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May 1, 2015

It’s not just latter-day incarnations of Booker T. Washington that captivate the Republican soul during primary season.

In the past, Republicans have coalesced around such obvious joke candidates as businessman Herman Cain,

whose main achievements involved management stints at two of the nation’s most grotesque fast-food chains (Burger King and Godfather’s Pizza), and Alan Keyes, whose resume includes a brief stint as a Reagan appointee to the reviled-by-conservatives United Nations, hosting an ironically titled MSNBC show (Alan Keyes Is Making Sense), and a historic loss to one Barack Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race. That Cain and Keyes are black is no accident. While the GOP struggles to crack double digits in terms of votes from African Americans, the party’s overwhelmingly white membership seems to have an unending appetite for high-profile, successful black men whose very presence on a debate stage softens charges of hostility and indifference to issues about race. The GOP’s Long Love Affair With Schmucks - The Daily Beast

Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 1, 2015 9:27 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Keyes was an amazing speaker (who was right about Obama), and Cain a very successful businessman. Not sure why he's a joke to anyone, unless they just don't like business.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 12:04 AM

Schmucks? Given that the Democrat fields for the last several elections and the prospective field for this next one remind me of a shelf at a sex shop, the Beast probably shouldn't have gone there.

Posted by: Rich Fader [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 1:47 AM

Those two could be as black as the ace of spades and it won't do jack shit for the elephants. Come to think of it, nothing will do jack shit for the losing party.
"Well, we gave it a good fight"
"We didn't cheat like the other guys (the winners) did.
"Maybe next time, we were thisclose".

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 2:18 AM

Herman Cain was a mathematician for the U.S. Navy before becoming a token black in business. The problem arose that he performed not like a token but a real smart businessman while working for corporate America. The man has a nice demeanor and moderates a successful talk radio program. I was present for his "coming out" as a presidential candidate in Atlanta. There were several thousand of us white folk and almost no blacks in the predominately black city of Atlanta. Struck me as odd.

Posted by: tripletap [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 3:49 AM

Why in hell is the GOP bothering with that batch of Donkey lacks that have nothing and will bring nothing to the GOP.

The represent roughly 20% of the population, with the radicals (not including them) 15% and the non religious Jews(the secularists/ holocaust remembers) who care not about Israel producing 22% and that includes at least 10% of the radicals. That gives a voting base to the Donks of around 43 to 47%.

If the Social Conservatives/Born Again Christians will stop taking their ball and going home at election time, do what the liberals do and close ranks and vote for a Conservative that might not BE CONSERVATIVE enough for them, then elections can be won and change made. That is the only way control of the local, State and Federal Courts will be taken and that is where the power resides.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 5:05 AM

Given the great man that Booker T Washington was, its bizarre anyone would use his name despairingly. Anyone who's read his book Up From Slavery can testify the man was a great thinker, and the impact of his work and life is still being felt today through the Tuskeegee Institute which he and his students literally built up brick by brick from nothing.

And as Rich Fader notes, the Democrats have given us nothing but an apparently endless lineup of unqualified freaks and radicals for years now, so they have no stones to throw in terms of low-quality candidates in any case.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 7:38 AM

When I evaluate a man like Cain or B.T. Washington I don't put a qualifier on it. I don't say "he's a smart man, for a Black" or "Here is a conservative Black businessman."

Man or woman, anything in between, Black, White, Yellow, old, whatever, I can say "this is a good person. Smart in business or a good doctor" or conversely "this guy is a bad mechanic or oncologist".

People either do the job or don't. They pull their weight or not. (I don't care if a person shaves his ass and walks backwards; as long as he does the job I need from him, that's it, that's all.)

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 9:12 AM

I used to think Nick Gillespie was a reasonable man. Libertarian, but reasonable. This vicious put down of black Republicans has convinced me that he's gone round the bend. What's his point? Showing off for the Daily Best crowd? Is he that desperate for someone to publish his misbegotten words? Whatever. I'll never take anything he says seriously again.

Posted by: Jimmy J. [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 9:14 AM

If you are in favor of someone ruling over you your brain is defective and you need to be DX'd.

Posted by: ghostsniper [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 2, 2015 6:58 PM

If the Social Conservatives/Born Again Christians will stop taking their ball and going home at election time...

This never ceases to be boring and idiotic.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 3, 2015 9:33 PM

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