88 Black Ministers in SC Announce Support For The Candidate Who…
Well, today it was reported that 88 black ministers in SC announced their support for the candidate who…
- Voted to send Pookie and Lakeisha to Iraq where over 235 blacks have been killed
- Trusted George Bush (even though 87% of black people didn’t trust him) and thought she was voting for diplomacy
- Said “lobbyists represent real Americans” and refuses to stop taking federal lobbyist campaign money
- Has the worst ethics/lobbying record of the top tier candidates running
- Had the chief of Fox News hold a fundraiser for her, a station that has directly attacked the black community and promoted racially discriminatory views; The candidate quickly jumped on the bandwagon and chose not to participate in a debate on Fox News but didn’t mind taking the Fox News chief’s money
- Used the serious problem of homophobia in black churches as a political wedge issue although she and her husband capitalize from black religious people holding these views. In fact, I’m sure some of these ministers hold those same views, but I doubt we’ll hear anything from Aravosis and the Human Rights Campaign about it.
- Was the last candidate to put out a universal health care plan after being scolded by the SEIU for delaying her release
- Didn’t bother to read the NIE report before voting to send troops into Iraq
- Was the last of the top tier candidates to present a proposal to combat HIV and AIDs. Obama released his weeks ago.
- With co-administrator, kicked Lani Guinier, Marian Wright Edelman, and Jocelyn Elders, three of our most prominent black women leaders, to the curb
- Flip-flopped on NAFTA, a bill that has cost many African Americans their jobs
- Wants to maintain the George Bush policy of not talking to our foes
- Hasn’t shown the discernment to prevent Pookie and Lakeisha from being thrust into another senseless war with Iran
I don’t want to hear any of these 88 ministers ever blaming hip-hop or young people or “the parents” again. You can’t fault other people for defying logic when you do it as well.
No need to worry though. Given that there at least 70 cities in SC and let’s say 15 black churches in each city as a low estimate, that means 90%+ of black ministers are considering supporting someone else.
UPDATE 12/5: CNN reports today that there are questions about the actual number of black ministers who have endorsed Clinton in SC. Read here.
November 28, 2007 at 1:04 am
You rock!! Keep it coming.
November 28, 2007 at 5:35 am
According to the latest poll from the new Joint Center study , most Blacks prefer Clinton over Obama. Meanwhile, the Black Accountability Project seeks t o to keep an eye on Black organizations and make sure they are accountable to the will of the Black public at large. So, what will the Black Accountability Project do to make sure that AfroSpear advocacy in the presidential race reflects the views of most Black people as concerns Clinton and Obama? As individual bloggers and as a group, do we do what we want or what most Black people want, according to reputable polls?Are we preparing ourselves to effectuate the will of our people politically? Or does our advocacy reflect what we want as individuals, and without regard to what most Black people want?And what about the fact that Black people overwhelmingly will prefer a Democrat to the Republican presidential nominee in 2008? Although some elite Black opinion holds that there’s not much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans, still the 90% /10% spread at election time tells us that most Black people do not agree with that at all. Most Black people are in overwhelming agreement that one party (the Democrats) is better than the other. If history is any guide, Blacks will support the Democrat over the Republican in 2008 by a margin of 90% to 10%. That would seem to reflect a strong and uniform distaste for having a Republican elected.
Let’s look at an analogy: If you are traveling with a group (Black people) and you reach a crossroads, and 90% of the group prefers to go east rather than west, does that reflect a “mild preference” for east over west, or an “overwhelmingly strong” preference for east over west? When the preference is so strong, can you take your hands off the wheel, close your eyes, and see what direction the car takes? Or do you have an affirmative responsibility to take affirmative measures to effectuate the group’s preference for east over west?If we have to take affirmative steps, what should those steps be? What are the demands of political accountability for the AfroSpear in the 2008 primaries and the final election?As a group, is it enough for the AfroSpear to just watch from the sidelines and hope that a Republican is not elected, or do we have to take affirmative steps to make sure that the Republican is not elected, to the best of our abilities?
November 28, 2007 at 8:15 am
Well, the first thing we as bloggers can do is help people correctly interpret these polls.
The poll you cited from the JCPE does not use a “who would you vote for” question. It just measures favorability.
The poll claims that 83% of blacks polled have a favorable opinion of Clinton compared to 9.7% who have an unfavorable opinion of her.
They claim that 74.4% of blacks polled have a favorable opinion of Obama compared to 10.1% who have an unfavorable opinion of Obama.
They use this to say black people like Clinton more. However, you can’t conclude that based on these findings because there aren’t equal numbers of people giving a response to each candidate.
83%+9.7% = 93% responded for Clinton.
74.4%+10.1% = 84.5% responded for Obama.
It is clear then that while the black respondents have heard of Obama, they are less informed about him to be able to make a decision about whether they like him and his positions than they are about Clinton.
Also given the lower number of people responding for Obama, the fact that their unfavorables (9.7% to 10.1%) are only 0.4% off means that we can’t really conclude any major difference there.
Matter of fact, I think I’ll make a post about this.
November 28, 2007 at 8:58 am
Interesting headline and story. Based on your past comprehensive postings on just about everything, I’m guessing you know if Obama has released a similiar list or number of SC ministers supporting him. Just wondering if the implication that Hillary has greater support from this community has any basis in fact.
November 28, 2007 at 10:02 am
I’m sure Obama has black minister support and a steering committee. There might be a list floating somewhere out there.
The bigger issue for me is the reason why they are choosing to support their candidate. One of the black ministers at Hillary’s conference in explaining his endorsement said,
“We don’t need to be filling our heads with hopes and dreams.”
Remind me never to send little black boys and girls to any Sunday School class at his church!
November 28, 2007 at 10:24 am
How sad is that when even minsiters have lost hope. Maybe big wins in Iowa and NH will renew some dreams.