The Gray Area Of Race And Politics

(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 /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.