In a fit of rage, the head of the NAACP threw down the gauntlet at three Democratic Party candidates who failed to appear at the NAACP candidate forum, as well as President Bush, who has skipped all the rest.

NAACP no-shows highlight growing discontent among black voters is CNN's account of the affair. A highlight is Mfume's rant:

"In essence, you now have become persona non grata," NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said of the Democrats who passed on the event. "Your political capital is the equivalent of confederate dollars."

The three candidates who failed to appear each provided a justification. The interesting one was Dennis Kucinich's—he remained in Washington in order to cast votes on pending legislation. Perhaps Kerry and Gephardt can take lessons from him.

The interesting thing is that two of the frontrunners in the campaign (Lieberman and Gephardt) failed to show, and Edwards and Kerry almost skipped it as well. It would have been a tremendous blow to the NAACP if all of the credible candidates, and a majority of ALL of the candidates, had failed to show.

To prove that the NAACP is really out of touch with America, I offer this snippet:

But Stanley Thornton, an NAACP member from Miami, said the Democrats have moved so far to the center that sometimes he can't tell them apart from Republicans. Democratic candidates must distinguish themselves to win black votes, he said.

If he can't tell the difference between the two parties, he is hopeless. The partisan chasm between the two parties is both deep and wide, and is growing every day as the Dems careen further left and the GOP splits in half—leftward on economics and rightward on social issues.

Despite Mfume's thunderous attack on the absent candidates, his followers were apparently not all that concerned about the whole thing.

Although thousands filled the convention hall for Mfume's speech in the morning, the presidential candidates appeared before hundreds of empty seats.

The NAACP is turning into a cult of personality, since the leader of a group got more attention than the candidates for leader of the most influential country on earth.

posted on July 14, 2003 07:52 PM



Comments:

Don't think that stamping the feet and holding the breath is a viable means of getting anything other than passing attention. This guy has got to regroup. Come to think of it the whole organization needs to regroup.

posted by Van der Leun on July 15, 2003 10:23 AM

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The Dems don't need to pay any attention to the NAACP, they'll do jacks#!t for blacks like they have for the last 30 years and they'll still get 75% of their votes

posted by billhedrick on July 15, 2003 12:31 PM

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But Stanley Thornton, an NAACP member from Miami, said the Democrats have moved so far to the center that sometimes he can't tell them apart from Republicans. Democratic candidates must distinguish themselves to win black votes, he said.

Note the implicit equation of a spot on the ideological spectrum with its relative appeal to black voters. "We sho' don't look alike but we sho' does thinks alike."

posted by Tongue Boy on July 17, 2003 09:10 AM

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