Why Do Blacks LOATHE George W. Bush?

Great Debates
1

Oh, don’t get me wrong- I NEVER expected any significant number of black voters to SUPPORTS George. The black vote ALWAYS goes overwhelmingly to the Democrats- 85-90% as a rule. Indeed, the only REAL question in each Presidential election is, will black voters show up at the polls in large numbers? That is, will the Democrats get 90% of a LOT of black voters, or 90% of very few voters?

When black voters are fired up, they turn out at the polls in droves, and that spells big trouble for the Republicans. When they’re NOT fired up, they stay home, and that spells big trouble for the Democrats.

Now, a few weeks before this election, I figured that Gore would get 85-90% of the black vote, and that the black turnout would be light. I made this guess on the assumption that…

  1. Black voters generally have great and deep affection for Bill Clinton (and vice versa), but never showed similar devotion to Al Gore. I figured AL Gore would get the VOTES of black Americans, but not their enthusiasm.

  2. OBVIOUSLY the Republicans looked a little silly and phony when they paraded their few black members at their convention, but the fact remains, they TRIED very hard to silence extremists and racists, and they TRIED to present themselves as diverse and welcoming of all races/creeds/colors. I figured that, while blacks would never be persuaded to vote Republican, they’d be mollified by the GOP’s apparent moderation, and wouldn’t be fired up to vote against the GOP.

It now appears I was WAAAY off the mark in both guesses. Numbers indicate that black voters turned out in HUGE numbers, and voted more heavily for Gore than they had even for Bill Clinton!

I’m genuinely interested in hearing some opinions about WHY black voters were so pumped up for this election, AND so eager to knock off George Bush?

I repeat, black voters almost ALWAYS want to elect Democrats, but why the enthusiasm this time out? Look, whatever you may think of George W. Bush, he is NOT David Duke or Pat Buchanan! And yet, black voters raced out, determined to beat him, as if he WERE Duke or Buchanan.

Black voters certainly didn’t like Bob Dole, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, George Bush the Elder, or even (gasp!) Ronald Reagan… but the polling numbers suggest they didn’t hate/fear those Republicans the way they hate/fear George W. Bush.

What’s the deal?

2

WAG:

George W. Bush is a hick.

Blacks hate hicks.

Therefore, blacks hate George W.

3

It’s possible that the enthusiasm was a reaction to the Republicans. Maybe African Americans resented being condescended to by the GOP’s transparant attempt to woo them and decided to let them know it.

I dunno. I’m thinking it has something to do with Dubya being so inherently loathable…

4

Perhaps it’s just the closeness of the election? No need to get out and vote for Clinton when he’s got a 10-15% lead over Dole, but when the election is a dead heat, every vote counts.

5
6

Hmm, I think you’ve gone over my head. Are you implying something about stoidela’s integrity? I’m confused. :smiley:

Regardless of the validy of the statement is it neccesary? It has nothing to do with the OP.

I’d agree with Opus1 on this, closeness of election and not anything about Bush made the difference. I can’t see anything inparticular that Bush did to further alienate black votes from the GOP.

7

Tim, I think Freedom is under the (very strange) iimpression that I have some kind of personal relationship with George Bush.
<shrug>

stoid

8

Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, JC Watts are blacks that like Bush, but they are exceptions. You are right overall.

9

I think one reason for the overwhelming margins in black communities are more sophisticated GOTV efforts in those neighborhoods.
Another reason may have been the church burning hoax, which got a lot of media attention and stirred up alot of feelings.
Another reason is that there have been efforts in TX and Fl to end affirmative action by those state governments.
The NAACP also ran a commercial during the final weeks of the campaign that accused GWB of complicity in the death of James Byrd.

10

How many African Americans have gone to the chair in Texas under the direction of G. W. Bush? How many died by his father’s hand? How many have been killed by his brother in Florida? How many are currently in prison in Florida and Texas? Are the prison populations in Florida and Texas predominately black - disproportionately so in comparison to the general population of those states?

If I identified a governing dynasty that was in the habit of killing or incarcerating huge numbers of people that bore my skin color, I wouldn’t be too quick to befriend any of them.

11

I think it’s more like republicans in general, although Bush makes a good lightning rod.

Consider Bush’s visit to Bob Jones University and his unabashed support of the death penalty. Add to that his priviledged upbringing and the perception that he’s not intellectually equipped for the job.

Further, consider the southern republicans who fought against civil/voting rights tooth and nail. Consider Trent Lott’s (current Senate majority leader) and Bob Barr’s (Judiciary committee member) speeches to the Council of Conservative Citizens (http://www.cofcc.org/). In the northeast, consider racial profiling as practiced by law enforcement under republican administrations in NY and NJ, not to mention the Diallo, Dorismund, and Louima horror stories.

How would YOU feel about these guys?

12

Even if the victims of those killed or incarcerated were also almost invariably those of your skin color?

Also, for eight years Al Gore has been Vice President of an administration that imprisons and sentences to death large numbers of people, a disproportionate number of whom are also black. So this idea is also useless to explain a greater preference for Gore among black voters.

Most black voters, just like most white voters, vote for a specific party mostly out of habit, with little knowledge of the individual candidates and with a caricatured view of the opposing party. I doubt anything specific to George W. Bush provoked them, although Bush’s miserable performance in the debates certainly didn’t convince anyone to come over to his side.

I agree with previous posters that high black turnout this election was because of the narrow margin, and higher turnout generally.

13

Al Gore has also been an unabashed supporter of the death penalty as is Clinton. Al Gore also had a priveleged upbringing such as a black maid who would stay in the car when the Gores would go to segregated restaurants. Also Al Gore Sr. voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as did a higher percentage of Dems than Repubs. Also prominent Dems such as minority leader Gephardt have spoken to the COCC.

14

Cite please:)

15

Both parties have things in the past they’d just as soon everyone forgot, but make no mistake about which party in the South was traditionally against the civil rights movement. That would be the southern Democrats. George Wallace et al.? Hello! Things have switched around a bit recently, but don’t forget your southern history.

As far as the question of the OP, I really don’t know. The blacks I know tend to be rather conservative, in favor of school vouchers, for lower taxes, churchgoing types that favor stronger “family values”-type politics than many whites I know. Voting for Democrats would seem to be opposite of where their politics seem (to me, at least) to lie.

16

My SO spoke to some black co-workers about this and they responded that they are afraid that affirmative action will be ended and that they will no longer be able to get jobs.

17

That tends to be true period. Most blacks do tend to be conservative. The problem I believe arises from the perception of the republican party as hostile to minorities. Whether it be true or not. That coupled with the closer election brought out the vote.

puddleglum That had to be the dumbest most racist reposnse I’ve seen. Not a single black person I know( a being black, that’s a lot of people), based their decision on AA.

18

You’re in a better position to judge than I am, Stuffinb; if the perception of Republican hostility to minorities isn’t based on Republican opposition to affirmative action, what is it based on?

19

Danimal:

I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. Perhaps I’m just dense. Care to help me out?

I certainly would not make any claims that Gore’s position on execution is in any way preferable to that of Bush’s. However, actions do speak louder than words.

While I agree with you that many votes are cast out of simple-minded loyalty, the efforts of organizations like the NAACP and CEDP cannot be discounted in this discussion. These organizations have been quite effective in delivering specific data points regarding racism and executions that are sure to get people excited. While the CEDP speaks no flattering words of Al Gore, G. W. Bush’s record has made him quite an easy target of their criticism. I doubt there are a many black voters, or voters in general, who are unaware of the disturbing killing trends in Texas. Such things are hard to dismiss when it is so easy to make them seem like a deliberate attack on one’s race by a particular individual.

As a correction to my previous post, the method of execution employed in Texas is lethal injection.

20

Perhaps my SO spoke to unrepresentative black people. However consider that in FL affirmative action has been a big issue with sit-ins and marches protesting the plan to end affirmative action in the state’s public colleges. Florida also had an extremely high voter turnout amoung blacks and a higher percentage of the black vote for Gore than nationally.