Do Blacks Have a Reason to Vote GOP? Michael Steele Says No

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Republicans

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

(Credit: AP)

The Republican Party has not given African Americans a good reason to vote for the party, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said Tuesday night.

"You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True," Steele said at DePaul University, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Steele, the first African-American chairman for the RNC, said the GOP has lost its historical link to African Americans.

"This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass," he said. "The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don't walk away from parties, their parties walk away from them."

He said the GOP's strategy of appealing to white, male voters in the South alienated minorities and ultimately proved ineffective when Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992.

Democrats have sought to highlight the GOP's lack of diversity and recently criticized the party for not having many strong female candidates for this year's midterm elections.

Steele added, however, that Republicans should embrace the Tea Party movement, which a recent CBS News/ New York Times poll found is overwhelmingly white and represents the South more than any other region. Steele said the Tea Party represents "a third or more of the voting age population," but the CBS News / New York Times poll found that, in fact, 18 percent of Americans identify with the Tea Party. Most of the Tea Partiers, however, do also identify as Republican.

"I have advised our state chairs: Don't turn your nose up, or turn away those who are active in the Tea Party movement. Embrace them. Welcome them. Talk to them," Steele said. "Those activists have now become a very large part of our voting bloc."

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by VinceP1974 April 24, 2010 10:43 PM EDT: Well I have a feeling a lot of this interview is being omitted. While the GOP is not perfect, a least to aspires to American ideals. it is not an identity group-pandering party. Unlike the Democrats and thier Party of Victims. The Democrats keep thier victims victimized while telling them that the Dem Party is their salvation. If the GOP is bad for blacks... someone tell me .. how well have the blacks done under the Dems?

But a lot of this is the GOP's problem, one of their own making and their inability to communicate and their fear of the MSM.; Reply to this comment


by ellensmithee April 23, 2010 9:10 AM EDT: Neither blacks or women should vote GOP.
You notice they gave women Congressmen the job to tell the "pay your doctor with a chicken" story? And they make a fool of Michele Bachman just about every week. And they get Sarah Palin to encourage violence among the tea baggers. These women are idiots to fall for the GOP's garbage. The GOP is just trying to make the women Comgressmen look stupid as h#ll. The GOP is the party of the Rich White Man Gang. They are just USING blacks and women, and they are too brainwashed to see it.; Reply to this comment


by toldyouso21 April 23, 2010 8:19 AM EDT: The nickname for the GOP should be "POK" "Party Of the Klan"

then we can all laugh about how disfigured they all are for being "POK marked" LOL; Reply to this comment


by toldyouso21 April 23, 2010 7:59 AM EDT: INTERESTING how the Republicans will keep reaching back to the slavery era to justify why blacks should be on their side--but when blacks reach back to that same era to speak of injustices and lack of reparation--the same Republicans say Blacks should move on--that they are not responsible for what their ancestors did.

If you are not responsible for the BAD/EVIL your ancestors did--then you are also not responsible for the GOOD that they did.

Reaching back is reaching back--whites want Blacks to move on and forget the past --even as it is played out again in many ways now--forgetting the past means also forgetting the parts whites NOW try to parade. Part of moving on is being judged by PRESENT circumstances and actions right?

iN WHICH CASE THE GOP GETS AN F++ WHEN IT COMES TO MINORITIES (ESPECIALLY BLACKS)

CAN REPUBLICANS SAY: "HOISTED--BY THEIR OWN PETARD?"; Reply to this comment


by TVO1CITW April 23, 2010 7:40 AM EDT: Ross Perot ran to take the vote away from Bush allowing Clinton to win. The people hated the way the system was going but still wanted conservative leadership. Perot gave the presidency to Clinton. Perot hated Bush and spent so much money on his campain to oust him.; Reply to this comment


by larrryshrine April 23, 2010 5:47 AM EDT: Finally, Mr. Steele speaks a nugget of truth. Then he ramps up about the Tea Party. He can't just keep his mouth shut.; Reply to this comment


by rwsmith29456 April 23, 2010 12:31 AM EDT: Am I right in thinking that the Democratic and Republican parties have essentially switched roles since the Civil War. I don't think this is Frederick Doughas' GOP.; Reply to this comment

by NYPD1966 April 22, 2010 9:57 PM EDT

Obama is destroying this country..he is destroying it for both blacks and everyone else. But hey..if you want to vote for him just because he is black...it is your vote.

Reply to this comment


by larrryshrine April 23, 2010 5:45 AM EDT: And this has what to do with the subject of this forum? You apparently just want an excuse to blather on about your single issue. I am sure you won't listen to any reasonable argument.


by formrusmcsgt April 22, 2010 9:50 PM EDT: Do Blacks Have a Reason to Vote GOP? Michael Steele Says No
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Neither do minorities, gays, atheists, immigrants, Muslims and women who feel abortion is their decision, not the GOP's, to make.

Which leaves white Christian male crackers.....; Reply to this comment

by John_Merritt April 22, 2010 9:13 PM EDT

My main complaint about the GOP is that I have yet seen a mission statement, what they believe, and the purpose of this wonderful organization of men and women. Having no clear cut 'description' of any organization leaves one to ponder their role except in that we digest in the papers and other modes of communication.

We see people within the party and we like many things we hear, but there is a general confusion as to the parties rationale in performing their functions. Maybe I am wrong, but I was a Republican for many years and am not now.

Reply to this comment


by toldyouso21 April 23, 2010 8:04 AM EDT: MISSIONS STATEMENTS ARE IRRELEVANT. They are just words on paper--they mean absolutely nothing if the people who write them do not follow them. You have been attending too many corporate meetings. Do you think a "mission statement" means anything? maybe like that "contract with america" bs that the republicans kept for about a year?

Mission statements are like marriage vows--their true worth is predicated on the intentions and characters of those who are in it--For decades now--Republicans "say" one thing and routinely do another.

"another MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?" The country thinks NOT.