African American Pundit

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:28:00 +0000

This blog will be going through a metamorphosis
Coming soon... African American Pundit 2.0

Malcolm X’s Grandson

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:16:00 +0000

Hat Tip to Kristen West Savai for the below article:

On February 3rd, while sports — and Beyonce — lovers were distracted by the Super Bowl, Dr. Randy Short began to spread the word via social media that Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of transcendent human rights activist El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) had been arrested by the FBI while en route to Iran to attend a Hollywoodism conference.

RELATED: Malcolm X’s Grandson Reported Arrested En Route To Iran

After the alleged arrest was picked up by PressTV, the story spread like wildfire and concerned and angry supporters demanded answers. Where was Malcolm? Had he been harmed? As previously reported byNewsOne, the FBI refused to answer any questions and furious protests began to mount.

See Press TV news report below:

Now Shabazz has released a statement, posted to the Facebook page of former U.S. representative and activist Cynthia McKinney, detailing the events that led to his arrest and the inhumane way that he was treated by so-called officers of the law.

Read the full statement below:

I sincerely appreciate the care & concern of the People over my well-being after Press TV’s report of the most recent events which have transpired regarding the F.B.I.’s harassment of me.

Given the storm of lies, and half-truths that come with being associated with being the descendant of El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, also known as Minister Malcolm X, any and everything that I do; great or small, good or not so good, real or imagined is subject to controversy. However, in this missive I will take this opportunity to properly & fully disclose what transpired.

In the beginning of 2012 I had been informed that I was under investigation by the F.B.I.’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y.

The agents of this division-and in collaboration with others-have visited several residences of which I was known by them to frequent. However, they would never come when they knew me to actually be there. They would leave their cards with the residents asking them to tell me to call them, and then would tell surrounding residents to observe the house and to notify them if they saw me.

These are the homes of long-time friends, and very close supporters. Yet, when federal agents begin knocking on someone’s door on multiple occasions to snoop, and ask questions, whether one is guilty of an offense or not, it’s enough to coerce people into distancing themselves from you. This cheap tactic employed by the F.B.I. is a means of agitation & harassment. They seek to neutralize my networking abilities.

They have visited locations in California, Chicago, Miami and most aggressively in New York.

People were advising me that if I had nothing to hide, then I should just contact them as requested and cooperate. Though I must say that in these kind of matters I am of a particular ethic. For one, I have been engaged in no criminal activity of their concern, and they could have located me if they so chose. Secondly, I don’t recognize the authority in them beckoning me.

It wasn’t even until my mother informed me that they had been contacting her that I truly became agitated. She advised me to see what they had to say, and so I obliged the next time they came around looking for me. My encounter was with 2 federal agents of Goshen, N.Y.’s Counter Terrorism Task Foci Unit. The primary agent identified himself as Special Agent Tom Brozicky.

They expressed concern over-as they put it-my “international travels”; I have lived & studied in Damascus, Syria for over a year, and now the U.S. is instigating conflict within the very same region; I went on ex-congresswoman/former presidential candidate Cynthia Mckinney’s delegation along with Dr. Randy Short to Libya, and met with Leader Muammar Gadhafi one week prior to N.A.T.O. intervention and I was most recently getting ready to travel to Tehran, Iran to be a participant of the International Fajr Film Festival and give a lecture addressing the issues of Hollywood and violence:

- Modern Violence & Terrorism,
- Provoking clashes between religions & populations

I was picked up by authorities after I filed for a visa to Iran, and 2 days prior to my departure. A detective squad from the City of Middletown Police Department surrounded me in the street about 2 blocks from where I was residing. They asked me my name, and I gave them an alias, but they were already well aware of who I actually was. I didn’t tell them my real name because I didn’t know what was going on. When I was brought before a Judge of City of Middletown court I was surprised to be informed that I was being charged with Grand Larceny, and False Impersonation charge. Then I was sent to jail, and told to appear again 7 days later. Then following court date the bogus charge of Grand Larceny, which they only put to justify stopping me in first place, was dropped. And they left me to face the False Impersonation. I was offered 90 days for the offense of giving the authorities the wrong name which I declined before bailing out after 2 weeks.

When I was being held within the belly of the beast on trumped up charges, to my rescue came the journalist at Press TV based in Iran. My relationship with powerful & progressive news outfit began in April of 2012, and prior to that I had discussions with their journalist regarding current events internationally. I developed a positive rapport with some of them, and as a result was invited to travel to Iran to discuss the impact of Hollywood in stereotyping Muslims, Iranians and African people. From January 15th through 18th, 2013, I was a featured interviewee for the Press TV documentary “The Façade of the American Dream”. And prior to my date of departure to Iran, Lifetime television released a television bio-picture called “Betty & Coretta” which was a sensationalistic misrepresentation of my grandparents, my mother and me. This film aside from being poorly acted, and shallow in depth also threatened to inflame old controversies, and open unhealed wounds and to remind the public of sad outcomes without ever identifying B.O.S.S.I., the C.I.A., F.B.I. and other forces that set the climate for my grandfather’s assassination, and made my family a long-suffering casualty of COINTELPRO, and other anti-Black repression programs. Naturally, anything done to stir up old hatred of The Shabazz Family will impact me as the name-sake, and first male heir of Malcolm X, and whether I am high or low in fortunes does not exempt me from this reality.

The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit & tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.

For several months prior to my arrest in late January, 2013 I faced a pattern of harassment from law enforcement which is usually reserved for important figures. On Thursday, November 1, 2012 @ 11:53pm in the park circle area of Middletown, N.Y. I was stopped by officers of the Middletown Police Department, and given a ticket for “J-Walking” (crossing in the middle of the street), which then escalated into a “Disorderly Conduct” supposedly because of the exchange of words that I had with the officers. I told them that they couldn’t possibly be serious for writing me a “J-Walking ticket”, that I didn’t appreciate how they were treating me and that they

shouldn’t be looking at me as less of a man because they were in police uniform. For this I was arrested, the officers stole the little amount of money that I had on me, they then stripped me and threw me in a freezing precinct cell for the remainder of that early morning. I was finally taken before the “Judge Steven Brockett” around 1:30pm. He gave me an unreasonable bail, and then ordered that I be remanded to the Orange county Jail.

This penalty may seem a bit extreme or harsh to most of you, but here is where it gets worse: On Tuesday, October 30th, exactly 2 nights prior to this incident, the same officer “J Berman” who wrote me the ticket for “J-Walking” & “Disorderly Conduct” stopped me coming from out of a store in the same area, and questioned me as to what I was doing.

I told him that I was coming out of the store. He asked to see what I bought which was a pack of sun flower seeds. I had actually just so happened to be eating a few while he was talking to me, and I spit one of the shells on the ground. At this point officer “J Berman” threatened to write me a ticket for littering. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded, but I went home that night.

Yet, it still doesn’t even begin there. I had an encounter with other officers of the Midletown Police Department one week prior to officer “J Berman’s” threats to write me a ticket for spitting a sun flower seed on the ground: I was coming out of a restaurant with my mother, and her friend. As the 3 of us entered the car to leave 2 police cars converged on our vehicle, and boxed us in. My mother was petrified. With guns drawn I was then ordered to step out of the back seat. I asked them why to which they replied that I had several warrants for my arrest. I told them that they were mistaken, but I still complied with their request. Humiliated in front of all on-lookers I was then thrown on the car while the officers ripped through my pockets. After they were done they said that it was my lucky day because I actually didn’t have any warrants at all, and so I was free to go! One of these officer’s name was “R. Ribeiro”…

You may wonder if it could possibly get any worse than this. Well, it does! Approximately 3 weeks prior to the public humiliation of my mother, and me by “R Ribeiro” and another officer of the Middletown Police Department I found myself subject to the discrimination & prejudice of Mayor Joseph M. Destefano of Middletown, N.Y. himself. A friend, and I went out to eat at a restaurant in Middletown, N.Y. which is owned by the Mayor, and to our

surprise he appeared from nowhere and asked us to leave. When we inquired as to why he stated that officials of the Middletown Police Department told him not to let us patronize his establishment. Mind you that this goes without incident.

As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust & heinous actions are tolerated & allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe. Just as Huewy P Newton of the Black Panther Party stated that police are in the white community to protect & serve, yet occupy ours like a foreign troop… I tell you that we shouldn’t fall victim to the conditioning of feeling inferior or fearful at the presence of law enforcement for no apparent reason.

With that being said, I was not arrested by federal agents. I was taken in by a squad from the City of Middletown, N.Y.’s Police Department. I was not being held in an “undisclosed location” so to speak. I was actually being held in the Orange County Jail in Goshen, N.Y. However, from the time that I was booked at the precinct, to standing before a Judge the next day who told me to come back in 7 more, to being processed at the Orange County Jail and up until 7 days later I was not permitted to make any calls to notify anyone of my status; as though I had just been kidnapped from of the street.

Unfortunately, until this day my family hasn’t been fully abreast of my situation as I haven’t had the opportunity to properly consult with any of them. Dr. Randy Short who notified Press TV of my situation is a close comrade of mine who was on our delegation in Libya. Media reports from Press TV about my situation were not intended to create controversy. In reality, I have a few associates that are affiliated with this reputable International media outlet, and they had expected to meet with me in Iran. So when I disappeared, and rumors spread, the inability to get concise information from a credible source prompted them to rouse public attention on my behalf, for which I am grateful. In April of 2012 I had the opportunity to be a guest analyst/contributor on Press TV. This network has a large following all over the world, and millions find it’s news, documentaries and programming to be both an educational, and insightful alternative to the conglomerated, and highly biased mainstream American & British news media. Regarding the Source magazine, nothing that they published was vetted by me, and was made by persons, at best, vaguely familiar with my situation. Further, I have never had an affiliation or relationship with The Source, nor have they ever directly consulted with me about anything.

Facebook: Hajj Malcolm el Shabazz

Twitter: Malcolm71084

Instagram: mecka1084

Sonia Sotomayor condemns federal prosecutor's racist statement

noreply@blogger.com (AAPP) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:34:00 +0000

Thank you Lyla Bugara over at The Color of Change for her report on how last week, Sonia Sotomayor stood in strong defense of racial equality. In a supplemental statement to a Supreme Court decision not to hear the case of Bongani Charles Calhoun, Justice Sotomayor explicitly condemned the shameful history of racism in the American criminal justice system. Calhoun claimed that racially charged comments from a federal prosecutor influenced the outcome of his trial and violated his constitutional rights. Lyla reports:

Although the Supreme Court ultimately decided not to hear the case due to a procedural problem with the appeal, Justice Sotomayor wrote this additional statement to dispel any perception that their decision signaled approval of the prosecutor's remarks. Condemning the racist comment, Justice Sotomayor wrote,

"The prosecutor here tapped a deep and sorry vein of racial prejudice that has run through the history of criminal justice in our Nation. There was a time when appeals to race were not uncommon, when a prosecutor might direct a jury to " 'consider the fact that Mary Sue Row is a young white woman and that this defendant is a black man for the purpose of determining his intent...The prosecutor's comment here...was pernicious in its attempt to substitute racial stereotypes for evidence, and racial prejudice for reason...such conduct diminishes the dignity of our criminal justice system and undermines respect for the rule of law."

Justice Sotomayor also chided lower courts for failing to recognize the injustice of the prosecutor's comments, specifically a Fifth Circuit Court that described it only as "impolitic." Too often, the very existence of racism in the criminal justice system is challenged, but Justice Sotomayor's words offer refreshing recognition from the highest court in the land.

Barney Frank Pulls Out Gay Card

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:24:00 +0000

Oh Lord! Now Barney Frank is hating on Gov Deval Patrick, and is pulling out his Gay Card. I appreciate Barney Frank's liberal voting record while he was in Congress, but old Barney needs to get over himself. No Gay is NOT the "New Black" And I'm glad that Gov. Deval Patrick shut down that good ol' boy network!

Read more on how Barney Frank is not happy about interim senate seat snub, Pulls The Gay Card

Hey Barney, Give it a rest.

William “Mo” Cowan -YES - Barney Frank - NO

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Great job Gov. Great Job!

I'm elated to hear that Governor Deval Patrick has picked a highly qualified Black Man, William “Mo” Cowan as his choice to serve as the interim US senator until the successor to John F. Kerry is chosen by the voters June 25.

As a former and long time resident of Massachusetts I'm excited to see Mr. Cowan a North Carolina native and Duke University graduate and one of the city’s leading African-American lawyers take on the position. It was great to see Governor Deval Patrick to buckle to so-called liberal groups who wanted Barney Frank in the position. Congratulations Governor Deval Patrick and William “Mo” Cowan.

Anti-Saggy Pants video hits major television media outlets Boston

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:20:00 +0000

Blacks in Boston Organize against Saggy Pants as Behavioral Health Issue

Boston, Massachusetts - The Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusetts (BMHAM) a Boston based mental health advocacy organization released an Anti-Saggy Pants video today, which is running on major television outlets in the Boston market. The video targeted to young urban dwellers in Massachusetts is the brainchild of Dr. Omar Reid, President and Founder of BMHAM says the the video's purpose is to address the growing issue of young men walking in the streets of our communities without regard and respect for themselves and thier community. "For the BMHAM it's a behavioral health issue in our neighborhoods and communities that must be addressed the entire community." says Dr. Reid.

"This is just the beginning of our public strategy to encourage parents, schools, police, social service agencies, housing agencies, faith based organizations along with men and women in our community to take a collective stand and tell our young men and boys to pull those pants up," said Reid.
Dr. Reid says he plans to expand running the videos and others anti-saggy pants information into other Massachusetts TV, radio, internet and billboard markets, including Springfield, Brockton, Lawrence and other parts of the state. The group also plans to create giant billboards targeted to the saggy pants trend. Dr. Reid and his BMHAM organization are planning a fundraising campaign to pay for videos and billboards. Like the video, each billboard will feature two male models whose pants are hanging so low their underwear is showing. Read more at http://www.bmham.org/#!saggy-pants-video

Taking a break

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:16:00 +0000

Happy New Year folks.

As you can tell I'm taking a long needed break from political blogging. I'll be back Feb 1, 2013

African American Pundit

NAACP and Rev. AL Call on Obama

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:40:00 +0000

President Obama, Rev. Al Sharpton (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

AAP says: Well look at this. The elitist negro class of so called African-American leaders are calling for President Obama to create job programs that combat high black unemployment in African American communities. Yes, Rev. Al Sharpton and head negro in charge of the NAACP President Benjamin Jealous are seeking the same solutions of yester year. As reported in Daily News. It's too bad these negro elites are following the same old format of creating jobs program, instead of entrepreneurship programs that will create opportunities for black Americans to employee others, and keep money in our communities. More social job welfare... SMH... When will Rev. Al and his younger clone, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous get it? Job programs unless developed as a means to true self sufficiency is nothing more that a short term band aid. I guess the NAACP just needs to stick to Image Awards, it's the only thing they ever seem to actually do well.

Sherrilyn Ifill to lead NAACP Legal Defense Fund

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 01:14:00 +0000

Great news from the legal word. A reported by the Afro.com, University of Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill will assume the helm of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in January 2013, the organization announced Nov. 19.

Ifill, a graduate of the New York University School of Law, is a respected civil rights litigator who has specialized in voting rights and political participation, she is also an LDF alum. As a young attorney, Ifill served as assistant counsel in LDF’s New York office where she was part of the litigation team that successfully challenged the way Texas judges are elected in Houston Lawyers' Association vs. Attorney General of Texas, a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991.

“It was a dream come true to serve as a lawyer at LDF years ago, and it is a high honor to return to this premiere institution as president and director-counsel,” Ifill said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working with the LDF team, allies and partners to advance an innovative 21st century civil rights practice that confronts the barriers to equality and justice in the lives of the most marginalized members of our community.”

For more than 70 years, LDF has been committed to legal advocacy centered around advancing equality in the criminal justice system, achieving educational parity, increasing political participation and ensuring the appointment of fair-minded and diverse judges. And, LDF board members said, Ifill is a fitting leader to advance that legacy.

“Sherrilyn Ifill brings to this position her visionary leadership, keen intellect, an unwavering commitment to social justice and a deep understanding of LDF’s legacy,” stated David W. Mills, co-chair of LDF’s Board of Directors.

LDF Co-Chair Gerald Adolph added, “With Sherrilyn at the helm, LDF will be stronger as the fight for racial justice in the 21st century continues.”

A noted public intellectual, who regularly offers commentary on pressing issues, Ifill is also the acclaimed author of “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century.”

Since 1993 Ifill has been on the faculty at the University Maryland School of Law, where she established several innovative legal clinics, including an environmental justice clinic, and one of the first legal clinics in the nation to focus on the legal rights of ex-offenders. Read more at the afro.com

Black Voters Killed Mitt Romney's Southern Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:24:00 +0000

Well it appears that Mitt Romney and his advisors were nothing more than the ghost of Lee Atwater. Bsed on the most recent article in The Nation, Mitt Romney's campaign ended the same way Lee Atwater did —with the cancer a color aroused hatred (racism) eating away at their souls. I guess Lee Atwater must be twisting and turning in his grave because Southern Blacks, Southern Latinos, Native American, women, gays and other progressive voters destroyed the Lee Atwater adapted/Mitt Romney's Southern Strategy.

In an "Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy" by

Rick Perlstein he provides an opportunity for American readers to learn about the Southern Strategy that Barack Obama was able to destroy. The article is so powerful that have have re-posted most of it here on this website: Here is what Rick -Perlstein recently wrote:

Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy
By Rick Perlstein

It has become, for liberals and leftists enraged by the way Republicans never suffer the consequences for turning electoral politics into a cesspool, a kind of smoking gun. The late, legendarily brutal campaign consultant Lee Atwater explains how Republicans can win the vote of racists without sounding racist themselves:

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, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

Now, the same indefatigable researcher who brought us Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks, James Carter IV, has dug up the entire forty-two-minute interview from which that quote derives. Here, The Nation publishes it in its entirety for the very first time.

The back-story goes like this. In 1981, Atwater, after a decade as South Carolina's most effective Republican operative, was working in Ronald Reagan's White House when he was interviewed by Alexander Lamis, a political scientist at Case Western Reserve University. Lamis published the interview without using Atwater's name in his 1984 book The Two-Party South. Fifteen years later—and eight years after Atwater passed away from cancer—Lamis republished the interview in another book using Atwater’s name. For seven years no one paid much attention. Then the New York Times' Bob Herbert, a bit of an Atwater obsessive, quoted it in an October 6, 2005 column—then five more times over the next four years.
Those words soon became legend—quoted in both screeds (The GOP-Haters Handbook, 2007) and scholarship (Corey Robin's 2011 classic work of political theory, The Reactionary Mind). Google Books records its use in ten books published so far this year alone. Curious about the remarks' context, Carter, who learned Lamis had died in 2012, asked his widow if she would consider releasing the audio of the interview, especially in light of the use of race-baiting dog-whistles (lies about Obama ending work requirements for welfare; "jokes" about his supposed Kenyan provenance) in the Romney presidential campaign. Renée Lamis, an Obama donor, agreed that very same night. For one thing she was “upset,” Carter told me, that “for some time, conservatives believed [her] husband made up the Atwater interview.” For another, she was eager to illustrate that her husband's use of the Atwater quote was scholarly, not political.

Listen to the full forty-two-minute conversation with Atwater and read the rest of the article at The Nation website: http://www.thenation.com/article/170841/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy

Blacks and Latinos voted: It’s not a traditional America anymore.”

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:53:00 +0000

There is a great editorial and a number of great articles in the Washington Post that are spot on regarding Mitt Romney and the Republicans attempts to demonize President Obama. As E.J. Dionne noted in his Washington Post article, Republican assumptions that the conservative side would vote in larger numbers than Democrats was wrong. The tea party was less the wave of the future than a remnant of the past. Blocking immigration reform and standing by silently while nativist voices offered nasty thoughts about newcomers were bad ideas. Latino voters heard it all and drew the sensible electoral conclusion. Read more: washingtonpost.com

As the Washington Post notes, ON ELECTION NIGHT, a couple of hours before President Obama was declared the victor, Bill O’Reilly offered his explanation for why Mitt Romney was about to lose.

“Because it’s a changing country, the demographics are changing,” Mr. O’Reilly said. “It’s not a traditional America anymore.”

In case anyone might be confused about the meaning of “traditional,” he elaborated: “The white establishment is now the minority.”

In other words, the problem was too many voters of color. And Mr. O’Reilly explained why that is a problem.

“There are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff. They want things, and who is going to give them things? President Obama. He knows it, and he ran on it. . . . You’re going to see a tremendous Hispanic vote for President Obama. Overwhelming for President Obama, and women will probably break President Obama’s way. People feel that they are entitled to things, and which candidate, between the two, is going to give them things?”

In a phone call with supporters Wednesday, Mr. Romney echoed some of the O’Reilly analysis. He attributed his defeat to the incumbent’s “gifts” to some of the same demographic groups whose rise troubles Mr. O’Reilly.

“The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated to go out to the polls, specifically the African American community, the Hispanic community and young people,” Mr. Romney said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

So, you may ask, what’s incorrect in that analysis? Mr. Obama “evolved” on gay marriage just in time to solidify the gay vote. It wasn’t until his fourth year in office, with Hispanic voters in play, that he decreed a path to legality for some young undocumented immigrants. Coincidence? Don’t be naive, Mr. Romney is telling us.

Our guess is that Mr. Obama thought that both policies would be good for the country — at worst, a confluence of good politics and common sense — just as Mr. Romney saw promises of lower taxes and expanded drilling as in the national interest, not “gifts” to small businesses and oil companies. Yet he seems to view extending health-care insurance to the uninsured as a political payoff to minorities.

“With regards to African American voters, Obamacare was a huge plus,” Mr. Romney said. “You can imagine for somebody making $25- or $30- or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care — particularly if you don’t have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 a family, in perpetuity, I mean, this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus.”

Yes — and shouldn’t it be? Would Mr. Romney prefer that people making $25,000 a year remain uninsured? Does the man who expressed pride in extending insurance to everyone in Massachusetts really see the Affordable Care Act as nothing but a play for votes?

We think voters generally make decisions based on a complex assessment of their own interests and what they think is good for the country. Mr. Romney apparently views the people as a series of segmentable, selfish market shares. That is “absolutely wrong,” said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R). “We have got to stop dividing American voters.”

It’s encouraging that many Republicans are repudiating the contemptuous, and contemptible, O’Reilly-Romney worldview. Source: washingtonpost.com

Obama Wins Florida’s 29 electoral votes today

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:13:00 +0000

President Obama was declared the winner of Florida’s 29 electoral votes today, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of 2000. Obama had already clinched re-election and now has 332 electoral votes to Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s 206. Read more: http://bo.st/STpmMK

Jessie Jackson, Jr. To Resign From Congress

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill. (Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)

As reported by ABC News, Attorneys for the Justice Department and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. are in talks about a possible deal regarding allegations of campaign finance violations, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Negotiations have been under way for some time.It is unclear whether the talks will result in a plea agreement, but sources say the talks could come to some conclusion soon.

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Part of the investigation's focus is on whether Jackson improperly used campaign funds for personal purchases, including furnishings for his Washington, D.C., home. Investigators are also looking at allegations that Jackson bought a female friend a $40,000 Rolex watch. The investigation is being run by the FBI's Washington Field Office. Read More HERE

AAP says: I have been saying for some time that Jessie Jackson is a good man and a great legislator who has become misguided. There is more, as reported by NBC Chicago.com a supporter of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Thursday criticized the congressman's reported decision to seek a possible plea deal while running for re-election.

"To slap us in the face now, you just lied to us. You just lied to us. I feel so betrayed," Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) told NBC Chicago.

Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed, citing an unnamed source, published word of the plea deal late Wednesday, and said Jackson may also have used campaign funds to buy a pricey watch for a female friend.

Austin said the voters to re-elected Jackson to represent Illinois' 2nd Congressional District deserve to know the truth.

NBC Chicago has been unable to confirm the report or reach Jackson's offices for comment.

Federal prosecutors in October launched a criminal investigation of Jackson, Jr. involving financial improprieties, including possible misuse of funds monitored by Congress to decorate his Washington, D.C. Home.

Jackson's attorneys have met with federal investigators, but a criminal defense attorney unrelated to the case said he doesn't think prosecutors cared about Tuesday's election.

"I don't know if they gave him a pass until after the election but then they're not going to rush because there is an election to charge somebody either," said attorney Steven Greenberg. "They charge you when they're good and ready to charge you."

Greenberg said that if Jackson is working on a plea deal, he likely would be unable to avoid prison time. Read more at: nbcchicago.com/blogs

GOP’s War on Voting Backfired

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:34:00 +0000

How the GOP’s War on Voting Backfired
The Nation // Ari Berman

Since the 2010 election, Republicans passed new voting restrictions in more than a dozen states aimed at reducing the turnout of Barack Obama’s “coalition of the ascendant”—young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.

“This is not rocket science,” Bill Clinton said last year. “They are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate.” By pushing voter suppression laws, Republicans wanted the 2012 electorate to be older, whiter and more conservative than the young and diverse 2008 electorate.

But the GOP’s suppression strategy failed. Ten major restrictive voting laws were blocked in court and turnout among young, black and Hispanic voters increased as a share of the electorate relative to 2008.

Take a look at Ohio, where Ohio Republicans limited early voting hours as a way to decrease the African-American vote, which made up a majority of early voters in cities like Cleveland and Dayton. Early voting did fall relative to 2008 as a result of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s cutbacks in early voting days and hours, but the overall share of the black electorate increased from 11 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2012. More than anything else, that explains why Barack Obama once again carried the state.

I spent the weekend before the election in black churches in Cleveland, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the GOP’s push to curtail the rights of black voters made them even more motivated to cast a ballot. “When they went after big mama’s voting rights, they made all of us mad,” said Reverend Tony Minor, Ohio coordinator of the African American Ministers Leadership Council. According to CBS News: "More African-Americans voted in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida than in 2008."

The same thing happened with the Latino vote, which increased as a share of the electorate (from 9 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2012) and broke even stronger for Obama than in 2008 (from 67-31 in 2008 to 71-27 in 2012, according to CNN exit polling). The share of the Latino vote increased in swing states like Nevada (up 4 percent), Florida (up 3 percent) and Colorado (up 1 percent). Increased turnout and increased support for Obama among Latinos exceeded the margin of victory for the president in these three swing states.

We’re still waiting on the data to confirm this theory, but a backlash against voter suppression laws could help explain why minority voter turnout increased in 2012. “That’s an extremely reasonable theory to be operating from,” says Matt Barreto, co-founder of Latino Decisions, a Latino-focused polling and research firm. “There were huge organizing efforts in the black, Hispanic and Asian community, more than there would’ve been, as a direct result of the voter suppression efforts.” Groups like the NAACP, National Council of La Raza, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund worked overtime to make sure their constituencies knew their voting rights.

As Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic wrote:

If there is one thing this election has proven, if there is one thing I have come to know, it is that Americans don’t like it when their right to vote is threatened. The very people whose votes the Republicans sought to suppress came out to vote. In places like Akron and Orlando and Denver and Milwaukee, they came. They waited in long lines and endured the indignities of poll workers. Yet they were not cowed. Today is their day. A day when they can look at one another and appreciate that they are truly a part of the history of civil rights in this country.

There are, of course, major caveats to this theory. If voter ID laws had been on the books in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, turnout might’ve shifted in the Republicans’ favor, as the political science literature suggests. (Nate Silver predicted that Pennsylvania’s voter ID law would’ve provided a net 1.2 percent shift to Republican candidates.) We don’t know how many voters were disenfranchised by voter ID laws in states like Kansas and Tennessee or didn’t vote in Florida because of long lines or a felony conviction or were forced to cast a provisional ballot in Ohio that will not be counted. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act could be invalidated by the Supreme Court, which would be a devastating setback for voting rights, and new voting restrictions that were temporarily blocked in state courts could be ultimately upheld.

But, for now, the momentum is shifting away from the GOP when it comes to voting rights. For the first time, in Minnesota, voters defeated a photo ID ballot initiative.

The measure started with a double-digit lead, but opponents of voter ID were able to convince a purple-state electorate that such laws are unnecessary and discriminatory. This could be a harbinger of things to come in other swing states.

In a recent piece in The Nation, I wrote that voter suppression efforts have become the “new normal” in the GOP. Unless or until Republicans get serious about courting an increasingly diverse and younger electorate, they’ll continue to pass laws to undermine the political power of this growing constituency.

But they’ll do so at their own peril. Racial minorities made up 28 percent of the electorate in 2012, up from 26 percent in 2008, and voted 80 percent for Obama. “Romney matched the best performance among white voters ever for a Republican challenger—and yet he lost decisively in the Electoral College,” wrote Ron Brownstein of National Journal. Minorities also accounted for 45 percent of Obama’s total vote. That means that in the not-so-distant-future, a Democrat will be able to win the presidency without needing a majority of white votes in his or her own coalition. In a country with growing diversity, if one party is committed to expanding the right to vote and the other party is committed to restricting the right to vote, it’s not hard to figure out which one will ultimately be more successful.

Going, Going, Gone... Allen West

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:07:00 +0000

Good bye former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla) glad to see yah go!

Yes, Allen West the Republican Army veteran who came to Congress two years ago in the conservative Tea Party wave, fell short Tuesday. Beaten by his Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy -- but West is not given up. Get this, as reported by his favorite news outlet, Fox News, West reportedly filed at least two motions Wednesday in West Palm County and St. Lucie County for injunctions in order to conduct a recount of paper ballots and an examination of voting machines used in the contentious contest.

“This race is far from decided, and there is no rush to declare an outcome. Ensuring a fair and accurate counting of all ballots is of the utmost importance. This race is far from decided,” he said in a written statement.

West contends an early recount of early ballots in St. Lucie District by the county supervisor there had shifted his total vote count from a lead of 2,000 to a deficit of 2,400. He also says there “were other numerous disturbing irregularities” at the polls in St. Lucie, including doors to the polling places being locked right after polls had closed, “in direct violation of Florida law.”

Dumb Republicans

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:45:00 +0000

Conservative bloggers and GOP right wing NUTS are licking collective wounds today with blogs post like this: DOOM! | Read More » The Fall of the House of Romney, Read More » And HOW TO STOP LOSING, Read More »

AAP says: It's too bad Michelle Malkin and the other so-called conservatives don't get it. No Election 2012 was not about President Obama getting his “revenge,” as she wrote in her ignorant blog post. It's too bad that these dumb ass Republicans don't get the fact that the president won because African-Americans, who are 13 percent of the electorate, won 93 percent of our vote. The President won among Latinos by 70 percent.

As John Dickerson noted in the slate today: "In the end, it wasn't close. Barack Obama won re-election handily over Mitt Romney with 303 electoral votes (so far), well more than the 270 electoral votes needed. Of the nine battleground states that were up for grabs, Obama won seven of them, losing only North Carolina (Florida remains to be called). But while Obama won those states, he didn't crush it; he won instead, a string of precise narrow victories. He didn’t win because his leadership during Hurricane Sandy blew all those swing votes his way (though it may have helped). The president won because he ran a permanent campaign, keeping his offices open in the battleground states from his 2008 campaign, tending his coalition assiduously, and because he relentlessly defined his opponent. His was the better campaign. The Democratic candidate of “hope and change” beat the big business Republican in the trenches, in one state after another." Read more HERE

AAP says: It's too bad extremist Republican bloggers and extremist Republicans0 within the GOP don't get it. The demographics of our nation are changing, and a party of old white men will never win the Presidency of the United States again.

Obama Beats Mitt Romney

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:11:00 +0000

AP Photo: Chris Carlson. IMAGE: President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden at the election night party on Wednesday.

Our president kicked Mitt Romney's royal color aroused ass last night. Yes, Barack Obama beat Romney by winning more than 300 electoral votes. In a bogus concession speech before a disappointed crowd of what looked to be a bunch old white men, Romnery refused to say Barack Obama's name urging all Americans to pray for him.

The President won Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado and Nevada,

Here’s how it shaped up for the candidates.

Barack Obama won:Virginia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Oregon, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, California, Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Vermont, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois .

Mitt Romney won:Missouri, Idaho, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia.

Barack Obama Wins 2nd Term

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 05:18:00 +0000

President Obama, seen earlier on election day, has won the 2012 presidential election over Republican rival Mitt Romney. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press / November 6, 2012)

NBC News declared Obama the projected winner of Ohio and the election after polls had closed on the West Coast. The president also held onto a series of Democratic strongholds, beating back Romney’s efforts to take back states Obama had won in 2008 and make inroads into traditionally Democratic strongholds, like Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

AAP says: I can't wait to hear Mitt Romney supporters cry about how Mitt Romney won the popular vote. WHATEVER!

Election Night Live Broadcast

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Join African American Pundit's Political Slugfest Show, Live on BlogTalkRadio tonight at 8 PM, as he gives his assessment of this year's presidential election and opens the telephone lines for your opinion. I'm broadcasting live on the air! Listen in now at http://tobtr.com/s/3988293. #BlogTalkRadio

My 2012 Election Prediction - State by State

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:46:00 +0000

States Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan will win

Alabama (9)
Alaska (3)
Arkansas (6)
Idaho (4)
Kansas (6)
Kentucky (8)
Louisiana (8)
Mississippi (6)
Nebraska (5)
Oklahoma (7)
Tennessee (11)
Texas (38)
Utah (6)
West Virginia (5)
Wyoming (3)
Arizona (11)
Florida (29)
Georgia (16)
Indiana (11)
Missouri (10)
Montana (3)
Nevada (6)
North Carolina (15)
North Dakota (3)
South Carolina (9)

States President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will win.

California (55)
Connecticut (7)
Delaware (3)
District of Columbia (3)
Hawaii (4)
Illinois (20)
Maine (4)
Maryland (10)
Massachusetts (11)
Michigan (16)
Minnesota (10)
New Jersey (14)
New Mexico (5)
New York (29)
Oregon (7)
Rhode Island (4)
Vermont (3)
Washington (12)
Wisconsin (10)
Colorado (9)
Iowa (6)
New Hampshire (4)
Ohio (18)

Pennsylvania (20)
Virginia (13)

My Top 10 Picks For Election Night Media Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:34:00 +0000

African American Pundit's Top 10 Picks for Election Night Media Coverage 2012
First you must Join African American Pundit's, Political Slugfest Show, with it's

Live Coverage of the Presidential Election 2012, Live on BlogTalkRadio.

Tonight at 8 PM, as he gives his assessment of this year's presidential election and opens the telephone lines for your opinion. We will be following the state-by-state results.

You can also check out his top 10 shows to watch and listen to below:

1. —CNN is activating a battalion for its coverage from its new Washington studio. Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper are the anchors, with 10 analysts lined up to deliver opinions. The network is also dispatching 29 reporters to 20 separate locations across the country, including five in Ohio and two in New Hampshire.

2. — The BBC's Bridget Kendall and James Naughtie will host America Decides, featuring a team of correspondents and experts from across the US. This will be on BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 from midnight GMT (1900 EST) on Tuesday night. And on BBC Radio 5live, Richard Bacon presents a special results programme between 2230 GMT and 0500 GMT, from Tampa, Florida. Political correspondent John Pienaar in Washington will explain what it all means for UK voters, while Stephen Nolan and Rhod Sharp also report from two crucial states.

3. — Black Media Outlet BET News— On Tuesday, November 6 Election Coverage Begins With 106 & Park At 6 PM ET, A Special Edition Of Don't Sleep! Hosted By T. J. Holmes At 10 PM ET/ 7 PM PT And The Premiere Of BET News' "BATTLEGROUND 2012: Vote Night," Anchored By Ed Gordon at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT For Round-the-clock Coverage On The Election Log On to BET.com's Politics-dedicated Page, BET.COM/VOTE2012

4. —Telemund Telemundo’s Election Day coverage (click the previous link for a Spanish-language release) begins on the network’s morning show, Un Nuevo Día, at 7am ET/PT. Noticias Telemundo will offer hourly news updates throughout the day, continuing through Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste (5pm ET/PT). Noticiero Telemundo con José Díaz-Balart (6:30pm ET) will broadcast live from New York City’s Rockefeller Center, and starting at 7pm ET/4pm PT, Telemundo will turn over completely to Decision 2012, Election Night, its live special prime time coverage from NBC’s new Democracy Plaza.

5.— Univisio Univision will kick off live Election Night coverage to Spanish speakers in the United States beginning at 7pm ET, continuing uninterruptedly until 3am ET, live from Miami. Noticiero Univision anchors Jorge Ramos and María Elena Salinas will lead a team of journalists and political analysts to offer Hispanic America detailed information on the presidential race, as well as other races taking place across the nation. The team will provide commentary and analysis of the voting process, state-by-state outcomes, key ballot issues and other topics of particular significance to Hispanic viewers.

6. — Free Speech TV 7pm ET: Democracy Now! 2012 Election Day Coverage. Amy Goodman and Juan González host the coverage, which includes live results as the polls close, reactions from across the globe, and in-depth analysis from a wide range of guests.

7. —Rachel Maddow is the star of MSNBC's show, with the rest of the network's prime-time team chiming in. Like big brother NBC, MSNBC's coverage will originate from the Democracy Plaza set at Rockefeller Center.

8. —PBS is offering online coverage all day Election Day, switching to TV in the evening. Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will be co-anchors. PBS has its own team of historians, Michael Beschloss and Richard Norton Smith, to take the big picture approach.

9. —NBC's Brian Williams is the sole returning anchor from past Election Nights among the top three networks. David Gregory and Savannah Guthrie will join him, with anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw talking about trends and history. Chuck Todd will fill the nuts-and-bolts-numbers role handled memorably by the late Tim Russert. NBC will live stream its coverage on various platforms, including Facebook.

10. — NPR News "Election 2012" to Offer Seven Hours of Live Election ... www.npr.org/about/press/2012/103112.NPRNewsElectionNightCoverage.html
npr news "election 2012" to offer seven hours of live election night coverage, on-air and online, from 8pm to 3am (et) "election 2012" team to provide coverage ...

The Others:

—Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos are ABC's anchor team, handling the job on Election Night for the first time. They have some big-name firepower: Barbara Walters is offering historical perspective and Katie Couric monitoring social media. A separate live stream, anchored by Dan Harris, will be shown on ABC and partner Yahoo!'s web sites. Clearly anticipating a late night, ABC has scheduled a special "Nightline" for 2:35 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

—Scott Pelley of CBS News will also be anchoring his first Election Night broadcast, with Bob Schieffer, Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson will join him. Byron Pitts is monitoring congressional races, and Anthony Mason analyzing exit poll data.

—Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly are co-anchors for Fox News Channel's coverage, with analysis from Chris Wallace and Brit Hume. Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren will appear, the latter assigned to interview Sarah Palin throughout the evening. Fox also appears to be the only network with a reporter, Eric Shawn, assigned to cover voter fraud. The Fox broadcasting network airs separate coverage anchored by Shepard Smith. The Fox Business Network will also have its own coverage, anchored by Neil Cavuto with Stuart Varney and Lou Dobbs.

—Former Vice President Al Gore, the star of his own Election Night drama 12 years ago, will spend Tuesday leading Current's coverage, which also prominently features live Twitter streams.

—For those who want specific ideological filters, Glenn Beck is in charge of Election Night coverage on his website The Blaze, and The Daily Kos website is promoting its own radio commentary.

—Longtime CNN anchor Larry King will be on duty Election Night on the digital network Ora TV.

Additional Sources: http://www.channelguidemagblog.com/index.php/2012/11/05/election-day-2012-tv-coverage/

http://www.channelguidemagblog.com/index.php/2012/11/05/election-day-2012-tv-coverage/

The looming GOP civil war

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:42:00 +0000

“If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts,” said Graham. “We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”

As reported in the Politico article, The looming GOP civil war -- whether Mitt wins or not:

This split will loom over the GOP for the next few years whether Romney is in the White House or on the beaches of La Jolla. If he becomes the 45th president in January, Romney will have to tread carefully as he grapples with a conservative-dominated Republican House, a Senate GOP increasingly divided between old bulls and younger true believers and thousands of party activists who opposed him in two presidential primaries.

“He’ll have half the party watching him every morning,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, calling the House GOP “the bedrock he’ll have to maneuver around.”

A Romney loss would mean the same internal issues would come to the fore more quickly and explosively but with no clear leader at the top of the party. Consider all the voices who’d jockey for attention: the pragmatic Senate and House GOP leadership; next-generation stars like Rubio and Paul Ryan; older reformers led by Jeb Bush; conservative stalwarts like Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky ; and the talent-rich ranks of current Republican governors. These forces would all assert their authority in the lead-up to what could be a sprawling 2016 presidential primary that renders a judgment on which direction the party will take.
The fault lines are already clear: True-believers will say, see, this is what happens when you nominate moderates — John McCain lost in 2008 and Romney lost in 2012 because they couldn’t or wouldn’t make the case for conservatism.

“Structurally, a Romney loss, following a McCain loss, would be a rebuke to moderates who have wanted ideological conservatives to fill the bus but not drive the bus,” said a GOP operative close to one sure-fire future presidential aspirant. “The nominee in 2016, if he is not a President Romney, will certainly be a card-carrying movement conservative with a track record to match.”
The pragmatists will howl at this and point to the underlying issues in the electorate.

“If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts,” said Graham. “We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”

Of the party’s reliance on a shrinking pool of white men, one former top George W. Bush official said: “We’re in a demographic boa constrictor and it gets tighter every single election.”
The first big issue that Republicans will confront is the so-called fiscal cliff and whether to cut a major deal on entitlements and taxes with Democrats in a divided Senate. Veteran GOP officials think a President Romney would be much more likely to win support for a compromise from tea party-backed Republicans than a second-term Obama.

“They’ll want to support their president,” said former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour of congressional hard-liners. Barbour, aping the voice of a House or Senate conservative said: “’He don’t agree with me on everything, but at least he’s trying to take our country in the right direction.’”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah.), a young conservative, added of Romney’s ability to bring along more ideological elements of his party: “That’s exponentially more true because of Paul Ryan’s presence. He has the personal relationships and street cred to make that happen. That’s one of the reasons Mitt selected him.”

If Romney loses, the party will almost certainly be far more divided when it comes to a grand bargain. Potential 2016 hopefuls like Ryan and Rubio will be hesitant to support any deal that could make their right flank vulnerable in a GOP primary. Read more at .politico.com./

Mitt Romney Will Lose Election Show

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:38:00 +0000

Republicans are already crying about why and how Mitt Romney lost the election. One Republican, Lindsey Graham said: “If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts,” said Graham. “We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83305_Page2.html#ixzz2BOTkIs1M

Well the Republicans will have an all out Civil War, lets talk about how the republicans will handle a loss, as well as how black will handle a loss, and the question, "Is Obama good for black people" ?

On another topic, Is President Barack Obama good for black people? While Obama heads into Election Day with strong support from black voters, some black intellectuals are pressing that question. In a op-ed article in the Sunday New York Times, Columbia professor Fredrick C. Harris proposes that “black elites” and voters have effectively conspired to mute criticism of the president because of his race.

Let's talk about these issues tonight on African American Pundit's, Political Slugfest, If you can handle the truth. I'm broadcasting live on the air! Listen in now at http://tobtr.com/s/3985493. #BlogTalkRadio

Predict the president

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:29:00 +0000

The folks at the BBC are asking it's readers to predict who will be the president. Who will win the race to be president? In the presidential election each state is worth a number of votes, based on its population, and if the race is close it could come down to a single state. The winner is the candidate who secures 270 votes or more. The bar below shows the votes that are considered safe for each candidate and, in the middle, the battleground states that could be won by either side. Explore what might happen in the election and compare your prediction with those of the experts.

How do you call it? Visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Click on the states in the map - or the bar - and then use the buttons to call each state for the candidate you think will win there. The grey states are the battlegrounds where the election is closest.

The Price Black Folks Pay For A Black President

noreply@blogger.com (AfricanAmericanPundit) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:07:00 +0000

There are a number of articles out on the Internet talking about is President Barack Obama good for black people? Yes a whole bunch of black intellectuals are asking that question important question. Even in a op-ed article in the Sunday New York Times, Columbia professor Fredrick C. Harris proposes that “black elites” and voters have effectively conspired to mute criticism of the president because of his race. Check out what Professor Harris has to say below:

WHEN African-Americans go to the polls next week, they are likely to support Barack Obama at a level approaching the 95 percent share of the black vote he received in 2008. As well they should, given the symbolic exceptionalism of his presidency and the modern Republican Party’s utter disregard for economic justice, civil rights and the social safety net.

But for those who had seen in President Obama’s election the culmination of four centuries of black hopes and aspirations and the realization of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a “beloved community,” the last four years must be reckoned a disappointment. Whether it ends in 2013 or 2017, the Obama presidency has already marked the decline, rather than the pinnacle, of a political vision centered on challenging racial inequality. The tragedy is that black elites — from intellectuals and civil rights leaders to politicians and clergy members — have acquiesced to this decline, seeing it as the necessary price for the pride and satisfaction of having a black family in the White House.

These are not easy words to write. Mr. Obama’s expansion of health insurance coverage was the most significant social legislation since the Great Society, his stimulus package blunted much of the devastation of the Great Recession, and the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul added major new protections for consumers. His politics would seem to vindicate the position of civil rights-era leaders like Bayard Rustin, who argued that blacks should form coalitions with other Democratic constituencies in support of universal, race-neutral policies — in opposition to activists like Malcolm X, who distrusted party politics and believed that blacks would be better positioned to advance their interests as an independent voting bloc, beholden to neither party.

But the triumph of “post-racial” Democratic politics has not been a triumph for African-Americans in the aggregate. It has failed to arrest the growing chasm of income and wealth inequality; to improve prospects for social and economic mobility; to halt the re-segregation of public schools and narrow the black-white achievement gap; and to prevent the Supreme Court from eroding the last vestiges of affirmative action. The once unimaginable successes of black diplomats like Colin L. Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Susan E. Rice and of black chief executives like Ursula M. Burns, Kenneth I. Chenault and Roger W. Ferguson Jr. cannot distract us from facts like these: 28 percent of African-Americans, and 37 percent of black children, are poor (compared with 10 percent of whites and 13 percent of white children); 13 percent of blacks are unemployed (compared with 7 percent of whites); more than 900,000 black men are in prison; blacks experienced a sharper drop in income since 2007 than any other racial group; black household wealth, which had been disproportionately concentrated in housing, has hit its lowest level in decades; blacks accounted, in 2009, for 44 percent of new H.I.V. infections.

Mr. Obama cannot, of course, be blamed for any of these facts. It’s no secret that Republican obstruction has limited his options at every turn. But it’s disturbing that so few black elites have aggressively advocated for those whom the legal scholar Derrick A. Bell called the “faces at the bottom of the well.”