Cobb

I idolized Lynn Swann as a kid, so much so I wore his number on my high school jersey.

That was then, this is now.

Why should I support Lynn Swann for public office?

I would just like to know why it is that African Americans who have conservative/republican views are basically ostracized by the rest of their community? Especially the so called, self appointed leaders of their community. Why do they blindly follow the dems, when the dems in power at the time fought to block the civil rights acts? What have the dems done for them? Why is JFK's picture included alongside those of civil rights leaders(you know the collage of which I speak?) when his administration was wiretapping MLK Jr. to try to break up his marriage and disgrace him? Do they not know the real history or just have short memories? You would think that African Americans would revere Abraham Lincoln more than him. What was his party? The southern dems should be loathed by the community, they still try to impede progress and promote racism, in my opinion. But yet they can still count on the black vote. I don't understand.

^^^^One more thought to add to my previous post.
What dem has appointed an African American to some of the highest posts in American government? When a republican gives them high power and influence they are called "uncle toms" or "yes men" and seen as "tokens". This blows my mind. What is the problem?

I think the answer is fairly simple and straightforward. 'We' are ostracized for going against the grain, for thinking differently, for not being pursuaded by the conventional wisdom.

In the end it's not really painful. You simply choose your friends and associates. You pick your political preferences and life goes on.

I believe there is a large class of Americans who think sentimentally about politics and not analytically. These are people who are, relatively speaking, easily swayed by spin and propaganda. It's really nothing new. But I think many folks in black communities have had a relatively low standard of what passes for reasonable political thought, and because of that a sizeable fraction of that which can be called 'black politics' isn't far removed from simple-minded sentiment.

For example. There is really no place in the American political establishment for the Church. You'd think that everyone with a 7th grade education understands that there is a Constitutional prohibition - a line between Church and State. And yet everyone knows that if you want to reach black voters you go where? church. That the 'Black Church' is considered a political institution is just wrong. Its very existence is a fundamental stumbling block against the institutional establishment of permanent political power in America's democracy, but what would it take to get black Americans divested of that idea and practice?

Probably the Second Coming.

You're whining again Cobb.

Dude, I have mad respect for you, but come on.

Please tell me why it is GOP chair Melman is apologizing for the past sins of the GOP yet Blacks, some how, are supposed to be at fault for the voting pattern?

It just doesn't parse.

Ya'll keep giving a definition of Blacks being stupid and led by emotions instead of straight up facts: Dems talked a good game, Republicans didn't talk squat.

I'm in an odd position, which is to explain the motivations of people I don't know and probably don't respect. I can only guess, interpreting what blackfolks tell me about my Republican choices. I shouldn't even try that.

So I just have to admit that I don't know and that I don't care. People do stupid things. So maybe 20 million blackfolks simply *are* wrong. So that's the end of it.

I'm in an odd position, which is to explain the motivations of people I don't know and probably don't respect. I can only guess, interpreting what blackfolks tell me about my Republican choices. I shouldn't even try that.

So I just have to admit that I don't know and that I don't care. People do stupid things. So maybe 20 million blackfolks simply *are* wrong. So that's the end of it. Dems talk a good game, black democrats want to be gamed. Later for them.

Dems talk a good game, black democrats want to be gamed. Later for them.

I'd accept the "later for them" except that you're still ignoring GOP chair Melman's comments.

Maybe the 20 million are wrong, but for most, it's probably not because of blind loyalty but of GOP inaction.

I know of one Black Republican who commented on the Tulia, TX situation. Would it be pandering to state the situation was an abuse of the law?

Arlan Specter claims he gets about 20% of the Black vote and he credits asking for the vote from Blacks and having offices in some Black areas.

Question: Why is it Blacks who give 90% of the votes to Dems is big news and Blacks are castigated for it, meanwhile, Jewish voters give 80-85% to Dems and the public mention of it is no where near the same as for Blacks?

Cobb - if you and other black Republicans are truly interested in seeing Lynn Swann sitting in the Governor's mansion in Harrisburg, then the best thing that you and your colleagues can do for him is to give his campaign some black street presence in cities and towns like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Reading, Allentown etc. Swann will have plenty of money if he wins the Republican primary. What he won't have is black folks on the street talking to black voters in their neighborhoods etc. about him and why he is running for governor.

Dark Star - The reason why everyone gets so exercised about the behavior of black voters is that they really don't believe that black voters are capable of making rational choices like any other groups opf voters. Republicans, for example, and black Republicans in particular, speak about the behavior of black voters as if the Democrats sprinkle enchantment dust over their heads or place potions in their water or food. What they don't do, and here I am referring primarily to black Republicans, is craft an agenda or set of policy recommendations that speak directly to black people's needs instead of the deliberations and political agendas of overwhelmingly white conservative think tanks. Black people are looking for new leadership but black Republicans seem too timid to offer them an independent analysis and political program that is market-based and eschews a lot of the so-called moral issues that have no real meaning for their lives.

ptc, Blacks aren't looking for new leadership, the majority of use are doing things for ourselves.

i'll agree that the impression given by the GOP is that they think most Blacks are incapable of rational thought.

I only wanted to have Lynn Swann's policy positions disclosed. Instead, I read a paranoid mini-rant on the so-called pariahship of Black conservatives/Republicans.

Where I come from, that's called 'switching the subject'; a classic cop-out used when you can't answer the question on the merits.

The state of Pennsylvania, on the face of it, is not a black state. The governor of PA doesn't necessarily have to have a black agenda. Rather, black individuals have to determine how they are going to form coalitions based upon their interests. As I've been saying from day one, if they cannot figure out how to partner with the GOP then they lose out on representation.

I don't see anything at Swann's campaign site which leads me to believe that he is especially hostile to blackfolks so as far as I'm concerned, he has little to prove.

More later.

If Lynn Swann has any chance of becoming the next governor of Pennsylvania he will have to do at least two things at a minimum. The first is that he will have to defeat Ed Rendell by a decisive margin in the western part of the state; and, the second thing is that he will have to run close to even in the southeastern section of the state, that is, in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs.

George Bush, for example, defeated Al Gore in the western part of Pennsylvania but his lead was cut shreds in the southeast. I think voters in Philadelphia - a majority black city - gave Gore over 70 percent of their votes. In the suburbs the margins weren't nearly as great but Gore won the majority of the votes there too.

If the Democrats mount a ferocious assault on Rick Santorum, and he is already trailing Robert Casey, Jr. by double digits in some polls and the race hasn't officially started yet, and Swann becomes identified in any way with Santorum's reelection effort it will seriously hurt him with black and moderate voters in the southeast. Santorum is very unpopular in the southeastern part of the state.

Black voters don't perceive Swann as being hostile to their interests but he will have to do a great deal to reach out to them if he and campaign expect to get their votes. Being black and being a football star who played for the Steelers doesn't mean as much to them as it means to folks in Pittsburgh.

I think your statement that if black people cannot figure out how to partner with the GOP then they lose representation is extremely glib and shortsighted. If Lynn Swann and the GOP don't figure out how to woo a lot of black voters in the southeastern part of the state this November, then I can guarantee you that Swann will not occupy that god ugly mansion that sits alongside the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg next January. He doesn't need to develop a black agenda but they need to feel he has their best interests at heart.

Dig man: Lynn Swann is not black folks' cross to bear. Black folks are Lynn Swann's cross to bear. He'd better figure it out soon.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/13836504.htm

Latest poll results Rendell versus Swann.

You know it just occured to me that this is probably the only place on the web that blackfolks are actually discussing the candidacy of Lynn Swann. Anybody from PA around here?

I live in Pennsylvania but my hometown is San Francisco. We live in Chester County about 35 miles northwest of Philly and 22 miles north of Wilmington, Delaware. Our house is about four or five miles north of where the movie The Village was filmed, which was in a section of Longwood Gardens. Lots and lots of open space. The newest high school is named after Bayard Rustin. Lots and lots of Quakers. The most affluent county in the state. Lots and lots of Republicans.