Southern conservatives show signs of color-blindness
Conventional wisdom holds that America’s changing demographics, with whites expected to lose their majority status nationally within a few decades, spell trouble for the Republican Party. But while it’s true that Republicans have relied heavily on white voters for the better part of a half-century, we should also ask whether the demographic trend is really as politically problematic for the GOP as Democrats seem to think it is.
Particularly after last night’s Republican primary run-off results in the Carolinas.
South Carolina is getting most of the attention, and deservedly so, for the wins of Nikki Haley in the gubernatorial run-off and Tim Scott in a congressional race. Haley is Indian-American. Scott not only is black, but he defeated the son of one-time Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond to advance to November’s general electi0n.
And in North Carolina, another black Republican, William Randall, won his congressional run-off last night and will oppose Democratic incumbent Brad Miller in November. Texas Republicans also gave a black congressional candidate, Stephen Broden, the nod in their primary earlier this year. Other black GOPers, in states like Virginia, won congressional nominations unopposed and will be on ballots in November.
In other words, the meme that conservatives won’t vote for minority candidates is crumbling this year. What we’re seeing is that conservatives will vote candidates who share their political values, regardless of heritage or skin color.
And the number of minorities running as conservatives is rising. The Frederick Douglass Foundation, which champions conservative stances on abortion and economics, reports that more African Americans than ever are running for Congress as Republicans. Then there are people like Haley and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, not to mention Labor commissioner candidate Melvin Everson here in Georgia.
Although Thurbert Baker is a Democrat, he withstood GOP momentum in 2002 and 2006 to remain Georgia’s attorney general in large part because conservative Georgians saw him as tough on crime and reluctant to engage in the kind of lawsuit adventurism that other Democratic AGs across the country have become famous for. One could easily argue that that track record has hurt him in his quest to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary this year.
The typical question has been whether Republicans are ready to welcome minorities into their ranks. If results like last night’s are repeated later this year and into the future, the question may become whether Democrats are prepared if they do.
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92 comments Add your comment
BlackaFlacka
June 23rd, 2010
1:09 pm
Wow @Obama.
I find it VERY telling that in our nation of over 300 million people that you could only come uwith SEVEN so called notable “Black” conservatives. I will give you one more, because we don’t want him either – Michael Steele..and yes they ARE sellouts and are identified as such for good reason.
You have been foaming at the mouth on this blog with your serial swipes against all things non-white, yet you want to convince us it is other folks who are the racists. Nice try, epic fail.
RN
June 23rd, 2010
1:11 pm
@Obama has the IQ of dung… No wonder some think most Republicans are ignorant, obnoxious jerks…
You are an embarrassment.
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:16 pm
“I find it VERY telling that in our nation of over 300 million people that you could only come uwith SEVEN so called notable “Black” conservatives.”
Ok, here are some more.
Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, Lynn Swann, Ken Griffey Jr and Sr., Michael Jordan…..
Also, I was just naming some prominent black conservatives.
“and yes they ARE sellouts and are identified as such for good reason.”
Thanks for proving what a douche bag you guys are on the left!
“You have been foaming at the mouth on this blog with your serial swipes against all things non-white”
Nope, I’ve made fun of racist blacks like Jesse and Sharpton……
If I had made swipes against anything non-white why did I praise black conservatives?
“yet you want to convince us it is other folks who are the racists. ”
I think you just did that ma’am.
“Nice try, epic fail.”
Well that does describe Obama to a T.
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:17 pm
“No wonder some think most Republicans are ignorant, obnoxious jerks…”
“some” being the key word there. Call me whatever you want, ma’am. It doesn’t change the fact that left wingers are retarded.
“You are an embarrassment.”
LOL! Oh no! Some left winger said that I am an embarrassment! What EVER will I do???????
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:19 pm
“No wonder some think most Republicans are ignorant, obnoxious jerks…”
People like Jesse Jackson, Hugo Chavez, Stalin, Castro, Kim Jong Il, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton…
Yep, that’s great company for you to be in!
RAMBLE ON!!!
June 23rd, 2010
1:21 pm
BlackaFlacka, so who has the most housing foreclosures, jail inmates, and one parent families.
So, after over 40 years of African Americans predominantly voting Democrat, what exactly have they done for the Black Community, besides welfare and Affirmative Action (the handouts that keep you voting democrat).
t
June 23rd, 2010
1:24 pm
@blackaflacka
Do you ever get tired of being a pawn for the democrat party? I mean seriously, your hate for black people who actually realize that dem policies aimed toward minorities aren’t really helping them at all. Look at most major U.S. cities. They are run by liberals, but many minorities are still struggling. Dem policies aimed at minorities are aimed at keeping them in line and making sure they vote 90% for the dems. If the poliices work, great!–too bad lib economic poliices never do…
Bring Me the Head of Deforest Kelley
June 23rd, 2010
1:32 pm
“Georgians saw [Baker] as tough on crime and reluctant to engage in the kind of lawsuit adventurism that other Democratic AGs across the country have become famous for.”
Anyone else recall Sonny and the other rightwingnuts hounding Baker to engage in some adventurism earlier this year, under the threat of impeachment?
The idea that Democrats engage in frivolousness but Republicans don’t is laughable. Keep drinking the kool aid, I guess.
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:33 pm
Another reason CNN is tanking.
Eliot Spitzer, democrat douche bag, gets his own show on CNN.
Left wingers got nothin on FOX.
Sandra
June 23rd, 2010
1:34 pm
Whoever you are ‘Obama has the IQ of dung’, you are the one who comes across sounding very ignorant. You cannot tell me that racism in Georgia is not alive and well. Before you start calling me names, please know that I am white, decently educated, and have worked all my life. I also know that members of my family from central Georgia still call blacks the ‘n’ word even to President Obama. Much of what you have said in your series of comments makes me believe you are just like them. Why don’t you take a drive to Kennesaw and look at the white face picture of our President hanging outside Wild Man’s store. That’s not racism? It is certainly disrespect. The KKK is also alive and well. You pretend to be Mr. Perfect and know everything. You are either lying to all of us or to yourself.
Why don’t you take a good look in the mirror? President Obama is not perfect but neither were any of the other presidents in the last 40 years. This country is in such a sick place with all the hatefulness and just pure meaness going on. You are a big part of that from what I read. I’ll pray for you.
jconservative
June 23rd, 2010
1:36 pm
Nice column Wingfield. When I heard the election results the same thoughts crossed my mind. But, apparently like you, I always try not to read to much into one election cycle.
For example, the elections of 2006 & 2008 were not a swing to the Left but a rejection of the big spending Liberal Republicans in the White House and Congress starting in 2001. As Obama and the Democrats are finding out big spending is a bad word. Now as soon as my fellow countrymen realize that “tax cuts” is also a bad word, we will get the finances of this country turned around.
Laura
June 23rd, 2010
1:38 pm
Sounds like “voter” wants to eliminate the two-party system we have, in favor of a one-party system. Have you been out in the sun too long…because you sound RED dear comrade.
Brannon
June 23rd, 2010
1:42 pm
Let’s see…two southern states elect Indian-American REPUBLICAN candidates for Governor. Dems elect zero. -Does that mean Demorcats don’t like Indians?
RAMBLE ON!!!
June 23rd, 2010
1:43 pm
Oh yeah, blackaflacka. I almost forgot, Unemployment?
After 40 years, has that liberal voting working out for you there too?
DawgDad
June 23rd, 2010
1:52 pm
“What we’re seeing is that conservatives will vote candidates who share their political values, regardless of heritage or skin color.”
True conservatives ARE color-blind politically, otherwise they aren’t by definition conservative. Progressives and liberals are the ones that divide people into groups for political manipulation.
The leftist mainstream media has been allowed to contort definition of terms for so long the good people of our country are now viewed as curiosities or even worse as pariahs. I do not speak for the Republican leadership; many (not all) of them are part of the problem. Conservatives are the solution, not the problem. If you don’t think so, try getting by without our tax dollars, would ya please?
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:52 pm
“You cannot tell me that racism in Georgia is not alive and well.”
Never said it wasn’t. Maybe you should read what I wrote before putting your foot in your mouth.
“Much of what you have said in your series of comments makes me believe you are just like them. ”
Interesting, I pointed out the hypocrisy of people like Robert Byrd (D) who hung black people and you are calling me a racist????
“The KKK is also alive and well. ”
Yep, and a sitting member of the democrat party belongs to it.
Hypocrite much?
“You are either lying to all of us or to yourself.”
Again, if you were educated then you’d be able to explain what I lied about.
“This country is in such a sick place with all the hatefulness and just pure meaness going on. ”
You must have been in a coma from 2000-2008 when left wingers made movies about killing Bush.
Oh, and “meaness” is spelled “meanness.”
So much for edumacation on your end.
“I’ll pray for you.”
I love it when self-righteous people like you say things like “bless your heart” and “I’ll pray for you.”
Let me ask you this:
1: What will you pray about?
2: Who are you praying to?
3: Are you a Bible believing Christian?
Bottom line: Left wingers like to quote Bible versus yet they don’t believe the Bible is real.
Could this be you?
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:53 pm
“Does that mean Demorcats don’t like Indians?”
Joe Biden said that Indians all work at the 7-eleven. So no, they don’t.
Williebkind
June 23rd, 2010
1:53 pm
Sandra
June 23rd, 2010
1:34 pm
I lived in Maryland for seven years and worked for NSA. I heard the “N” word more there than I did in my small hometown. You have been poluted by Hollywood and progressive liberal division. Please open your eyes and move out of Atlanta.
Williebkind
June 23rd, 2010
1:55 pm
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:53 pm
You impress me with your wit and willingness to challenge the progressive liberals. Keep it up!
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:56 pm
Williebkind
People like Sandra come on blogs, act self-righteously and then make up stuff. She called me ignorant and racist yet she didn’t point out anything that I said. She also totally ignored the fact that a sitting member of the democrat party is a KKK member.
Gotta love hypocritical democrat voters.
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
1:59 pm
“You impress me with your wit and willingness to challenge the progressive liberals. Keep it up!”
Oh thanks. It’s super easy to debunk liberals.
1: When liberals can’t argue facts they play the race, nazi and bigot card.
2: Liberals make fun of Christianity yet they quote Bible versus as a means of defense for their welfare programs. EX: Jesus fed the poor = Government should give away rich people’s money.
C from Marietta
June 23rd, 2010
1:59 pm
Ever heard the phrase divide and conquer people? The polticians have effectly divided and conquered the American poeple. You need to wake up quick or we are done.
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
2:00 pm
“Whoever you are ‘Obama has the IQ of dung’, you are the one who comes across sounding very ignorant.”
Well Sandra, please explain HOW I come across as ignorant.
Truth Teller
June 23rd, 2010
2:09 pm
@Ramble ON, Actually White Americans have more foreclosures, jail population, and single parent house holds. Also more addicted to drugs, on welfare, and other Gov’t Programs. It is a high precentage among Blacks but higher among whites. News media shows you the trash of Blacks, but not the trash of Whites. Read articles of where police make arrest and patrol. It is described and presented differently between the races. Its yellow journalism. Media needs to sell so they present scare you stories to the suburbs to make people afraid of blacks and make it seem like blacks are dangerous. by the way I vote for the best person, not a single party. Regards.
No More Progressives!
June 23rd, 2010
2:16 pm
Truth Teller
June 23rd, 2010
2:09 pm
News media shows you the trash of Blacks, but not the trash of Whites.
“Tell us, Sir; what did the tornado sound like when it passed through your trailer park?”
Biff Barf here, with channel 7 news…………….
Obama has the IQ of dung
June 23rd, 2010
2:18 pm
“Actually White Americans have more foreclosures, jail population, and single parent house holds.”
Do you always lie?
Real Athens
June 23rd, 2010
2:20 pm
Grasping for straws if you’re going to base any argument on what happens in South Carolina. Have you paid any attention to the almost daily shenanigans going on with “Romeo” Sanford, “Raghead” Knotts, “Stray Animal” Bauer, “Waterloo” DeMint, Nikki Haley and her two suitors who claim …
Something hilarious happens there everyday.
The American People
June 23rd, 2010
2:25 pm
Down with Dems in 2K10 and lets get rid of the community organizer in 2012.
songbird
June 23rd, 2010
2:26 pm
Quote from Bob Hope “One political party can’t fool all of the people all of the time, that’s why we have two political parties”.
RAMBLE ON!!!
June 23rd, 2010
2:38 pm
Truth Teller,
Foreclosures:
http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/foreclosures-by-race-and-ethnicity.pdf
prison:
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html
unemployed:
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2008.pdf
single parents:
http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/strib94.html
Dear lord, the only thing in common are the words disproportionately and blacks.
Just like a typical liberal, you use the name “Truth Teller” and you say nothing but lies.
Williebkind
June 23rd, 2010
3:25 pm
News media! News must have a different meaning than I thought. Who reads such? Do they have facts? Is there reporting shaped to their ideology? Is it profitable or does a rich whacko liberal fund it? New media must be the place you apply when you have a degree in international communications, the mating rituals of desert frogs, home psycology, or basket weaving.
Othello
June 23rd, 2010
4:35 pm
When conservative politicians quit sending emails depicting President Obama as a witch doctor or any other form of stereotypical African…
When conservative television pundits quit accusing of President Obama of being racist (Beck) and/or accusing Gulf Coastians as waiting on their checks because they’re all on welfare (Steele) or praising Tennessee because it didn’t ask for help (can’t remember who, might’ve also been Steele)…
When people in my community quit gleefully sending emails full of watermelon jokes, birtherism, and Islamic accusations (despite wanting equally to scream at him for Jeremiah Wright) …
I might start believing that conservative are trying to move beyond race.
Until then, I am convinced this is a drop in the proverbial bucket.
Port O'John
June 23rd, 2010
5:10 pm
I wonder how conservatives would feel if all of the citizen “militias” that have formed since Obama was elected were made of armed, angry black men, instead of armed, angry white men? Had black men in america formed militias in response to the election of George Bush, I think the GOP would be singing a different tune:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/22/AR2010062204792.html?hpid=topnews
I don’t particularly care for the dems, especially the Georgia Democratic Party, but the GOP has a long way to go before you can convince me that its color-blind or cares about average working men and women.
The dems may be fools, but the GOP is a bunch of corporate tools.
RAMBLE ON!!!
June 23rd, 2010
5:22 pm
Port O’John…quoting a far left wing newspaper column stat from a far left survey.
May as well site Comrade Tucker from the AJC. or Daily Kos.
Keep playing that race card.
Othello
June 23rd, 2010
6:55 pm
Just realized I quoted the wrong individual as accusing Gulf Coastians as waiting for their checks as it’s a welfare area.
Michael Savage, not Michael Steele.
Ivan
June 24th, 2010
5:36 am
For too long Republicans have let the Democrats get away with baseless accusations of Republican racism.
1) The Republican party was created by being the party in favor of ending slavery.
2) It was the Democrats that obstructed the Civil Rights act for all those years.
3) It was Republicans that nominated the only black man on the Supreme court
4) The only member of the Senate who was a KKK leader (Robert Byrd) is a Democrat.
5) Alan Keyes, J.C. Watts, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, Ken Hamblin, Walter Williams, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Michael Steele, and many others disprove the stereotype that Democrats seek to maintainin their own self interests.
Leela Martin
June 24th, 2010
9:14 pm
The year is now 2010. There are ZERO Republican African American members of Congress. ZERO. And that’s been the number for years since the lone J.C. Watts departed. Every election cycle we get a spate of these columns bragging about how “Big Tent” the new, improved GOP is. And then once the dust is settled, we get the new number: ZERO. The GOP “supports” minority candidates in races they know they will lose. It’s another wink, wink, nudge, nudge. See? We’re diverse. It’s not OUR fault they didn’t win. Actually, it is. You put them in no-win situations and then say, “oh, well, we tried.” Mission accomplished. Another GOP rope a dope.
By the way, Ivan, Colin Powell supported Obama. And the majority of African Americans you mention were APPOINTED, not elected. Or are not even in politics. I think you missed the point of the column.
By the way, that number again is ZERO.
Southern conservatives show signs of color-blindness | RedState
June 25th, 2010
11:27 am
[...] Wingfield recently wrote a column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution with the headline of this diary, and the fit hit the shan from [...]
Southern conservatives show signs of color-blindness « The Minority Report
June 25th, 2010
11:32 am
[...] Wingfield recently wrote a column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution with the headline of this diary, and the fit hit the shan from [...]
HDB
June 25th, 2010
11:53 am
Ivan June 24th, 2010
5:36 am
“It was Republicans that nominated the only black man on the Supreme court.”
FALSE – LBJ nominated the FIRST Black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall……upon Marshall’s death, Clarence Thomas was nominated by GHWB……
PROUD BLACK REPUBLICAN
June 26th, 2010
11:29 am
There is nothing progressive about the Democrat party. They are hard left liberal extremists who want America to be transformed into a big gov’t socialist paradise that has failed all over the world. Well, liberal extremists, look to your models with your exposed facts & reason, look to Greece, & Spain, & Portugal, & ask yourself: why would I want America to fail just as these? These big gov’t policies hurt every American from every background & in due time, I predict, more black folks will realize that the party that loves American values is more in tune with whom they are rather than the party of godless European values. Thank you & God Bless. VOTE REPUBLICAN! PROUD BLACK REPUBLICAN
Leigh
June 26th, 2010
12:23 pm
“Until the GOP gathers its moral strength and weans itself from courting the support of the Tea Party/Sarah Palin/talk radio crowd, it will remain the party of angry white people.”
What proof do you have that Sarah Palin is racist? Sarah Palin endorsed Nikki Haley, and took her under her wing when Haley was facing smears from the SC GOP…and has endorsed two African-American Republicans in their congressional campaigns.
Just because she disagrees with Obama does not mean she is a racist…it means that she is against his Left-Wing agenda.
Would you say that Obama is sexist because he disagrees with Sarah Palin’s politics?