# Did Romney go to the NAACP hoping to get booed **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 11, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943 "2012-07-11T23:52:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/21 "2012-07-12T05:05:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He wasn’t stopped. He continued speaking. He evidently diverged from his prepared remarks to address the subject of the booing, but they didn’t shut him up. Yes, I meant _stopped_ as in _halted_. I could have been clearer, like this: The whole of Romney’s message was that Obamacare will destroy jobs, and by getting rid of it, he will save those jobs, which is good for everyone including blacks. That’s what he intended to say, but he was only able to get the first part out before he was stopped by the booing. Without being able to finish making his point _ **before the booing started** _, it only looked like he was being a dufus of some kind, not that he actually was (in this instance, anyway;)). ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/22 "2012-07-12T05:26:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How much more of the black vote, as a %, did Obama get vs Kerry? Blacks voted for Gore and Kerry overwhelming, with 95 and 93 percent respectively. I’m sure they’re still racist though, as that could be the only reason why they wouldn’t vote for the party that represents the South. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/23 "2012-07-12T05:53:17Z")
Yeah, just like chicanos are racist for not supporting candidates who represent the Anglicization of the Southwest, and Irish Catholics are racist for not supporting Orangemen. That kind of racist. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/24 "2012-07-12T06:52:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How much more of the black vote, as a %, did Obama get vs Kerry? In the 2000 presidential election [Gore received 90% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_00.html#.T_50Y5E0-So). In the 2004 presidential election [Kerry received 88% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_04.html#.T_5y1JE0-So). In the 2008 presidential election [Obama received 95% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_08.html#.T_5zwJE0-So). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/25 "2012-07-12T10:21:25Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > In the 2000 presidential election [Gore received 90% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_00.html#.T_50Y5E0-So). > > In the 2004 presidential election [Kerry received 88% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_04.html#.T_5y1JE0-So). > > In the 2008 presidential election [Obama received 95% of the black vote](http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_08.html#.T_5zwJE0-So). Based on those numbers, it would appear that only 5% to 7% of black voters are racist and strident claims that “blacks are racist” are little more than displays of silly posturing. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/26 "2012-07-12T10:30:29Z")
I took one for the team and watched “The Five” on Fox yesterday to see how they treated Romney’s address to the NAACP. They went on and on about how “brave” and “courageous” he was. Brave and courageous for what, I’m not sure. For appearing? Then Romney went to a Montana fundraiser that same evening of the NAACP speech and said “But I hope people understand this, your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy-more free stuff.” I wonder why he didn’t say that at the NAACP speech? Now, that would have been brave! ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/27 "2012-07-12T10:47:59Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Based on those numbers, it would appear that only 5% to 7% of black voters are racist and strident claims that “blacks are racist” are little more than displays of silly posturing. Going back further I think the black vote went as low as about 83% Democratic in the Reagan era. It struck me that, consistently over several decades, blacks have voted very strongly for the Democrats. In several elections blacks even voted more Democratic than registered Democratic party members (if that makes any sense)!? Now what I could not tell from the stats from that source is the raw numbers. I expect that Obama also benefitted from a bump in voter turn out from the black community. So I am not sure that you could simply subtract and come up with a 5%-7% number in any case. I am sure some blacks voted for Obama simply because he is seen as black. I am equally sure that some white voters voted against Obama simply because he is seen as black. Biracial status be damned. I just think the color of a candidate’s skin is a piss poor reason to vote for or against him. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/28 "2012-07-12T11:52:20Z")
If he was trying to reach out, why did he deliver this line: > [@](#): > > “I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring best interest of African-American families, you would vote for me for president.” Well, Mitt, what’s stopping you? Why can’t you communicate what’s in the real, enduring best interest of African-American families? They came to hear just that. Could it be that you really weren’t looking to solicit their votes? I doubt that he was, since Romney repeatedly endorses laws aimed at suppressing the black vote. Has he changed much since his college days, when he lamented other schools boycotting BYU athletics due to the racial discrimination policies of his church? You’d never know it from his speech. Instead, he appeared as the condescending but kindly white master, reminding the uppity ones how grateful they should be for his genteel nature. Later, when talking to a friendlier, whiter crowd, he said that if you want “free stuff”, vote for Obama. That’s the real Mitt. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/29 "2012-07-12T12:17:58Z")
I believe he got just what he wanted when he got booed. He’s so brave. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/30 "2012-07-12T12:22:20Z")
It turns out he wasn’t quite so brave as advertised. [He brought in his own blacks to the NAACP meeting.](http://www.politicususa.com/mitt-romney-rig-naacp-crowd-flying-african-americans.html) So that’s where the polite applause came from. That’s who stood and applauded at the end of his speech. The only question is did he bring the field negroes or the house negroes? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/31 "2012-07-12T12:53:22Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Going back further I think the black vote went as low as about 83% Democratic in the Reagan era. It struck me that, consistently over several decades, blacks have voted very strongly for the Democrats. In several elections blacks even voted more Democratic than registered Democratic party members (if that makes any sense)!? > > Now what I could not tell from the stats from that source is the raw numbers. I expect that Obama also benefitted from a bump in voter turn out from the black community. So I am not sure that you could simply subtract and come up with a 5%-7% number in any case. > > I am sure some blacks voted for Obama simply because he is seen as black. I am equally sure that some white voters voted against Obama simply because he is seen as black. Biracial status be damned. I just think the color of a candidate’s skin is a piss poor reason to vote for or against him. But the thing is, people vote for the guy who is “like me” all the time, whether it’s race, religion, gender, or simply state of residency. Think of how many people voted for Arnold in the CA governor election just because he was a famous movie star. But I’m sure **magellan** will be back shortly to straighten us all out… ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/32 "2012-07-12T12:56:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It would be too cute by half if getting booed was deliberate. I don’t think he was talking to people in the room, he wanted to show his base that he was willing to walk into the lions’ den and tell those uppity blacks that they weren’t going to be sponging off whitey anymore. I predicted how it would go, and believed all along (and still do) something like the above. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/33 "2012-07-12T13:10:59Z")
“We need to replace Obamacare with something better”. _What_, Romney? I’d really like to know. I don’t think “obamacare” (and god do I hate calling it that; it’s not _just_ his creation) is the greatest thing in the world, but I haven’t really heard anything out of _your_ trap. Oh yeah, and booing too. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/34 "2012-07-12T13:11:50Z")
I think y’all are over thinking this. Meant to get booed? I’m not seeing it that way. He’s just used to a stupider crowd, who’ve already drunk the Koolaid, and lap up any nonsensical thing that he spews. I agree with the assessment he has no chance in November. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/35 "2012-07-12T13:23:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But the thing is, people vote for the guy who is “like me” all the time, whether it’s race, religion, gender, or simply state of residency. Think of how many people voted for Arnold in the CA governor election just because [del]he was a famous movie star.[/del] \ they are famous Austrian-American bodybuilders too? (There, _fixed._ At least as corresponds to the “like me” idea) 😉 (OK… don’t hate me for screwing with your quote for fun.) I do tend to think that a lot of people, be they white or black, tend to go with some very superficial observations to determine who is “like me.” In politics, “like me” should refer (ideally) to having ideas and supporting positions like me… not having skin skin color like me. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/36 "2012-07-12T13:28:11Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I predicted how it would go, and believed all along (and still do) something like the above. You guys suffer from the illusion that very many people pay as much attention to this sort of stuff as we do here. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/37 "2012-07-12T14:03:34Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > They didn’t _vote_ for McCain, did they? Look, when it comes to voting, particularly with Obama, Blacks as a swath of the population are grossly racist. What percent voted for Obama again? Name another issue that gets 95%-plus of a demographic on anything. face it, most Blacks vote skin color. O’Reilly had a fun little thing where he had one of his acolytes go around and ask Black voters if they were going to vote for. When they said Obama he asked them why, listing things that Romney was for and Obama is against. Of course they said that they were going to vote for Obama for those oh-so-rational reasons. HA! Yeah, it was a few idiots, but I believe that most Blacks voted for Obama simply because he was Black. Can’t say I even blame them four years ago. It was no small deal to have the first Black President (and I’m really glad that’s behind us now as a hurdle), but now I only hope that those who aren’t as clueless as the people in that fun little piece evaluate the job he’s done. > > And as racist as the Black population might be when it comes to voting, the NAACP is even worse.. > > And, yes, serious across the board. There was nothing to lose. And he used the event to his best advantage. Let them boo. I’m sure the other side directly pandering to [racists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) has absolutely nothing to do with blacks voting en masse for ALL democrat candidates, not just the black one. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/38 "2012-07-12T14:06:11Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > “We need to replace Obamacare with something better”. _What_, Romney? I’d really like to know. I don’t think “obamacare” (and god do I hate calling it that; it’s not _just_ his creation) is the greatest thing in the world, but I haven’t really heard anything out of _your_ trap. > > Oh yeah, and booing too. I’m 100% with Romney on that, we need something better like UHC. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/39 "2012-07-12T14:20:38Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > They didn’t _vote_ for McCain, did they? You said they were racist because they booed Romney, but they didn’t boo McCain. Explain why the booing shows the NAACP is racist. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943/40 "2012-07-12T14:21:27Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > They didn’t _vote_ for McCain, did they? Look, when it comes to voting, particularly with Obama, Blacks as a swath of the population are grossly racist. What percent voted for Obama again? Name another issue that gets 95%-plus of a demographic on anything. Well, [whites in Alabama](http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=ALP00p1) voted for McCain at 88%. Are they racist? It was 88% in Mississippi too. White men were at 90%. 80% of Mormons voted for McCain - any guess what the rate will be this year? Or is the dividing line between racist and not-racist between 88% and 95%. I suppose that’s possible, but seems rather convenient. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-romney-go-to-the-naacp-hoping-to-get-booed/627943.md?page=3)