The Gray Area Of Race And Politics

Were The Candidates Speaking To The NAACP, Or To White Voters?

(CBS)  On the presidential campaign trail: Republican John McCain addressed the NAACP today. Meanwhile, Americans remain deeply divided on the issue of race. In the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, 55 percent of whites believe race relations are good. But only 29 percent of blacks feel that way. CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield has the story.

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John McCain spoke to the most venerable black organization in America today - with words of praise for the candidate he'll be tying to defeat.

Today at the NAACP Convention, McCain said: "Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and his country, and I thank him for it."

But, when he talked about school choice and economic opportunity and conservative alternatives to liberal policies, was McCain really talking to black voters? Or was he talking to white voters who might be uneasy about voting against a black candidate?

Professor Michael Fauntroy of George Mason University shared his views: "Most of the moderate Republicans do not want to be associated or rather do not feel comfortable being associated with a party that is being known as hard right, so McCain in speaking to the NAACP helps to take off some of the edge."

And who was Barack Obama speaking to on Monday when he once again hit the theme of black responsibility?

"I know that nine little children didn't walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are not getting elsewhere in the community," Obama said.

Fauntroy says, "In speaking and using the tone that he, has I think what he's really doing is trying to reach out to independent white voters, whom he has been leaking recently to say, 'listen, I'm not this scary black guy that you have to worry about.'”

The idea that both candidates at an African-American event may be aiming at white voters; and our new poll shows sharp divisions between whites and blacks about the state of race relations and is more evidence of how incredibly tangled this whole area of race and politics is.

[briannorwood]

I have been watching McCain closely over the last couple of weeks. I am convinced that he has had a recurrence of cancer over his right eye.

He has been covering it up with makeup, but during a closeup I watched on CNN last night, you could clearly see that the skin above the eyebrow was really wrinkling in a very strange way.

[deacon20081]

Jongood65.....To your statement on Rush.
Rush Limbaugh is a Nut Job...takes one to befriend one huh?

[samthetvcat]

pt 1

---"Or was he talking to white voters who might be uneasy about voting against a black candidate?"---

Is anybody uneasy about voting against a black candidate? Isn''t it more like unease about voting for a party that tends not to be very tolerant of minority viewpoints? In California, Barack''s not just dominating with the black vote, it''s also apparently the latino vote and the asian vote, the female vote, the younger vote, and probably too the g@y vote, the anti-offshore drilling vote, the anti-war vote, even possibly the conservative pro-immigration vote. If Barack weren''t such a putz, he''d probably be leading by 50% but that''s another story.

The point is, that''s cool that McCain''s reaching out because he''s in the past been pro-latino and pro-environment. But I think his party and the platforms they''re insisting he adopt to secure their votes in the more conservative parts of the country are probably the big drag on his ability to snare socially-liberal economically-conservative voters across the aisle despite the diminished enthusiasm for Barack from some of his supporters lately.

Maybe it''ll help him chip away at the double-digit leads Barack has in States he''s never going to win anyways, but if the race closed up such that there was actually a chance he might have a shot I think maybe you''d see voters who view McCain''s outreach to Dem enclaves positively flipping right back to the Dem side (?)

[samthetvcat]

pt 2

---"Fauntroy says, "In speaking and using the tone that he, has I think what he''s really doing is trying to reach out to independent white voters, whom he has been leaking recently to say, ''listen, I''m not this scary black guy that you have to worry about.''"---

As for Barack, I''ll bet this observation is accurate about his motives. Too bad for Barack if he''s trying to get back independents he lost back recently, I don''t think it''s stuff like the New Yorker cover that''s causing people to flip. Maybe he should stop lying and then calling people names when they point out his double-talk which is creepy.

It''d be interesting to know with those people who insist they think Barack is ''muslim'' whether there''s a correlation between that belief and the age of the person. Like are they all over the age of like 60?

[briannorwood]

Anybody see the clip of McCain trying to answer if he thinks its fair that insurance companies pay for Viagra, but won''t pay for birth control pills?

Hilarious! He stood stunned for about 30 seconds without saying a word (a true "deer in the headlights" moment).

Then, finally he wimpered "I really don''t know enough about the subject to comment on it."

Absolutely must see TV!

[jongood65]

You must be confused with the rev. Limbaugh who said:

"A woman or black man as president? This is still the United States, isn''t it?"
Posted by rudy654 at 10:50 AM : Jul 17, 2008
=================

Hey Rudolfo, since you open this by telling a lie about Rush being a Reverend, might any of us be surpised to learn the second sentence you offer is a lie as well? At the very best a clipped completely out of context bit of satire or sarcism Rush offered.

For you see, I know Rush. Rush is a friend of mine, and Rudolfo you miserable little W*O*P, you couldn''t shine his shoes.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by JonGood65 at 10:03 AM

You must be confused with the rev. Limbaugh who said:

"A woman or black man as president? This is still the United States, isn''t it?"

[jongood65]

AND what did "KKK" stand for--wasn''''t that "organization" around BEFORE the NAACP?

KKK as racist as you can get!
Posted by liberalme at 09:50 AM : Jul 17, 2008
======================

Ya mean that white seperatist organization created by the Democrat Party? The same bunch who Sen. Robert KKK" Byrd is a grand pooh baah for?? The same bunch of white seperatist that Al Gores Daddy expressed great support for??

Ya mean the same bunch of white seperatist Democrats who are as left of America as Rev. Wrights gang of black seperatist Democrats are??

[liberalme]

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/schoolvideo.html

[liberalme]

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES VERY SELDOM IF EVER SETS FOOT IN A LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL!

Posted by RowdyWicca at 07:20 AM : Jul 17, 2008

That''s because not all schools hav "My Pet Goat" to be read unside down.

[liberalme]

NAACP National Association Against Caucasian People
As racist as you can get.

Posted by willyhenail at 09:20

AND what did "KKK" stand for--wasn''t that "organization" around BEFORE the NAACP?

KKK as racist as you can get!

[jongood65]

If anyone ever doubts a left wing bias exists in this so called "mainstream" media just think about this:

Last month a liberal (Tim Russert), who had nothing more to his resume than to have once been a speech writer for some yankee (Dimbulb) Senator who died some years back, and the remainder merely working as a talking head for NBC passed away, and CBS had no less than two and maybe three boards dedicated to this man.

Yet today we bury a real American conservative (Tony Snow), who most recently served as the White House Press Secretary, prior to which he served as a speech writer for President Bush #41, in between which he worked as a talking head on both TV and radio.

Yet CBS has offered not so much as a single word, much less a whole board about this outstanding Americans passing.

I know Tony wouldn''t be bothered or even surprised by this, but I simply had to express my outrage over this to all you NObama worshipping un-Americans POS.

[ariel133]

In an ABC interview, Obama said the government can crack down on terrorists %u201Cwithin the constraints of the Constitution.%u201D

He said, %u201CWhat we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks %u2014 for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center %u2014 we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.%u201D

Apparently, Obama has been asleep for the nearly seven years since 9/11. He missed having learned that the 9/11 hijackers are dead and thus could not have been prosecuted. He missed learning that they wanted to be martyrs and were prepared to be jailed or killed. No threat of prosecution would have deterred them.

Obama missed the 9/11 commission hearings and report, which excoriated both Presidents Clinton and Bush for a lack of imagination in pursuing terrorists after the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. In particular, the commission said that before 9/11, %u201CMilitary measures failed or were not applied.%u201D

Citing the military invasion of Afghanistan, the commission said, %u201CThe president and Congress deserve praise for their efforts in Afghanistan so far.%u201D

[ariel133]

In an ABC interview, Obama said the government can crack down on terrorists %u201Cwithin the constraints of the Constitution.%u201D

He said, %u201CWhat we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks %u2014 for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center %u2014 we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.%u201D

Apparently, Obama has been asleep for the nearly seven years since 9/11. He missed having learned that the 9/11 hijackers are dead and thus could not have been prosecuted. He missed learning that they wanted to be martyrs and were prepared to be jailed or killed. No threat of prosecution would have deterred them.

Obama missed the 9/11 commission hearings and report, which excoriated both Presidents Clinton and Bush for a lack of imagination in pursuing terrorists after the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. In particular, the commission said that before 9/11, %u201CMilitary measures failed or were not applied.%u201D

Citing the military invasion of Afghanistan, the commission said, %u201CThe president and Congress deserve praise for their efforts in Afghanistan so far.%u201D

[ariel133]

"The idea that both candidates at an African-American event may be aiming at white voters; and our new poll shows sharp divisions between whites and blacks about the state of race relations and is more evidence of how incredibly tangled this whole area of race and politics is. "

THIS ELECTION WILL NOT SOLVE THE RACE ISSUE- AND THESE CANDIDATES ARE EITHER ACCEPTING OF THIS OR NOT- BEING CONDESENDING TO EITHER COLOR IS NOT THE WAY TO GO- THEY MUST WANT TO MAKE THINGS BETTER- BUT THEY ALSO HAVE TO BE CAREFUL THEY DON''T PRETEND TO KNOW SOMETHING NO ONE ELSE DOES.

[omnibus66]

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES VERY SELDOM IF EVER SETS FOOT IN A LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL!

Posted by RowdyWicca at 07:20 AM : Jul 17, 2008

This president apparently very seldom ever set foot in ANY school.

But oh, I forgot, he WAS in a school reading a story about a goat when the 911 attack occurred.

As I recall, he was was so enthralled with being with his own age group (mental, that is) that he refused to leave for seven minutes, when the Secret Service agents had to almost literally drag him from the room.

What a president!, what a leader!, what a decider!, what a total failure and total embarrassment to the people of this country.

[rowdywicca]

No Child Left Behind was a stupid program that will be absolished...and the only reason for it was because Laura Bush needed something to put her name on...

[rowdywicca]

When you can show me a public school in a "Black" neighborhood that is adequately funded, with the current materials necessary to educate astudents sufficient for college preparation, or for a real vocation, relevant applied arts education, and the fundamentals of business administration, I will then show you lots of people of all ethnic stripe that would not have to make the choice between inadequate shcooling, and schooling in an environment in which they are not welcome...


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Posted by brianbwb at 03:09 AM : Jul 17, 2008

AGAIN, this is BS! NATIONAL money, very little if ANY, funds public schools! You can whine till the cows come home if you want to, but LOCAL MONEY funds shcools, and education programs are set by STATES! Why in the HELL hasn''t your state set STANDARDS for ALL schools?

This is the stupidest national election talking point I''ve ever HEARD!

It''s up to the LOCALS to get off their butts and make sure their schools are properly funded and meeting the standards set for them! It''s called a SCHOOL BOARD! And it''s called parents holding those people accountable! And it''s called the PTA that gets a wish list every year from the teachers for things they need, and parents who hit the streets to find a way to meet those needs!

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES VERY SELDOM IF EVER SETS FOOT IN A LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL!

[rowdywicca]

Nice to see that Bush, McCain and the Pentagon are finally adopting the troop plan that Obama has been talking about for months now.


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Posted by Smirk5 at 04:08 AM : Jul 17, 2008

I don''t see Obama wearing the seal of the President yet...since when does he get credit for someone elses actions...this JUNIOR SENATOR of 143 days?

BTW, Hillary got with the generals and made the plan MONTHS before Obama even started his candidacy!

[smirk5]

Nice to see that Bush, McCain and the Pentagon are finally adopting the troop plan that Obama has been talking about for months now.