When former President Jimmy Carter said racism was an underlying factor in attacks on President Obama, it’s safe to say he had no intention of boosting Allen West’s campaign for Congress in Florida’s Broward County.
But according to West, a retired Army colonel who is running for the second time against Democratic Rep. Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd congressional district, that is exactly what has happened.
“Since (Democrats) have thrown out the race card, it has made me more appealing,” says West, one of a small but determined group of black Republicans running for seats in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives in 2010.
Eager to overturn the “conventional wisdom” that the GOP is mainly a white bread party that offers few opportunities for minorities, these black Republicans believe they can attract increasingly agitated conservatives, as well as independents, to make 2010 their year.
They also conceded in interviews that the injection of race — a familiar theme since Obama’s election last year — has given them a certain edge and authority when they speak out against the president’s agenda. Because they’re black, they say, they can lead the charge against Democratic policies without being called “racist.” In fact, they say, their skin color may make them more attractive candidates.
“A lot of people who don’t want to be part of Obama’s policies are being called racist,” West said. “Then they say, ‘Hey, this guy, Colonel West — he’s black and I support him.’”
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Notes:
All my best to LTC West. He’s on the right track (no pun intended) and he could very easily become Obama’s worst nightmare. This type of thing should be encouraged not because he’s black. Rather because he has great credentials, has his head screwed on properly and CAN BE TRUSTED unlike some black politicians I can point out.
Video: Meet Allen West
Ditto, I too wish LTC West all the best for the 2010 elections. He sounds like a person of ample good character. I will be cheering for him ‘from the sidelines’ up here.
I guess tokenism isn’t ALWAYS wrong, eh BTDT? Hopefully Mr West recognizes his 15 minutes for what it is and cashes in large on his support, because it will only be there as long as Obama is. After that, he’ll be binned alongside Colin Powell, Ward Connerly, C Delores Tucker, and every other ‘colored’ dupe the right ever used to hide behind its political “Some of my best friends are black” facade.
I disagree, Cynapse. Who is the racist here now? Because I know you having met you I think you are trying to start an argument.
It won’t work and I’ll tell you why.
Many years ago I was on a Junior NCO exercise. My platoon was led by a black infantry instructor and he picked on me (really) because I wasn’t living up to his expectations (I was Provost at the time). I failed and shortly before I went back on course again I was called in by the SIU and they wanted to know what happened to me. It appeared at the time that he was holding black power meetings in his basement at home and they wanted to screw him.
Not right and I told them so. In reality he was far stronger than I was and one of the best combat NCO’s I ever encountered. He expected more of me and he was right.
When I went back to redo the training I got a B+. Further on I “aced” a senior NCO course. In time I went to civilian policing and “aced”the course. Never for one minute did I forget what that NCO had taught me.
I aced every course I was sent on since then.
Point: Color does not matter. Common sense does and Allen arrived at his position because he worked for it and believed in what he was doing. Supporting him is not “tokenism”. It’s reality.
End of message.
Well, Jack, you’d have had me there … except I wasn’t lying about Colin Powell. Remember when he stated support for Obama? Fox News lit up with charges of Powell being an underdeveloped affirmative action hire who was over his head. Why didn’t the right notice this before? Obviously they did, but know as long as Powell was around and in a nice senior position they could easily fend off charges of racism even if some of their tactics (like sending Fed-looking thugs around in cars during elections or paying off black preachers to urge their parishioners not to vote) were at the very least suspect.
As for Ward Connerly, you will recall he was the politically correct face of opposition to affirmative action, and specifically the man behind proposition 209 to outlaw race and gender based selection in California universities (even though he himself benefited from AA as a minority contractor). He even went as far as to praise the KKK for their support of his opposition to AA in Michigan schools. The right was eating out of his hand … at least until AA was no longer on the front burner of the cultural wars. Then when the naive Connerly tried to start some non-AA initiatives to help minority kids get ahead in the non-AA system (noting this obvious gap in facilities between them and the majority) guess how many conservatives publicly helped him out? I’ll give you a hint: it’s a natural number less than 1. Seems even the KKK couldn’t return the favour.
I believe every word you say, Jack, and virtually nothing your comrades south of the 49th say – in both cases the record speaks for itself.
http://www.melissaclouthier.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/obamamad-magazine-cover.jpg
By the way I hope this guy Allen West wins!
At the end of the day, Lt. Allan West’s mettle will be proved by his actions, not his words or the colour of his skin.
Re: #4 — Stageleft got it right on another thread. Two sides screaming at each other and a bunch of average people caught in the middle and scratching their heads.
Did I mention they (the head scratchers) are getting very upset?
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