Don Campbell Writes:

Why Ga. should be on GOP’s mind

ATLANTA — As Republican strategists ponder the road to resurrection after their party’s election debacle, I’d suggest they come to Atlanta to take a ride into the future, one that just might inject them with a dose of reality.

They should hire a tour bus and head northeast from Midtown Atlanta on Buford Highway, hard by Interstate 85, following it for several miles before turning south toward Stone Mountain on Jimmy Carter Boulevard. If they blocked out everything but the cantinas, taquerias, Asian flea markets, mercados, tofu houses, Thai video stores, dim sum diners, kimchi cafes and pawn shops, they might think they were in Queens, N.Y., or parts of Los Angeles. If they got lost and wandered into the parking lot of one of the largest Swaminarayan Hindu temples outside India, they might be even more confused. In fact, they would be in Gwinnett County, Ga.

GOP Not Feeling So Grand

Wedged between Atlanta’s close-in suburbs in DeKalb County, where the minority turned into the majority in the 1990s, and the leafy, sprawling enclaves of mini-mansions and estates to the north, Gwinnett County is one of the most diverse, polyglot jurisdictions in the country. More than 100 languages are spoken in county schools. A majority of students are minorities. But just 18 years ago, in the 1990 Census, Gwinnett was 90% white, rock-ribbed Republican and Exhibit A in the pantheon of suburban Sun Belt counties that supposedly would mold and sustain realignment to a permanent Republican majority.

Today, it is on the verge of becoming majority-minority, with Latinos, African Americans and Asians in near equal proportions, and the GOP vote is shriveling. Twenty years ago, George H.W. Bush got 75% of the presidential vote. Four years ago, George W. Bush got 66%. On Nov. 4, John McCain drew just 55%.

Taking the long view

“Enduring majorities” often turn out to be tenuous, but my bet is that Gwinnett County is not an anomaly. Twenty miles to the west, suburban Cobb County is undergoing the same transformation. McCain’s narrow win statewide in Georgia and his loss to Obama in Virginia and North Carolina are leading indicators for national population projections: In about three decades, whites will be a minority in the USA. In 15 years, a majority of children younger than 18 will be minorities.

So the Republicans, as I see it, have two options. The short-term — and shortsighted — response is to chalk 2008 up to a bad economy and an unpopular incumbent, repackage the same old political bromides and count on liberals to yank Barack Obama so far left that they’ll generate a voter backlash. Or they can take the long view and figure out how to survive and even thrive as the percentage of middle- and upper-class whites shrinks.

   White Christian BIGOTS [ Enlarge Pic ] —    Race Mixing is COMMUNISM! | In 2008: Obama is a SOCIALIST!
   – Ring a bell? 1950s & 60s McCarthyism is still alive in America!

Backlashes do occur. Bill Clinton and the Democrats experienced a sizeable one in 1994 after raising taxes and trying to force-feed nationalized health care. Four years later, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republicans faced a backlash of their own after Gingrich overplayed his hand in a budget showdown with Clinton by forcing a shutdown of the federal government.

I don’t dismiss philosophy or personality, but winning elections is a numbers game, and it’s foolish to think that even a revived party can thrive once its base becomes a minority.

Many years ago, I wrote stories about how Republicans were seriously committed to bringing blacks into their tent. The theory then was that blacks are conservative on issues such as gay rights and school choice. They are devout churchgoers. And as they moved into the middle class and out to the suburbs, African Americans would — chameleon-like — adopt the conservative economic philosophy of their new neighbors. It was a pipedream then, and it’s a pipedream now: Obama’s historic election has merely solidified the Democratic Party’s appeal to black voters.

An opportunity

Other large minority groups, especially Latinos and Asians, should be a more promising target for Republicans. Both groups are known for their close-knit family structures. Both have an incredible work ethic. Both thrive on entrepreneurship. If you doubt that, go to a Sam’s Club and observe who’s rolling out the flatbeds loaded with supplies to stock small shops and restaurants.

But the Republicans’ obsession with immigrants here illegally blinds them to the opportunity to craft a credible outreach strategy. McCain had a moderate approach to immigration reform but was nominated by a party of immigrant-bashers. He got just 31% of the Latino vote and only 35% of Asians.

It’s an absurd position for a party in decline. Most of the 10- or 11- or however-many-million illegal immigrants in this country aren’t going anywhere. Rather than whining that Democrats are protecting illegals because they see them as voters-in-waiting, the GOP should be fighting tooth and nail to get them legalized, to get every immigrant registered to vote, and to tirelessly recruit them to the Republican cause.

A political party on a collision course with demography has no choice but to embrace diversity. You can do the math, or you can eat, drink and shop your way up Buford Highway.

About The Author: Don Campbell — teaches journalism at Emory University in Atlanta and is a member of USA TODAY’s board of contributors. Don Campbell’s 30-plus years in journalism included nearly two decades as a Washington reporter, editor and columnist for Gannett Newspapers and USA Today. He also served as director of the Washington Journalism Center and of a fellowship program for journalists newly assigned to Washington. He taught journalism at Northwestern University, the University of Oregon and Arizona State University before he coming to Emory. Author of “Inside the Beltway: A Guide to Washington Reporting,” Don is also a freelance writer.

References:

Popularity: 2% [?]

During one of John McCain’s ““Neo-Klan” Lynch Mob Rallies,” last week, a black man very conspicuously positioned himself in the front row, within easy reach of McCain.

His name is James T. Harris, a self-proclaimed expert in cultural change, societal trends, awareness, motivation, enlightenment.

This master of “multi-tasking” is also a Milwaukee based radio talk-show host, and fashions himself as a great “Black” thinker.

In a “Neo-Nazi” meeting jam-packed with white Republicans, frothing and wriggling bitterly with “Hate and Bigotry” like “dogs in heat,” Mr. Harris took great umbrage in begging McCain to “HIT” Obama. [see video below]

“I am begging you sir, I am begging you — take it to him,” pleaded the Mr. Harris, earning himself a standing ovation!. “We have the good Reverend Wright. We have [the Rev. Michael L.] Pfleger.

We have all of these shady characters that have surrounded him,” Harris bellowed. “We have corruption here in Wisconsin and voting across the nation. I am begging you, sir. I am begging you.

Take it to him.”

The “We” instantly reminded me of Malcolm X’s “Message To The Grassroots” —- “If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, “What’s the matter, boss, we sick?” We sick!

He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself.

And if you came to the house Negro and said, “Let’s run away, let’s escape, let’s separate,” the house Negro would look at you and say, “Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?”

That was that house Negro.

In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that’s what we call him today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here……”

Malcolm X - Field Negro vs House Negro

That was James T. Harris — one solitary black man in a sea of stinking bigots, urging John McCain to “Lynch” Barack Obama, so to speak!

Let’s get something clear here. Mr. Harris was asking McCain to hit Obama, in a rally where one or more of the following was being chanted:

“KILL HIM!”…. “TREASONER!”…. “NIGGER!”…. “NOBAMA!”…. “SOCIALIST!”…. “COMMUNISM!”…. “SOCIALIST SWINE!”…. “OBAMA IS A MUSLIM TERRORIST!”…. “SLEAZY SCUM OF THE EARTH!”…. “OBAMA REGISTERS DEAD PEOPLE!”…. “BARACK ‘HUSSEIN‘ OBAMA!”…. “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”…. “OBAMA WILL PAINT THE WHITEHOUSE BLACK!”…. “OBAMA IS A BLACK MUSLIM TERRORIST!”….

What a courageous brother this James Harris is!

In a country where some small towns are still off limits to blacks, this man has the courage to jump into the middle of a “Saturday Evening Lynching Party.”

I suspect this slithering Uncle-Tom! was PAID and planted in the crowd by the McCain campaign — to be used for effect and to justify their scumbag campaign.

McCain knows he is running a racist campaign, and what better than thrusting a black man to the TV cameras, carrying his shit!

Well said — Vikky!

Mr. Harris says he’s received a flood of hate mail, even death threats.

Here is why:

Mr. Harris’s claim that Democrats have done nothing to blacks is moot. They have done something….or appear to be doing something. Republicans on the other hand have done nothing I can think of off-head, and in this particular instance, McCain and Palin have been inciting what amounts to “Racial Violence” against Obama, and James Harris has been outsourced to “legitimize” it.

Arguments such us: “Republicans ended slavery,” are irrelevant, because in the sixties the two parties just re-invented themselves, by switching sides on issues affecting blacks. Using The Southern Strategy — Republicans began doing exactly what BOTH were doing pre-1960 — exploiting racism among white voters, to put down blacks.

Racism exists in both Democrat and Republican whites, but Democrats have generally embraced African Americans much more than Republicans. Republicans are diametrically opposed to civil rights and black interests.

They don’t even attempt to hide it!

My conclusion after many years dealing with both, is that Democrats are more racially tolerant in as much as they dislike Republicans. But given the racial divisions in the Democratic Primary between Clinton and Obama, I may need to rethink this.

It is therefore not surprising that minority blacks tend to gravitate to the lesser of two evils, so to speak.

I have also encountered whites who have no racist bones in their bodies, and I am sure there are many more out there. I really doubt whether they are Republicans, for to be a Republican, you have to subscribe to Republican Ideology, which is despicably intolerant and racist.

Mr. Harris is a typical example of a Person of Color being used to foster racism.

In coddling with McCain, black people see Mr. Harris as the Ultimate in Treason. To black people, and that includes me, Mr. Harris is “Uncle-Toming” for an inferior candidate, John McCain, to destroy the “Great Black Hope,” Barack Obama — most unfairly.

And, that’s TREASON!

Believe me, if it were Al Sharpton — nobody would care.

Personally, I have no qualms with integrating with well-meaning and progressive whites, who have no racism in their bones, and there are millions of them in America, but there are many more who will never change [SEE VIDEOS BELOW] — hardcore racists who given the optimum incitement (by McCain and co.), would drive this country back to the eighteenth century — back to lynching every black man and woman in sight.

These are the characters James T. Harris has been parading his black ass to, and is the principle reason why he has been getting a flood of hate-mail from fellow blacks.

Historical events have hard-wired the “perception of persecution” into the “black brain” just as much the false “perception of superiority” in white Republicans, and the two cannot mix.

James T. Harris is a “House Nigger,” a despicable ReTHUGliTOM in the mode of Clarence Thomas, and he clearly deserves the heat he is getting.

“Uncle Tom” Defends Himself on CNN

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MCCAIN-PALIN HATE-MEETING 1

MCCAIN-PALIN HATE-MEETING 2 — Bethlehem, PA

MCCAIN-PALIN HATE-MEETING 3

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References:

1. The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama — The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder.

2. The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama — A Fox News Channel program last week thrust Andy Martin, widely credited with starting a cyber-whisper campaign about Barack Obama, into the foreground.

3. Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood — “Wedge” Politics Won’t Work

4. E.J.’s Precinct — McCain’s Anger Management

Popularity: 7% [?]

“ABC News’ Imtiyaz Delawala Reports: Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin invoked fear for the first time when discussing Sen. Barack Obama’s connection to former 60’s radical William Ayers.

‘I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America — as the greatest source for good in this world,’ Palin said of Obama to 2,000 supporters at a rally in Clearwater, Florida this morning. “I’m afraid this someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.’

‘This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change that anyone can believe in, not my kids, not for your kids,’ Palin added.” http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/palin-plays-fea.html

With only a month to go before the general election, McCain finds himself behind in all the national polls, and most importantly trailing in all the battleground states. McCain feels he has no choice but to play the fear card, and so once again we are forced to endure the spectacle of GOP gutter politics.

Palin is playing the fear card, she is misrepresenting Obama as a radical with dubious personal associations.

It’s ironic that the McCain camp choose Palin to deliver the opening blow of their campaign of dirty tricks, when nobody inspires more fear than the governor of Alaska.

I tremble when I think of the awful prospect of McCain winning the general election, and then quickly dying. That would leave a woman who isn’t even qualified to be a White House clerical employee as leader of the free world.

The choice is quite clear, should we vote for Obama who represents and embodies hope and change, or should we go with a grouchy old man who resorts to playing the fear card?

Playing the fear card is bad enough, but the McCain card is also subliminally playing the race card. Racists see African Americans as different from other Americans, they are the “other” who think differently and act differently. Palin is arguing that “You and I” (read: Whites) see America one way and Obama sees America another way. Obama like most blacks, Palin is subliminally suggesting, is criminally-minded and likely to pal around with other scum like terrorists.

Reckless and desperate politicians rely on fear and racism to inspire citizens to vote for them, and statesmen trust in the goodness of the American people.

Vote for hope and change, and say no to fear and racism by voting for Obama the first Tuesday in November.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Michigan is among states leading in new home foreclosures. A record 9 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, as damage from the housing crisis continues to mount, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Friday, September 5, 2008.

Detroit, a city with a heavy minority population has the highest home foreclosure rate in United States.

Last week it was reported that Republicans plan to use home foreclosure lists to block voters from the polls. James Carabelli, chair of the Macomb County Republican Party, told Michigan Messenger that on election day Republican volunteers will “have a list of foreclosed homes and make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses.” The Republican party will use returned mail to challenge voters based on residency.

Macomb County is part of the Detroit metropolitan area.

The Obama campaign general counsel Bob Bauer said Tuesday that the “lose your home, lose your vote” strategy, even if the challenges are unsuccessful, “creates an atmosphere of intimidation that could drive voters from the polls.” He said even people who aren’t challenged may leave without voting because lines move slower at polling places.

Obama is challenging these Republican goons. In their suit, the Obama team contends that GOP has a history of voter “caging.” The 24-page filing incorporates Michigan Messenger’s report last week that a GOP official in Macomb County cited plans to use such lists to challenge voters in November into a broader narrative based on decades of Democratic complaints about how Republicans seek to limit turnout among low-income and African American voters by compiling information about their mailing addresses.

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Intimidation, lies, distortion and blatant racism — is the Republican “Modus operandi.“

You can bet this scheme to steal the election from the Democrats will be going on in every “nook and cranny” of GOP strongholds, all over the United States.

These morons cannot win FAIR — They have to STEAL because they have no message, just RACIST Innuendo and loads of SHIT!

They must be stopped!

….Read More: | “Jim Crawford” Republicans Working Hard To Keep Blacks From Voting | GOP Election Theft | Republican Election Theft |

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann discusses Eartha Melzer’s report, “Lose your home,
lose your vote” with Allen Raymond, author of “How to Rig an Election.”

BBC Documentary - How Bush Stole The 2000 Elections

How to RIG an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative

Popularity: 9% [?]

The GOP (Grand Old Propaganda) is working to keep eligible African-Americans from voting in several states. To get an idea of how many African-Americans nationwide lack driver’s licenses, recall Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when thousands were stranded without transportation. “Crawford Republicans” could make the old “Jim Crow Democrats” look like pikers when it comes to voter suppression.

Writes: Jonathan Alter

It was a mainstay of Jim Crow segregation: for 100 years after the Civil War, Southern white Democrats kept eligible blacks from voting with poll taxes, literacy tests and property requirements. Starting in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court declared these assaults on the heart of American democracy unconstitutional.

Now, with the help of a 2008 Supreme Court decision, Crawford vs. Marion County (Indiana) Election Board, white Republicans in some areas will keep eligible blacks from voting by requiring driver’s licenses. Not only is this new-fangled discrimination constitutional, it’s spreading.

GOP proponents of the move say they are merely trying to reduce voter fraud. But while occasional efforts to stuff ballot boxes through phony absentee voting still surface, the incidence of individual vote fraud—voting when you aren’t eligible—is virtually non-existent, as “The Truth About Vote Fraud,” a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, clearly shows. In other words, the problem Republicans claim they want to combat with increased ID requirements doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, those ID hurdles facing individuals do nothing to stop the organized insiders who still try to game the system…..[ more ]

‘Jim Crow’ America

More Pics | The African Holocaust Album

References:

1. Jim Crow Laws
2. Ohio Republicans Use Lawsuit — To Fight for State’s Crucial Votes

Popularity: 9% [?]