Whatever Happened to the Black Republican Wave?

[Ed Barrow]

This was supposed to be ''the year of the black Republican.'' Google the phrase and you'll get more than 20,000 results, most of them ending with a question mark. Prompted largely by a May 10 New York Times article, ''Black Hopefuls Pick This Year in GOP Races,'' media outlets pounced on the Great African-American Republican Narrative of 2010. Chock-full of Tea Parties and history (''the most black GOP candidates since Reconstruction''), the story was not only eminently discussable, it was also a perfect platform on which to stack another favorite talking point: the Obama effect. Despite very different political views, black Republicans were inspired by Barack Obama's victory and were now throwing their own black hats into the ring.

Conservatives, especially, welcomed the news, heralding more than 30 black Republicans running for Congress as proof that the right isn't racist. ''(This) shows that conservatives have no barriers to entry except on policy and philosophy,'' wrote Ed Morrissey on Hot Air.

But then came the primaries. In Alabama, Les Phillip, who made waves with ads saying President Obama ''played with terrorists,'' got crushed by both his white opponents. Even white incumbent Parker Griffith, a former Democrat who switched parties last year, beat Phillip by 17 points. Baptist minister Jerry Grimes lost in North Carolina's 1st district, and Lou Huddleston, who won a Cumberland County North Carolina Republican Party straw poll in February, got walloped in the 8th district. Despite his years of service as an aide to Colin Powell, Huddleston proved no match for Tim D'Annunzio, a businessman who raised money with ''machine gun socials.'' (For $25, supporters got a plate of barbecue and the opportunity to shoot an Uzi.) In Mississippi, Fox News analyst Angela McGlowan, endorsed by none other than the Sarah Palin, lost to both her competitors, catching only 15 percent of the vote. There are still dozens more primary elections to come, but, so far, it seems voters in the South are less excited than the news media about 2010's crop of black conservative candidates.

''It's not surprising that voters didn't support them,'' says Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, a professor at the Center for the Study of African American Politics at the University of Rochester. ''Historically, for white and black Southerners, they've been groomed to see a racial difference, particularly in party politics. Perhaps those lines have been so starkly drawn because of the Southern strategy that came out of the 1960s and was really put into full swing in the 1980s.''

That strategy, popularized by Nixon aide Kevin Phillips in his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, practically ensured GOP victories in the South by courting Democrats unhappy with their party's embrace of blacks and women. That wedge has been planted firmly for decades now, and it still looms over any black Republican's campaign, especially in the South.


http://www.theroot.com/views/whatever-happened-black-republican-wave

[old mark]

1. This is one of the self delusional things the GOP believes from time to time....

Like in the 1990's - the "Permanent Republican Majority" in Congress...ask Newt about that one...lasted a few years after they said it...

They tend to believe their own nonsense.
rec
mark

[JuniperLea]

2. They're big on women all of a sudden too...

I guess the era of the paunchy rich white man is over... America, I give you the paunchy rich white woman!

[XanaDUer]

8. That's a man, baby!

Nt.

[bergie321]

3. It's just like

"anti-incumbent fever" until only 1 incumbent lost on tuesday and that was the Nevada Governor who is facing several felony charges.

[jaysunb]

4. Where did you get this information ?

The MSM sure doesn't know about all these incumbents you "claim" won their races. Have you doubled checked your facts ? :rofl:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. I'd say it got buried under an avalanche of "White House Watermelon Patch" emails. Next question?

[TlalocW]

6. Reminds me of a Boonsdock cartoon

From 2000 when Alan Keyes was a GOP primary candidate. In each of the panels, it was a shot of a television with white republicans being asked what they thought of Keyes. The odd numbered panels had the person praising Alan on his various conservative viewpoints. The even numbered panels had their being asked if they would vote for him for president, and the person tip-toeing as much as possible around the reason they weren't going to vote form him was because he's Black.

The GOP can say that there's no racial barrier to joining the party, and that may be true, but there's still a looooong way to go.

TlalocW

[Demeter]

7. It Waved Bye-Bye and Left with the Latinos and Women