The proverbial political cat is out of the bag for the Democratic Party, as emails obtained by our friends over at the Washington Free Beacon expose egregious gerrymandering of Florida’s congressional districts between Congresswoman Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee, Democratic consultants, and the Florida Democratic Party during the 2012 redistricting process.
The Shark Tank broke the story that Congressman Allen West was going to be “screwed” during redistricting, because of a deal the Republican controlled Florida Legislature had struck with Democrats. While Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin pounced on the redistricting “fix” that was taking place against Allen West, the GOP establishment moved quickly to cover its own hind, as several high-ranking legislators directly pointed the finger at two legislators as being the responsible parties of the controversy, former Senate President Mike Haridopolos and current Senate President Don Gaetz.(Rush Limbaugh discussed Shark Tank story of Allen West)
The legislators in question told the Shark Tank that Haridopolos personally asked to let the state Senate redistrict West’s congressional district. Again, desperate politicians looking to save their careers will say anything to stay out of hot water, perhaps even lie about Haridopolos’ direct involvement.
The Southern strategy refers to the Republican Party strategy of gaining political support or winning elections in the Southern section of the country by appealing to racism against African Americans.
Just what was the Southern Strategy?
It was not developed by the Nixon team but was attributed to Nixon’s political strategist Kevin Phillips. Phillips stated in an interview in a 1970 New York Times article:
“From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that…but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.”
This was the strategy that helped to win the Southern states for the Republican Party during the 1968 and 1972 elections.
Although political scientists have argued that the change in the southern voting patterns from Democrat to Republican had more to do with economic interests than with race, the change was in place. By the way white working class voters in the south still continued to vote for Democrats for national office until the 1990s, so the jury is still out about the true success of the Southern Strategy as regards to race.
By the way, in 1976, Jimmy Carter won most of the Southern states without offending northern Democrats, explaining, “I have no trouble pitching for Wallace votes and black votes at the same time.” Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!
Democratic charges of racism have been made about Republican campaigns for the House of Representatives and Senate in the South. The Willie Horton commercials used by supporters of George H. W. Bush against Michael Dukakis in the election of 1988 were considered by many Democrats, including Jesse Jackson, Lloyd Bentsen, and many newspaper editors, to be racist.
In 1990 re-election campaign of Jesse Helms attacked his opponent’s alleged support of “racial quotas,” with an ad where a white person’s hands are seen crumpling a letter indicating that he was denied a job because of the color of his skin.
Lee Atwater:
Harvey LeRoy “Lee” Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee.
A man of many contradictions, Atwater played guitar in a rock band called the Upsetter Revue in Columbia South Carolina. At the height of his political power he played with B.B. King, and released an album called “Red, Hot, and Blue” featuring among others, the great Isaac Hayes. He was also a husband and father to three children.
All of this being said Atwater possessed An acumen for aggressive tactics. For example, as the campaign consultant to Republican incumbent Floyd Spence in his race for Congress against Tom Turnipseed , a Democrat, Atwater’s tactics included doctored push polls, fake surveys and statements that Turnipseed was not only a member of the NAACP but that he “got hooked up to jumper cables”. Atwater discovered Turnipseed underwent shock therapy as a teenager for depression.
The following is the infamous interview that Atwater gave on the “Southern Strategy”
ATWATER: You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
Although Atwater was not directly responsible for the Willie Horton Ads, the campaign benefited from it. Atwater’s skills in the 1988 election led one biographer to call him “the best campaign manager who ever lived.”
After the election, Atwater was named chairman of the Republican National Committee. The scope of Atwater’s abilities are far beyond the scope of this page, however, there is one very notable achievement:
In 1989, Atwater became a new member of the historically black Howard University Board of Trustees. The university gained national attention when students rose up in protest against Atwater’s appointment. Student activists disrupted Howard’s 122nd anniversary celebrations and eventually occupied the university’s administration building. Within days, both Atwater and Howard President James E. Cheek resigned.
Atwater collapsed in March of 1990 at a political fundraiser for Phil Gramm. He was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent very drastic treatments which left him swollen and unable to move without a wheelchair. In his last written piece, he stated the following:
“My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood.”
President Barack Obama received 95% of the African American vote. But even before this, at least 88% of the African American vote.
The large majority of African Americans support the Democratic Party. In the 2004 Presidential Election, Democrat John Kerry received 88% of the African American vote compared to 11% for Republican George W. Bush. Although there is an African-American lobby in foreign policy, it has not had the impact that African American organizations have had in domestic policy.
The African American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s during the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program provided economic relief to African Americans; Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The African American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. This along with the efforts by Truman, Eisenhower and others solidified this block.
THIS IS PART OF A TWO PART DISCUSSION TAKING PLACE HERE:
It seems some writer at the NY Times is at it again, calling the GOP in disarray and racist. Perhaps this gent needs a little history lesson. The Democrat party gave America slavery, secession, segregation, and socialism. Jim Crow laws, poll tax, literacy tests, and providing women checks for having children out of wedlock are further examples of Democrat policies. President Lincoln broke the chains of physical bondage. President Reagan broke the chains of economic bondage. The writer thinks the GOP is in disarray, but it’s thanks to liberal progressive policies emanating from the Obama administration that America is in disarray. The demise of our economic, energy, and national security are evident and the State of our Union is horrific. I would much rather be a member of a political party that rewards my individual industrialism, than one which promotes my individual subjugation.
The Democratic Party opposed President Lincoln and just about every other civil rights advance in the United States. So what gives the Democrats and Hollywood liberals the right to claim Abraham Lincoln as their president? Hear what AlfonZo Rachel thinks.
Florida Rep. and Tea Party favorite Allen West, who recently lost re-election to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, appeared on National Public Radio Friday. Far from despondent, West spoke of Washington politics and his future role with his characteristic assertive, yet calm, tone.
Politico relates the interview’s significant conclusion:
MARTIN: So what’s next for you?
WEST: Look, you know, God closes a door so that he can open up greater doors. I will continue to, you know, stand up and fight for this country. That’s my goal. I have two daughters, 19 and 16, and I want to make sure that they grow up in a great America that provides them all the opportunities that it provided to their mother and father.
MARTIN: Congressman Allen West is completing his term in Congress. He was kind enough to join us from a House recording studio on Capitol Hill here in Washington, D.C.
WEST: And always remember, Abraham Lincoln only served one term in Congress, too.
MARTIN: Duly noted. Congressman West, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Many commenters are interpreting West’s closing remarks as a hint that he may consider running for president some day. Perhaps, though, he only meant to say that one can still be a pivotal figure, even if they only serve one term in Congress.
Trailing in the polls and unable to talk about the issues, my opponent’s allies are stealing and vandalizing signs throughout our district. Juvenile behavior, but that isn’t particularly surprising coming from Patrick Murphy.
CBS News recently did a report on their shenanigans which you can watch here. This Murphy supporter was even caught in the act:
P.S. Just $25 will buy 25 signs. There’s less than two weeks left and we need to make sure we have enough signs to cover all the polling places. Donate today!
I can feel it. Can you feel it too? After Governor Romney’s terrific performance in last night’s debate, the momentum is on our side. I am confident under a Romney presidency the United States will once again achieve “peace through strength.”
In our neck of the woods, a poll released last week by Public Policy Polling, a Democrat firm, for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers shows us leading our opponent 51-42, reinforcing our own internal polling. Patrick Murphy’s lackluster performance at our first and only televised debate last Friday isn’t going to do anything to budge that.
Now we know why his campaign has been working so hard to keep him out of debates and public events. Murphy has memorized his talking points well and is very comfortable throwing around lies, but simply can’t hide the fact he’s an empty suit who will simply rubber-stamp more of the same failed Obama/Pelosi agenda.
Make Your Vote Count Now!
You don’t have to wait until November 6th to cast your ballot. Early voting starts this Saturday, October 27th and continues until Saturday, November 3rd. Visit our early voting page for a list of early voting locations.
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We’re just two weeks away from the finish line. We must not let up. We must not waiver. And we must stand strong!
http://www.nrcc.org/west | For generations, we’ve understood that with a little hard work, nothing was beyond our grasp. It’s time we had a government that worked with us, and not against us. The “This is Our America” campaign shares stories from candidates and regular Americans around the country who are fired up about the 2012 election and have faith that America is bigger than it’s challenges.
We are the National Republican Congressional Committee, and our mission is to make sure Congress spends and taxes less, so the economy can get back on track.
When I think about what kind of America I want to leave for my children and my grandchildren – it’s not one that’s saddled in debt.
This election means the restoration of this great Constitutional Republic. It means we will recommit to the fundamental principles and values that make us an exceptional nation.
The American dream very simply is the fact that a young man born in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia 1961 now lives here. That’s the American dream. There’s no such thing as a Somali dream, a Chinese dream, there’s one dream — the American dream and that’s why people came to these shores.
Everything is at stake in this election. What America we will have is at stake in this election. I think it’s a clear-cut choice between what we are trying to represent as constitutional conservatives and what the other side is trying to represent.
A lot of people are very afraid, they’re very concerned about the fact that the American dream they’ve enjoyed and has enabled them to be where they are today may not be there for their children and grandchildren. That future, that thing we have always passed on to subsequent generations is that which is threatened right now. They want men and women who are convicted and will go out right now and go up to Washington, DC and fight for them. It just so happens I have the great opportunity to not do that anymore in camouflage uniform and boots, I get to do that now in a suit and a tie.
When I think about what kind of America I leave for my children and my grandchildren — I can’t saddle them with this debt. I can’t saddle them with the dependency society. I want to make sure they have the opportunities that I had growing up that enabled me to be here today.
November the 7th means the restoration of this great constitutional republic. It means we will go back and recommit to the fundamental principles and values that make us an exceptional nation. And it means we will once again rekindle and reignite the American entrepreneurial and indomitable spirit — that’s what November the 7th will mean. It will mean that we will open up a new chapter in the history of this great nation.
The West-Murphy poll also had more Democrats supporting the Republican than Republicans supporting the Democrat. Of 350 Democrats polled, 15.1 percent said they would vote for West. Of 406 Republicans polled, 7.9 percent said they would vote for Murphy. West led Murphy 50.4 percent to 43.4 percent among 113 independent voters surveyed, with 6.2 percent undecided.
All eight of the congressional polls surveyed only residents who had voted in the last four years and said they were planning to vote on Nov. 6. The new poll released today by StPetePolls.org
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