It's TERRIBLE, just TERRIBLE, if 80-90% of Blacks vote for one candidate-Or is it? (Please explain)

[HamdenRice]

I've been reading these handwringing posts about how horrible it is that one candidate who happens to be African American, received 80+% of the Black vote in South Carolina.

Was it terrible when these candidates received 80% to 90% of the African American vote?

1988: Michale Dukakis received 89% of the African American vote.

1992: Bill Clinton received 82% of the African American vote.

1996: Bill Clinton received 84% of the African American vote.

2000: Al Gore received 90% of the African American vote.

So let me get this straight. It's fine for a White American Democrat to receive 80-90% of the African American vote. That's a good thing.

But it's terrible for a Black American Democrat to receive 80+% of the African American vote.

So throw me a bone here. Help me understand the logic here. Please give me my "good Negro Democrat" instructional here.

If a Black man runs for president, should Blacks refrain from voting for him to avoid the appearance that we vote as a block?

If Barak Obama weren't running and Hillary had received 80% of the Black vote, would that have been OK?

I'm confused. Please explain.

[ursi]

1. Good work! It is ridiculous that they make such an issue over this ...

I guess, as a woman, I am glad they aren't making an issue over the "ovary vote" or the menopause vote.

[HamdenRice]

3. I guess we Blacks and women are only allowed to vote for white men

Otherwise we are being unfair. But of course white men are allowed to vote for white men.

:rofl:

[neutron]

24. it's only terrible because

Bill Clinton has devoted most of his post presidency to
the cause of helping black people. It was a passion.

His Clinton foundation raised MILLIONS for Africa.

As soon as he left office, he opened an office in Harlem,
unprecedented move at the time. It was an economic boost for
the area.

Total rejection by SC blacks must have cut him deep.

Here's a link
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-ee-uei-home.htm

[msongs]

2. in a democracy people can vote for the candidate of their choice and remember...

adolf hitler did not overthrow the german government, he was elected on the second or third try. (that is merely a historical note,not a slam on any candidate, left or right.)

Msongs

[suston96]

4. Those were general elections and no blacks were running. Not a good comparison.

How did Jesse Jackson do in the 1988 primaries? I believe he won 11 of 13 primaries. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080103133439AA8hJCp

The demographics of these primaries which include a woman and a non-white candidate are very important but they must be accurately and not emotionally calculated.

[SoxFan]

31. What about the 1992 primaries?

Bill Clinton won the nomination largely because of the support of African-American voters. In states like New Hampshire, Arizona, Utah, Minnesota, and Washington, Paul Tsongas cleaned his clock. Clinton only took off when states such as Georgia and Illinois came into play.

[sniffa]

5. K&R

But remember Hitler was elected too. ^ :crazy:


I can't believe the shit I read here. :puke:

[mondo joe]

6. I have no explanation. People vote as they do for many reasons. It's not useful, IMO,

to insult people for who they vote for.

[knowledgeispwr]

7. Thank You! And what about the 2004 Primary?

I've been seeing post after post about how 80% of blacks in SC voting for Obama is somehow "mindless" or a bad thing.

Are people forgetting the 2004 SC primary? There was a black person running (Al Sharpton) and Edwards won the black vote (I believe he had at least 20% points on Sharpton).

[IsItJustMe]

8. K&R

Great point. I would seriously send this to BO. Plus the fact that BO won in Iowa.

Media spin and vested interests are the reason why this issue has been so tortured.

BO needs amunition. These kinds of facts are just that amunition.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. and in SC if Hillary and John hadn't been there Obama would have got

their 'white' vote too.

I don't think ALL the white registered Democrats are going to run to the Republicans?

[krkaufman]

20. ... and barely lost in NH and NV.

Note also that Obama got more "white" votes than Clinton and Edwards combined, in South Carolina... in the 18-29 age group. (from memory; CNN isn't responding at the moment)

[smoogatz]

9. No, no, no!

Don't you people understand? WE know what's good for you! Voting in large numbers for a black guy just because he's smart and eloquent and charismatic and inspiring and has a long and distinguished record as a progressive is, is, um... uh...

Oh, hell. I lost my train of thought.

[Califooyah Operative]

10. Nice Job and Thanks! nt

[The Magistrate]

11. And Worth Pointing Out, Mr. Rice

Seventy-five or so percent of the whites voted for a white candidate, which seems to have attracted little comment....

[Miss Chybil]

14. Exactly. nt

[Ghost Dog]

15. Also worth pointing out:

In the USA, if you have one white, one black parent -> you're classed as 'black'.
Only way you can be considered 'white' appears to be through the application of some rules not a million miles removed from Hitler's Nazi racial laws (white ancestors for I don't know how many generations past)???

[ProSense]

16. Then again, 65% and 61% of white voters didn't vote for Hillary or Edwards, respectively.

more

[EffieBlack]

26. Thank you, Magistrate

I've been trying to get that point across all day, with little success.

The bloc voting of white voters is not as obvious because they have more choices of white candidates for whom to vote. But, as you correctly noted, the vast majority of white voters voted for white candidates and AGAINST the black candidate.

[HamdenRice]

30. Thanks!

I realize it's not a complete analogy to a general election, but it is interesting how certain patterns catch our attention and certain patterns remain part of the "background."

[LittleBlue]

12. The motivation was part hope, and part rejection of race-baiting

They made it very clear they would not simply go along with a race-baiter.

[neutron]

29. as I mentioned above

Clinton spent most of his post presidency working
for black causes and for the Harlem community.

His Clinton foundation raised millions for Africa.

He's probably pretty hurt to be called a "Race Baiter" by
the very people he has devoted years toward helping.

Here is a link to his Clinton Foundation
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-ee-uei-home.htm

[ldf]

17. my conundrum with this "analysis" is...

disclaimer up front, i am not happy with ANY of the democratic candidates.

and this is not an election that bill clinton is running in.

however, just by association, you know that if you elect hillary, you are also going to get bill.

a confession, the ONLY republican i ever voted for was gerald ford, and it was because i felt that he took great efforts to listen to betty, his wife, who was making what was, at the time, observations about american society that were, at a minimum, historical. i felt if gerald was listening to betty, he at least was in touch with everyday americans.

i also, much to my dismay, completely missed the boat on carter, due to his strong religious background. i am still majorly uncomfortable with arm-band christians, but i certainly struck out on carter.

i think that would be the same with hillary. it may not be in the form of "pillow talk", as betty's advice was. but she WOULD listen to bill.

and i must also add that, the further we get from that eight year "honeymoon" with bill, the more i see where the policies enacted during that time were bad for the people AND the country.

having said all that, bill was the first white politician that openly and proudly embraced the black community.

and they responded, being the most loyal of all his core supporters.

so now the choice for them was between hillary and barack.

a known quantity, but a white politician, and a not so known quantity, who was black.

if the breakdown of the black vote had been closer to 50/50, then i wouldn't be quite so surprised. but it wasn't even close.

so, in huge numbers, the black candidate received the lions share of support, over the white candidate with a proven willingness to identify with and support black issues.

i can only surmise that, when push comes to shove, skin color is by far the more weighted factor in the decision making process for black voters.

then the next concern is, as another poster noted, WHEN blacks vote, they tend to vote in huge numbers for democratic candidates.

what would happen if, for some reason, obama didn't get the nod? would they stay home?

either way, once we get to the general election, the question may be, who has the larger numbers? the racists, or the clinton haters.

:shrug:

[mzmolly]

18. It's nauseating beyond belief. I am actually dumbfounded.

Thanks for the great post! :toast:

[Vinca]

19. Great post. Apparently it's only bad when Hillary doesn't get the black vote. nt

[Endangered Specie]

21. To be fair, you are comparing general elections numbers to primary numbers

what are the actual % that Gore, Clinton and Dukakis received in their respective SC primaries?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

22. Demographic game is a no win situation for Obama. If he wins 80 percent of blacks, he's the "black"

candidate. If he "underperforms" there, then he can't win his own demographic, what's his problem?

Never mind that he won in Iowa and was close in NH and NV.

I don't see a similar narrative of HRC being the "old white woman" candidate.

People should just move on and get over the demographic thing.

[EffieBlack]

23. It's only a problem if a large percentage of black voters vote for a black candidate

Otherwise, it's just great that black voters are so unified (at least when they're unified behind the white guy)

And no one seems to have a problem with white voters voting in blocs AGAINST a black candidate.

go figure . . .

[Knox Harrington]

25. Yes, but you seem to be forgetting

that by Obama getting all these black votes (of course, since he's black), he is seen as the black candidate. Hence, many white people won't vote for him. Therefore, we as Democrats should not vote for Obama, because he cannot win, because many whites do not want to vote for the black candidate.

This is just one of the many reasons to support Hillary and Bill! How soon people forget.

[Auntie Bush]

27. Your analogy has an error!.

A fair one would be...If two black men were running against each other...it wouldn't be raciest if one got 80% of the vote.

If two white people were running against one another how can that ever be perceived as racist? blah, blah, blah..........Your post doesn't hold water...or I'm not with it. Don't answer!

[ErnestoG]

28. Number games by the Hillarites

Blacks are, what...13% of the population? By the time you whittle that down to number of voters, how in the world is 80 or 90 percent of the Black vote going to Obama going to come close to swaying the election?

So why is this even an issue? Maybe just another slick Hillary way to inject race into the....race?