black…MYstory

Honestly, Michael Steele and I are, politically speaking, likely to be polar opposites.  However, he is a Republican figure who is not likely to tread too often in wingnut territory.  Also, while conservative, he doesn’t come off as sounding like he doesn’t live in the real world.  Being a politician from Maryland, he would have likely not made it had he come across any other way.

It has been a week since we elected the first black man as United States President and, now, the GOP has the opportunity to make a black man a first in Republican ranks — the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee.  It appears that Steele will be throwing his hat in the ring to be considered for the post.  A few years back, the minority barrier for this post was broken when Mel Martinez, a Cuban-American senator from Florida served as co-chair.

Steele’s potential candidacy comes at a time when a spotlight has been shone on the GOP and it is being seen for what it truly is — a party that is overwhelmingly white and male.  If it is to survive, it better learn how to attract more than this demographic.  Steele feels that he would possess the qualifications the infuse new blood into the party.  Lord knows they need it!

Would Steele attract me?  Not likely.  But, perhaps if he can get in to help guide the party in a direction that broadens their appeal, more power to him because, to be real, when people are concerned with food, clothing and shelter, the whole “guns, God and gays” platform falls a little flat.

So, we’ll see if the GOP is willing to give a shot to one of its most loyal stalwarts.  If not, we’ll likely know that, once again, the Republican party is not looking to expand its reach.

Popularity: 19% [?]

I often wonder for whom are the National Black Republicans making their ads.  They most certainly can’t be for black folks because they insult our intelligence at every turn.  A couple of years back, they had a couple of ads that made me slap my forehead at their stupidity.  One ad claimed Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican.  This was not based on any real proof of his registration, just excerpts from his public statements that these people assume fall in line with their views.  In fact, because of what John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy did on behalf of MLK, Jr. while he was incarcerated in Atlanta, MLK’s father, Martin Luther King, Sr., switched from being a lifelong Republican to a Democrat.

But, even if King were a Republican, I have the benefit of seeing much of the Republican party’s actions since King’s death and know that the party is far from being the “party of Lincoln” it claims to be.

The next ad they released was even more insulting.  I’ll share with you some of what they wrote:

First Man: “If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos’, ,you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked.”

Second Man: “That’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed.”

First Man: “Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican.”

Yes, they actual put this mess out as a radio ad.

You see, this is what I am to believe is the Republican party’s effort to connect with black people.  So, again, I ask: for whom are they making these ads?

In citing the above, I believe that the National Black Republican Association made these ads to target black voters, once again assuming black people too stupid to understand plain English or clear policy positions.

But, their latest ad doesn’t appear to be for the black voter as much as it is to play on racial fears held by some white voters.  In an anti-Democrat, anti-Obama ad, the NBRA first talks about how the Democratic party is so racist against “Barack Obama…a BLACK man!” (sorry, their emphasis was just overkill to me).  Never mind that he went on the become the party’s presidential nominee.  Next, they accuse Obama of being an elitist who doesn’t advocate on behalf of poor black people.  Never mind that their own candidate owns so many homes that he can’t keep track of the property taxes for each or that he used his wife’s private jet to fly around the country while campaigning or that, while criticizing Bush’s Katrina response, voted against a commission to investigate what went wrong and consistently voted against the King holiday (so much for King being a fellow Republican).  Furthermore, when it came to the bread-and-butter issues that matter most to Americans, McCain has shown that his loyaltly is to corporate America.  But, I am supposed to view Obama as the more elitist of the two?

Honestly, though, it’s hard to get mad because…well…their ads are laughable.  They are poorly-written and poorly-executed.  It’s almost as if the NBRA is either incompetent at what they’re doing here or think so little of their intended audience that they don’t put any real effort into making them better.

But, hey, don’t take my word for it.  The ad is below:

Popularity: 12% [?]