Gang of 22-Bush's Black Coalition of the Bribed

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By any measurement, the senior Black mercenary present was Robert L. Woodson, president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, former aid to Newt Gingrich, recipient since 1995 of more than $6 million in rightwing foundation money, and now riding first-class on the federal faith-based gravy train.Prominent among the preachers was Rev. Eugene Rivers of the Ten Point Coalition in Boston, described as “one of the leading proponents of Bush's faith-based initiative.” Rivers voted for Gore in 2000 – but that was before the faith-based bribes began flowing.

Michelle D. Bernard represents the more overtly Republican elements in the Gang-of-22. Bernard is a corporate lawyer and senior vice president of the Independent Women's Forum, which describes itself as a “research group” but is actually paid by the Hard Right to counter the National Organization for Women (NOW) on the talk show circuit. Her White House appearance boosts Bernard’s stature as the “alternative” political Black woman – in line with GOP philosophy: if you can’t get an African American Republican woman elected by Black people, put her on generous retainer
.The Right’s systematic assault on the Black body politic is dramatically evident in heavily Black and Latino northern New Jersey, a focus of Wal-Mart heir John Walton’s inner city pro-voucher “philanthropy” and Karl Rove’s machinations among Black ministers. The two paths intersect at the Newark-based voucher outfit Excellent Education for Everyone, or E-3. The hyper-aggressive political front can count on about a half million dollars a year from the Walton Family Foundation ($400,000 in 2003) and also benefits from federal Education Department grants to the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO), another pro-voucher outfit. HCREO shares funding links (Bush’s Education Department and rightwing foundations) with the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), one of whose founding directors, former and future Newark mayoral candidate Cory Booker (see “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree, April 5, 2002), was also a founder of E-3. (Booker received campaign financing from the Waltons, as well.)

This isn’t conspiracy theory; rather, it’s the result of strategic planning and funding by the Bush regime, the Waltons and, especially, the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which invented both the “Black” voucher “movement” and faith-based initiatives in the mid-Nineties.
Once the Republican strategy is understood, however, there is no contradiction. The Right’s goal is not to convert legions of Blacks to the GOP, which would seriously dilute the party’s white appeal and is, at any rate, an impossibility. The Right’s real goal is to create the impression of fundamental splits in Black ranks, and thus subvert the credibility of mainstream leaders who hold to the historical Black Political Consensus. Everywhere, there exist Black preachers and hustlers who are willing to advance the GOP project. Money does the trick. Marginal increases in Black votes for Republicans are welcome, especially in close races, but this is not a battle for the hearts and minds of Black America. Rather, it is an assault on the historical unity of African Americans.
/www.blackcommentator.com/124/124_black_bush_supporters.html

[qanda]

1. An excellent article

They have the GOP pegged!