with all the arguments about impeachment and Dean v Carville....

[k_jerome]

rant on:

there are still more african american men of college age in prison than in a university.

there are still state constitutions being revised to ban same sex marriage.

there are still ghettos growing in cities and states that have been "true blue" for decades, where children still get separate but unequal education while they continue to vote representatives into office that proceed to ignore them or worse, make their situation worse.

Harold Ford, a Democrat, is attacked for representing the beliefs of himself and most african americans. Harold Ford is attacked because he is an african american. Not much difference.

Howard Dean was instrumental in the elections. Yes. What is he doing to make sure minorities are finally treated equally in this country. What is James Carville doing? Which newly elected Democrat stands up first in congress and says enough is enough, I will not stand by as a sizable portion of our society are treated as second class citizens because of a genetic predisposition? Which lifelong one has done that?

Prediction: two years from now, there will still be more african american men in jail than in prison, there will be new measures on the ballot in states to ban same sex marriage in their constitutions, there will still be huge ghettos in predominantly Democratic cities and states, and they will be the same size or larger. And many peoples ideas of doing something will be emailing their congressman to pursue impeachment. Or voting out the ones that didn't.

one thing the two parties have in common: discrimination. a visionary comes along every now and then, but most of the time its status quo. I vote and support Democrats because of history and because they are very slightly better.

rant off.

[wndycty]

1. Thank you k_Jerome!!!

:kick:

[mtnsnake]

2. Beautiful!

Recommended!

[MuseRider]

3. !

:applause:

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Your right ,I want blood for my Tomahawk ,too much. A chance to

make things better shouldn't be squandered on revenge.

[k_jerome]

5. i would trade impeachment and conviction for incremental...

improvements in any or all of these areas any day.

[ProSense]

6. Democrats are a lot better than "slightly better."

First Muslim Elected to the U.S. Congress

Washington – Democrat Keith Ellison won a closely watched Minnesota congressional race November 7, making him the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Ellison also is the first black congressman elected from Minnesota. He will fill the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Representative Martin Sabo.

After Scoring a Decisive Win in Massachussets, Deval Patrick Faces Conservative Opposition and High Liberal Expectations.


Repubs:

Steele

Blackwell

[k_jerome]

8. that is a matter of perspective...

count the number of elected african american Senators and Governors on one hand.

The slightly better was in reference to what is being done by either party to improve conditions for minorities. I stand by my opinion of slightly better. Perhaps inner city kids that are doomed to inferior education and stand a higher chance of going to jail than college would disagree. The identical situation their parents faced. And their grandparents. Perhaps they would say there is no difference.

[ProSense]

10. Perspective

You write this laundry list post with Harold Ford as the basis for criticizing the Democratic Party for its support of the African American community. Then you mix all the social ills of our time with impeachment, James Carville and Howard Dean as support for your thesis: Democrats are only slightly better than Republicans.

Drastic changes may not happen over the next two years, but reversal and some progress are guaranteed with more Democratic hands steering government at all levels. This is a new day, and the newly elected Democrats show great promise!

[k_jerome]

11. then by all means, tell me what...

improvements have been made in the past decade in predominantly Democratic cities and states to improve the plight of minorities. There are several states that are staunchly Democratic and have been for a long time. Surely the situation for minorities is better in these areas than the red areas of our country.

[ProSense]

12. Based on your OP, are you implying

that the conditions in Democratic cities and states, with Democratic elected officials (many in the inner city are minorities), have anything to do with the DNC leadership? We know legislation out of Washington can impact communities, but who are you assigning blame to for the condition of inner city schools? Congress or the DNC? Local leaders or the leadership in Congress?

Oh (on edit), what does any of this have to do with impeachment?

[k_jerome]

13. Democrats vs Republicans in general...

in my opinion do little to nothing to improve the plight of minorities, racial or sexual. Democrats are slightly better in this respect than Repubs. If they were significantly better, it would reflect in areas that are largely Democratic.

Constituents of Democrats do little to encourage their elected officials to improve these conditions. If they did, things would be significantly better in these areas. If constituents were as passionate about these issues as they were about impeachment, I would be impressed. They are not, nor will they ever be. In my opinion of course.

[ProSense]

17. This still doesn't answer

the question about the leadership in those communities. You say constituents don't care about the conditions, that they care more about impeachment. How did you make the correlation between these two groups? What is the basis for concluding that constituents in largely Democratic poor/minority communities are the ones calling for impeachment?

There is plenty of blame to go around for social ills, some of it is racisms and some of it is greed!

[k_jerome]

18. Leadership in african american communities...

is very limited in what they can do. Money is supplied at the city, state and local level. They do not control those purse strings by and large. My observation with respect to impeachment is limited to this group. My observations regarding the plight of minorities is based in the reality that their situation has improved very little over the decades.

I believe my post stated that the blame is universal, among Dems and Repubs.

[Clark2008]

16. k_jerome, some people on this board only know what they've

read on this board: they really don't know what all Harold Ford Jr. did and has done to help inner city kids get a better education.

Seriously - they think his entire platform was supporting Lieberman and telling folks his religion is against gay marriage (which it is, like it or not).

[madfloridian]

25. Well, actually, he has been very judgmental

of Dean and Kerry, and he seems to think their morals and values are not as good as his.

I think that is really the problem.

[k_jerome]

27. please supply a link...

i know that he suggested Kerry apologize. is this what you mean? what did he say about Dean?

[madfloridian]

29. Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2957504&mesg_id=2957504

[Clark2008]

30. Snicker...

Um... Ford was Kerry's state chair when Kerry ran for president. If you don't think Ford consulted with Kerry before making his statement, you're not a political realist.

Oh - Ford, Dean, Tennessee - convulsions yet?

:eyes:

[madfloridian]

31. What statement would that be?

Harold Ford had no right to tell anyone to stay out of TN. He had no right to judge someone else's spirituality.

What statement are you talking about? Are you saying Kerry told him to tell Howard Dean not to come to TN as party chairman?

I am very confused over what you mean.

[silverojo]

7. And you think the GOP would do better WHY...?

Just because bills don't specifically say they're for African-Americans doesn't mean they won't benefit African-Americans. The Dems are trying to improve education, trying not to let Bush destroy affirmative action, etc. etc., which certainly affects African-Americans.

Suggesting that any Democrat isn't helping African-Americans is nothing short of mind-boggling.

[k_jerome]

9. I would be happy to discuss with you...

these bills. Please supply one for me to look at. Please supply the statistics on the improvement of inner city education for african americans. please supply the legislation enacted in states that are predominantly Democratic that gives homosexuals equal rights under the law as heterosexuals. we can discuss all of these civilly.

and please highlight where i said the GOP would do better.

[midnight]

14. Let's make sure to change that statistic. I had no idea.

If we make sure that all those that want to go to college get in then this statistic would change.

[k_jerome]

15. I agree...

the problem is, this has been the case for many years, and nothing ever gets done. And nothing is ever said. How many threads have you seen on it?

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. The Democratic Party needs to learn how to multi-task.

I've seen this reasoning before. This is not an either/or situation. All issues need to be addressed, and there's plenty of people to delegate to.

It's wrong to claim that one person's issue is more important than the other. This is how you dilute someone's position. In the worse case, I've seen a Libertarian destroy the arguments of two sides by pitting them against each other. The guy was an anarchist, actually, and by pitting the two against each he succeeded in making sure that neither one of them found resolution.

And Harold Ford is not liked because he's too conservative. If you don't like conservatives then you must also not like Harold Ford for the position, regardless of his color.

[k_jerome]

20. Why is it that the plights of minorities are never placed on the...

task list?

I won't get into a Harold Ford debate here. I will say that he largely reflects the beliefs and values of the african american community, a huge supporter of the Democratic party.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. You missed what I said.

The plight of minorities should definitely be on the task list, just as keeping Dean in office. Why kick him out? Only because the DLC wants to sneak back in, is my guess. And if you want to make sure that minorities get the time they're due, then you won't do better than to make sure a Liberal is in control.

[k_jerome]

24. I said nothing about kicking Dean out...

I just expressed my doubt that he would do anything different than what has been done.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Dean is a liberal.

Only liberals have stuck their necks out for minorities in the last 45 years. And they got it chopped off in the last 25 because of it. I say you trust them again, but you need to be on the look-out for conservative Trojan Horses. There are many.

[applegrove]

21. WEll said.

[madfloridian]

23. I guess you are not aware that one of the people you refer to...

has been making huge efforts to work with the African American community. Dean has a pollster who is of that community, and he listens to him. Cornell Belcher stood with him and spoke during the press conference. Much of what the DNC does now is geared to minorities. Ask Donna Brazile about it, ask some others there at the DNC. I have a few things about how much they are doing, but not like articles.

In fact he has MD Dems upset with him...read this.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/elections/bal-md.dean10nov10,0,2267417.story?coll=bal-election-headlines

I am amazed that after this horrible administration you say that one party is only slightly better, and you get all these recommends.

I still cry over the horrors of this Bush administration, and you say our side is only slightly better and get recommnends.

I guess I don't see that.

[BootinUp]

28. There will be no impeachment.

The nutroots once again simply have no clue.

[ProSense]

32. For a Clark supporter you sure love to insult the netroots! n/t

[BootinUp]

33. I try to limit those types of comments

but I gotta call em as I see them.

[madfloridian]

34. Get it right. We are "chattering nutroots."

That is the title we were given, and we wear it proudly.

[BootinUp]

35. don't forget

I am in the "chattering nutroots" too. Thanks for the correction. ;)