“Our outreach to the African-American community is based on shared priorities like closing the health gap and the wealth gap and the education gap. It’s not based on politics, it’s based on policies, and those policy needs remain.”
— RNC head Ken Mehlman, dismissing speculation that post-Katrina bungling by the administration will have an impact on recruiting blacks to vote GOP
That’s some strong Kool-Aid, let me tell you. Add to that the smoking of something quite strong if the Repugs think the Bush catastrophe after Katrina won’t hurt the efforts to squeeze out some black votes.
They spent most of 2004 working the gay bogeyman to shave off some black evangelicals, but this debacle is really going to test their PR machine. The Ken-bot’s working this damage control as hard as he can. (Reuters):
Public anger over the slow government response to Hurricane Katrina could deal a long-term blow to the Republican Party’s aggressive effort to woo black voters, already the most loyal Democratic bloc.
The high-profile Republican effort to win black support became much tougher, analysts said, after days of images of poor and largely black crowds pleading in vain for help in a devastated New Orleans. The resulting outcry included pointed questions about the role of race and class in the government’s response.
“There is so much anger out there, I think it is going to be very difficult for Republicans to break through to African Americans,” said Ron Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland.
“This is extremely damaging — it’s a powerful, emotional, family-oriented issue that goes right to the heart of people,” he said. “Mistakes like this have a shelf life. This is going to be with us for a long, long time.”
A poll released on Thursday by the Pew Research Center found a huge racial divide in perceptions of the disaster, with 66 percent of blacks saying the response would have been quicker if the storm victims had been white, while 77 percent of whites disagreed.
David Bositis, an analyst of black politics at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said the storm’s aftermath would feed existing doubts about Republicans among many blacks. “The problem for Republicans in terms of getting more black support is that African Americans don’t trust the Republican Party,” he said. “You can look at what happened with Katrina as a further betrayal of trust.”
Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican Party, launched the effort to build black support after Bush increased his share of the African-American vote in 2004 from 9 percent — the worst Republican showing since Barry Goldwater in 1964 — to 11 percent.
Republicans stepped up the recruitment of black candidates for congressional and statewide offices and Mehlman, who took over as party chairman in January after managing Bush’s re-election, met repeatedly with black groups. Mehlman rejected any suggestion Katrina would hurt the appeal of Republicans in the black community and said it did not require a change in Republican strategy.
But maybe I’m wrong…look at what the cat dragged in — one of Bush’s at-the-ready black pastors to spew unbelievable sh*t.
“If black folks want to blame someone for this tragedy they only need to look in the mirror.”
— Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, head of Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny
A reader of my blog found an article on one of Bush’s newfound friends – another pastor seduced by the faith-based cookie jar. This one is Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny).
Peterson’s definitely had the Mehlman Kool-Aid, so much of it that this pious pastor is ready to put the blame on the human tragedy of New Orleans squarely where he thinks it belongs — on the poor black people themselves. He must have received the cheat sheet faxed out of Rove’s office that also implicates Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco for all the administrative f*ckups. This is sick. (Cybercast News Service):
A black conservative leader says don’t blame racism or President Bush for what happened to thousands of black people during and after Hurricane Katrina.
“The truth is black people died, not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco,” said the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND (the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny).
Peterson singled out the Rev. Jesse Jackson, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and rapper Kanye West, all of whom blamed President Bush for not doing enough to help black people, especially in New Orleans, where TV images showed scenes of desperation and violence that continued for several days after the hurricane hit.
Jackson called President Bush’s response “incompetent” and charged that racism is partly to blame for the slow evacuation of survivors; and during a nationally televised fundraising event on NBC, West said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Not fair, said the Rev. Peterson: “If black folks want to blame someone for this tragedy they only need to look in the mirror.” Mayor Nagin has blamed everyone else except himself, when it was Nagin who failed in his duty to evacuate and protect city residents, Peterson said.
Nagin and Blanco deserve their share of blame, but to let Bush off the hook is a sign of mental illness here.
I think Rev. Peterson deserves his personal set of Klan sheets if he thinks racism had nothing to do with what has unfolded. This pastor buyout is worse than I thought.
