  He/she who controls the MESSAGE controls the outcome. As they say in my neighborhood, talk is cheap.....just DO IT! 

4.  Call out the HYPOCRISY. 

5.  Elect a LEADER who is mean as a snake a likes a fight  for real, and who won't do the same thing over and over again HOPING for a different result.

On a personal note, postings will be light for the next few days as I celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I am thankful President Obama was reelected and will continue to take our country forward and not back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow, and I will pray he will not leave Alabama behind.  

Peace and blessings!
RedEye