18 posts tagged “party”

Obama Foodstamp

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“This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party," said Sheila Raines, a member of a San Bernardino County Republican group. "I'm really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes. I would have to say it is one of the things that will keep mixed independents from voting for the party also (that would be me).
What makes somebody who is an African American member of the Republican party get this offended. Possibly the picture in the local Republican newsletter (Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated) with Senator Barack Obama on what appears to be a ten dollar foodstamp surrounded by a bucket of chicken, watermelon, Koolaid, and ribs.
When is someone going to calm the Republican Party down? This is getting so much bigger than this election. In the past twenty four hours I have heard and seen more angry Republican faithful and more angry Republican blogs and emails than I could have ever imagined was possible.
I have some understanding of the current feelings (as I tend to lean slightly right of the middle), but the party is shooting itself in both feet and the head with all of this chaos. Thos who are not far to the right are finding it very hard not to think the whole party has not lost it’s collective mind. Then early reporting states that the woman responsible (in the near Los Angeles region of California) did not think the image of Senator Obama with chicken, watermelon, and ribs would be offensive. Oh I pray that there will be a report tomorrow that this was a hoax.
You can blame the media coverage, the Democrats or whoever, but whatever is happening; it is going to soon leave us with a one party government if this is not toned down quickly. I am not even sure if the most left people in the universe would want that to happen.
The Republicageddon is upon us and I really do not want to see it happen nor can we afford it to happen. I hope and pray that someone with some sphere of influence within the Republican Party would calm all of this down before this escalates.
Those who are Democrats, please remain calm and do not escalate this any more than it needs to be. Both sides need to calm down.
Again, we have really big problems right now as a nation without adding insanity like this.

Why are people and the media portraying the Republicans as the crazies or giving more positive press time to the Democrats?  Is it possible that the Republican party has had such a string of ridiculous, over the top antics that those of us who are not diehard Republicans actually are beginning to view the party that way and the media is actually simply reflecting what people are starting to believe.

Here is an example.  On the Sacramento (capitol of California) GOP website there has been this page tiring to tie Senator Obama to Osama Bin Laden and going so far as to talk about waterboarding Senator Obama.  There are people like this guy in Virginia I wrote about the other day making repeated comments about race and that person who prayed the other day and tried to convince us the a victory for Barack Obama would somehow show the world that God is weak.

Of course, there is this Sarah Palin person who keeps crying about Liberal media not wanting her to speak and only taking interviews with the most right wing media possible.  Then we have the people at the political rallies yelling out racial epithets and “kill him” etc. 

I am an independent voter although I cannot remember the last time I voted for a Democrat for President and I was and remain a big fan of Ronald Reagan.  Yet, the more I see of this campaign, the more I am beginning to sound like a far left wing liberal. 

Think back to high school and homecoming.  I was lucky enough to play football for a school that was relatively dominant in football so our homecoming rallies and games were pretty crazy.  But, I always remember paying attention to the other mood of the people in the schools we were playing against.

When we had games at other schools and it was their homecoming (often schools we knew we could easily beat) they had the same kind of pep rallies, and just as much energy.  People always had these (so called) “facts” that demonstrated that clearly they had the better team.  They would argue and scream how their team was better.  They would boo when we arrived and throw things at us.  We even had people attack our team coming on to the field.

Then when we would score a symphony of boos and excuses would fly.  Their cheerleaders would break into a cheer of “it’s alright, it’s okay, we’re gonna beat you anyway!”  A few  scores later the crowd would still be riled up and a little more angry.  When we would leave (in victory) we left to boos and people talking about how we cheated and did this and that.

This is not my personality.  If I know my team is terrible I will say “My team is terrible!”   My response to having a terrible team is not to ratchet up the attacks on the other team and throw things at them call them names and so on. (I know that sounds absolutely crazy coming from a Raiders fan – and by the way MY TEAM IS TERRIBLE)

This is how the Republican party seems to me.  Their team is doing terrible and it is looking like they may lose (Emphasis on the word may.  There is still lots of time).  Rather than focus on how to win, the McCain campaign is having pep rallies and bad mouthing the opposition and getting the supporters in an uproar.  Now the supporters scream angry things even when the opposition is mentioned.  They may throw things and threaten the other team and so on. 

I if anyone understand the mentality.  The problem for those of us who are not diehard Republicans is that we have a pretty good idea that people like this are not the kind we want running our government.  We are in a time that demands leadership that is deeply grounded in reality and we are getting this partisan nonsense.  In part the McCain campaign is doing this, but it would seem relatively normal if the rest of the party wasn’t going so far over the top. 

That is the difference as to why the general population is developing a far better view of the Democrats as opposed to the Republicans.  When people who support Senator Obama go crazy, the campaign goes out of it’s way to denounce the action and then steer completely clear of what was stated.

The McCain camp has been silent on many of these egregious acts including the ones the occur publically at their rallies.  Even having manipulative prayers opening a rally right when it seemed that Senator McCain might be trying to calm things down.  Then the bloodthirsty fans of this whole thing (in spite of the evidence that this will cause them to loose) is steadily calling for more attacks and such.

The truth is the attempts to scare the American population about Senator Obama do have that effect.  The problem is that the way the Republican party acts in trying to get us scared of Senator Obama is actually more scary. 

It’s like having a guy with a chainsaw wearing a “Leatherface” mask (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) screaming at me telling me to be scared of the “boogie man” that might be in my closet. 

I desperately want to have two choices for president but this sort of behavior only can leave us with one choice unless you are a diehard Republican.  I sincerely wish the McCain camp would do something to stop all of this madness.

Just as I was pondering the frustration I was feeling towards Rep. John Lewis (Democrat from Georgia) for his comments about the McCain campaign “sowing the seeds of hatred and division” and comparing Senator McCain to the infamous Gov. George Wallace the 1960s era segregationist from Alabama I was quickly corrected. 

I was shown a link to an article, where a leader in local leadership of the Republican Party and in particular the McCain campaign, managed to make offensive statements that could offend African Americans, Latinos, homosexuals, the entire continent of Africa, French people. German people, and British people, and even some Christians and Jewish people with his repeated use of the term Messiah to refer to Senator Obama.

This man’s name is Bobby May treasurer of the Buchanan County Republican Party and apparently Buchanan County campaign chairman for Senator McCain.  You can view what I saw if you click here. 

I have been hoping for the past hour or so that there would be a news release stating that this whole article thing was fake and that somebody made up the whole story.  Every indication is that this is true.

There are references to such things as:

·         Senator Obama skimming money from the money sent for aid to Africa to allow his family in Africa to free their goats and live the American dream.

·         Senator Obama having Rapper Ludacris paint the Whitehouse black.

·         Senator Obama exchanging the national anthem for the “Black National Anthem”

·         Senator Obama replacing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy with the (are you ready for this stupidity) “a queer in every foxhole…”  I didn’t finish the title because the rest may be a little over the top.

·         Then there is that things the Republican party has started doing where they say Senator Obama’s full name emphasizing the Hussein.  He calls him Barack Hussein Obama.  (Don’t these people know how childish that looks and sounds to those of us who are not extreme Republican loyalist – i.e. the swing voters)

There is more.  This apparently was supposed to be funny, but is simply another black eye on the McCain campaign.  In Senator McCain’s defense, he fired this man from his campaign, but again, I am not sure you can unring the gong once you ring it (even if someone else rings it for you).

With all of the work over the past few weeks to try to tie Senator Obama to terrorism, it sure seems like it has been so easy to tie Senator McCain to racists (and by association to being racist) that Senator Obama did not even have to try.

Again I say as I did in the last post, Senator McCain should announce another suspension of his campaign (I know it may seem a little insincere, but is probably the right thing to do) and get together with Senator Obama to see what they can do to bring the stupidity level down a bit on all sides.

Someone is going to end up elected no matter what; the big problem is what the long-term costs of this campaign season will be.

I feel as if I owe Rep. John Lewis an apology because it seems that what he was saying about sowing the seeds of hatred and division appears to have been true.  I still think the George Wallace comparisons may have been a little over the top, but clearly I did not understand how bad this has been allowed to get.

I am also thankful that Senator McCain has decided to try to change the course of this whole mess.  It takes a big man to stand up against something like this at the rick of loosing votes.

Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin is still sticking to her focus on unifying the Republican Party.  She stood up and took a courageous stand for what she believes in today.  I am not sure it was the best political move in support of Senator John McCain, but it does energize the party and I think it does serve her future well.

Governor Palin came out and made a stand about her pro-life stance and did not beat around the bush about it.

This issue of abortion is for me a strange issue.  I have my fairly strong feelings about this issue, but I am not convinced that this is the hill I want to die on. 

What do I mean when I say this is not the hill I want to die on?  Let’s step back and take a look at this issue.  The entire nation has become completely polarized by this issue.  If you want to see and angry exchange get people from either side of this issue together to discuss it.  There have been fights, shootings, bombings, and won and lost elections over this one issue.  I also have to wonder if people have been elected who would never have seemed qualified for whatever office it is if it were not for this issue.

I have had more than a few people tell me I would never vote for a person who is “for” or who is “against” abortion.  I find this befuddling.  Not the issue of abortion, but the fact that for this one issue, a person who would call themselves having the best interests of our nation in mind would absolutely ignore everything else about the candidates and vote for someone who may in fact not otherwise be a good candidate for the position. 

During this election I have noticed that this issue has become so ridiculous that if Adolph Hitler were cloned and ran for president if he:

• Said he was “pro-choice” the Democrats would vote for him and rally around him.
• Said he was “pro-life” the Republicans would vote for him and rally around him.

I know this may seem like an extravagant exaggeration but is it?  If you are one side of this debate you have probably noticed people from the other side who had some candidate that did or said something that clearly demonstrates that person is absolutely not qualified for the job and yet the person recites the quotes from the candidate and defends the person as if their very life depended upon it.  Well guess what there are millions of people on both sides arguing and voting like this across the nation.

We are in a terrible recession, we are at war in two countries, some of the nations that are the scariest in the world are working on building nuclear weapons, the politicians that are supposed to be leading our nation are so polarized that they can hardly stand each other much less agree on anything, we have witnessed the first attack on the continental united states Pancho Villa, and the only issue many of us can see is if a person is for or against the possibility of a person having an abortion.

I am not trying to say this is not an important issue, but I am not willing to sacrifice my home, my children, our country, the lives of people in our military, and so on just to win on this one issue.  That is exactly what someone is doing if this is the only issue or the main issue that determines who you vote for.  The idea is ridiculous! 

Neither side has a monopoly on idiots or liars. There are plenty of idiots and liars on both sides of this argument.  If this becomes the main driving force behind why a person gets elected to any office we may in fact elect one of these idiots or liars to office without even looking at if that person is really qualified.

This is an important issue, but is absolutely not the biggest fish we have to fry right now!

What Sarah Palin has done is good, because it is an honest stand.  The problem is how much impact her stand on this one issue alone will have on one group of people. 

This in fact is the hill many are willing to die on.  The problem is they might take the rest of us with them.

I posted this as a response to a thread of comments on a blog and felt that I wanted to share this response with all who read my blogs, because I think this shares the struggle I have within myself.  I suppose I am saying, in the words of that great american philosopher, Rodney King (kidding of course),  "Cant we all just get along?"

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Not to put anybody down, but we all have to find a way to take the intensity of the partisanship down several notches. The strength of this nation has always been the ability to come together in the fact of great challenges. Since about a year after 911 (and in reality since the sixties) the American public and especially those involved in politics (even those of us who blog) has decided to split ourselves into two terrible extremes.
In the past the nation has come together and even when we had made terrible mistakes in some knee-jerk reaction we simply made the best of what we had all committed to do.
In the last year and a half the country has become the most divided racially, politically, in terms of class, and any other demographic that one could come up with since the late sixties/early seventies.
Now that we are near to our political civil war how do we intend to overcome anything else in the world including terrorists, Russian invasions of allies, Iranian nuclear bombs, and so on. Our current politicians can't even unite their own parties unless they play on the hatred that the people of their party have for the other party.
I am astonished how people do not see that terrorism in twenty first century is not about guns and bombs. The war is fought with fought with video cameras, cellphone videos, websites, and the battlefield is the television in our living rooms.
In this kind of "Gorillavision Warfare" we seem to be very poorly equipped and poorly trained. This is where we are loosing in Iraq (no matter what happens to the insurgents the whole planet now thinks we are this crazy and reckless empire) and in Afghanistan (the rest of the planet is beginning to think of us as the crazy Americans who kill woman and children and don't respect the boundaries of sovereign nations). The reason we are doing so poorly is our absolute inability to present a united front. If the goal of those seeking to destroy us is to use the tacktic of "divide and conquer" we are in desperate trouble!!!!!

What is wrong with everyone?   I keep hearing and reading peoples reasons for who they have decided to vote for and I have never been so disgusted in my life.

Let’s look at some of these reasons:

1. Because Senator Obama is African American
2. Because they do no think that the country is ready for an African American president.
3. Because Senator Hillary Clinton would be the first woman president
4. Because Senator Obama would be the first African American president
5. Because Senator John McCain is a veteran like me
6. Because I think Senator Obama is a secret Muslim
7. Because I do not trust his wife (either Senator McCain or Senator Obama)
8. Because he or she is too rich I will vote for another (has there ever been a poor president in say the past hundred or so years – how about ever)
9. Because I feel he or she was rude to my favorite candidate I will do anything to spite them even vote for a candidate I don’t like.
10. “I don’t give my vote on the first date.”  “I need to be courted.”
11. I don’t like him that much but I will never vote for a Democrat
12. I don’t like him that much but I will never vote for a Republican
13. The Republicans don’t like African American people
14. The Democrats don’t like Christian people

And on and on the list goes on.

Where are ideas like:  The most qualified, who will do the best job, who most represents your values?  What we have is wild generalizations, wild accusations, bigotry of different sorts not the least of which is racism, spite, and ultimately stupidity.

How can any human being truly place wellbeing of our country, the lives of the people that live here including our children, the peace of the entire world and all of the rest of the spheres of power or influence that the president has into someone’s hands for such reasons.

People!  Each one of our votes is precious and a presidential election is not a game of Monopoly with toy pieces, play property to buy and have taken by the bank, and play money.  This is our lives involving real people, real homes in foreclosure, taken by real banks, and we are spending real money.  

Even more astonishing is the fact that people are even so bold as to think it is okay to say these things publicly and even on television. 

The entire planet is watching one of the most powerful nations in the world (the most powerful in the eyes of many) in the democratic process it has repeatedly told the world is the best system going.  Then we show the entire planet this nonsense as the way we chose our leadership. 

The facts are that we have two candidates that do not really represent anyone in any party.  We asked for change and got confusion.  We asked for non-partisan and we got people who really believe in nothing and stand for nothing. 

They build a pretty good case for what they say they stand for, but the evidence is that they stand for nothing. 

The fact that so few people even care to look that deep is a disgrace and an embarrassment. 

I have come to a conclusion.  If you vote for one of these stupid reasons, don’t vote, or vote in line with my biggest pet peeve; voting simply by party, you have no right to complain later no matter who is elected and what they do.

I have been quietly watching Senator McCain and trying to see if there was anything to hope for beyond what I already knew.  I tried to have an open mind and was again disappointed. 

Over the past few weeks I have watched Senator McCain get on the offensive (and yes it was definitely offensive).  I actually was okay with the first few attacks and political ploys, but it has really gotten tired.

I could not place how I was feeling about him until I heard somebody describe him as reminding him of the grumpy elderly people down the street that we all remember for always yelling at the neighborhood children for making too much noise or for stepping on their grass etc..  That hit it on the head.  He strikes me as just some grumpy person that that is just angry at a bunch of stuff.

I have also watched him and anyone who supports him build on Senator Hillary Clinton’s theme of his extensive experience in government service. 

I was thinking about that and the first images that came to my mind were

1. Me watching the news sometime in the late eighties or early nineties and suddenly hearing a song from the very political rap group “Public Enemy” playing on the local news.  This caught my attention and although I do not remember which song it was, I will always remember the kinda scary looking gentleman that was the topic of the news story.  The story was about the people who were fighting against the Martin Luther King holiday and that “poster child” for this movement perceived to be anti-African American was one Senator John McCain.
2. I remember flipping through the channels at some point in history and seeing some guys from the government in some kind of legal trouble and trying to defend themselves.  Apparently there was a question of some possible shady dealings and one of those men was this Senator McCain fellow.
3. I remember being vaguely interested in the 2000 elections and suddenly this one guy busts out and says a bunch of anti-Christian stuff and blows his stack.  I remember thinking to myself; “Isn’t that that crazy guy who fought against the Martin Luther King holiday.”

In sports I have had several coaches that made a correction to a popular saying.  The popular saying is “practice makes perfect.”  The correction is “No!  Perfect practice makes perfect.  If you practice it wrong you will only do it wrong in the games and lose.” 

Just time spent in the government does not make a person a good president especially if the memories I have are any indicator of what we can expect of McCain presidency. 

Court cases, angry outbursts, and the end of those pesky tributes to African Americans.  I know it sounds a little extreme, but I am not the only person who has these scattered memories along with some vague recollection of his wife in some kind of trouble for prescription drug addiction. 

I honestly have not given these things much thought until the recent push to focus on Senator McCain’s ever so incredible and extensive political experience.  I went through the memory banks and this is what was buried back there.  Research has revealed much more good and bad, but I am still haunted by these images.

I am even more haunted by the idea of similar images coming from a president of our great nation.

And if I hear one more person defend their plans to vote for Senator McCain by stating he or she doesn’t trust Senator Obama or because he or she wanted Senator Clinton to win the nomination I promise to vomit on them.  Not voting for him because he would be a good president, can save us from the current messes, or even is a good candidate, but to spite the other candidate a person would put the fate of our nation and all of it’s inhabitants in the hands of someone they do not truly believe would be a better candidate.  A person who would do something this careless and reckless should have their right to vote taken away.

I have yet to see any reason to vote for either candidate from the major parties and yet have reason upon reason why neither one is a safe bet for the Whitehouse. 

I am beginning to think there isn’t even a lesser evil.  It is like asking which person in the morgue is deader or in effect which is the “lesser” dead?  They are all dead and that is that. 

Both of these candidates are terrible and that is that!

The most frequently cited occupation by donors to the McCain campaign was "retired."   This is an interesting statistic when one considers the future of American politics. 

I am personally not a fan of either the Democratic or the Republican party as I think that the current party system as it stands is clearly broken and does not truly represent the American public (most Americans are far closer to the middle than either of the parties).

If are however stuck with these two parties as the primary makeup of our government, then it is imperative that both be almost equal in strength as a system of checks and balances.

Twenty of the last twenty eight years (when I started really paying attention to politics) have been under a Republican president.  Now the statistics are showing that the financial base of the Republicans is out of the work force and aging.

What immediately comes to mind when I hear this is that the people who are supporting the Republican Party predominantly are nothing like me, (I am not retired any time soon and looking at my retirement plan I may never be) and are also going to find their numbers diminishing over time unless new, younger supporters can be found.

There seems to be an evolution happening as the younger generations seem to suddenly be taking an interest in politics.  One of the biggest changes is a completely different worldview that more and more seems to differ from the Republican Party.

Compound that with the fact that African American voters and many Latino voters seem to vote Democratic consistently the Republican Party looks like a ship that is slowly sinking.

I am not sure where I first heard this saying, but it is a key to the future of both parties:  “He (or she), who controls the youth, controls the future.”  If the Republican Party cannot find a way to start attracting more of the youth, minorities, and those still in the workforce, there will be a huge price to pay for their party and for the American public.

I for one am not convinced that a government that is on the extreme left (or the extreme right) for that matter is good for anyone. 

To compound the problem, there is what many perceive as the weakening of the Christian Right Wing over the last two years.  In my opinion and observations that group is not weakened, that group just simply doesn’t have a horse in this race.  Senator John McCain, who eight years ago was publically attacking that group is not their first vote to represent them, but their votes in the primaries were divided between other candidates and somehow this guy came out on top.  Now there is this unsure attitude about Senator McCain and that group will probably still vote for him simply because they do not want a Left Wing president.  However, they are not truly excited about him.

I said all of that to say that there is the beginning of an alienation of a large chunk of the base of the Republican Party which also threatens to shrink the support base.

A Side Note

I for one consider myself a normal middleclass American with two children and a dog.  My wife and I work and commute long distances to our jobs.  We save struggle etc.  I served my time in the Marine Corps and love my country.  I am a Christian man and believe in God.  I am also of mixed racial origin. (African American, Caucasian, and Latino)

All that being said, I have to be clear that the more I explore what the parties are doing and compare it to my views, needs, concerns, desires, and beliefs, neither is cutting it at all.  Each party has a few good points and several things that just defy anything that could even call itself common sense.  

The way I see it, it is like there is a bunch of people playing a giant board game and my family and I are the (expendable) pieces.  This is why the idea of doing what is popular with your party or the supporters of your party as opposed to what is right is such a sticking point for me.

I have felt powerless for years and have felt like the two or three people who vote for the other weirdoes that run as independents every four years.  This is why I am blogging and discussing this. 

The problem is that we the public are swayed more by who has a better sales pitch this time or the party we consider ourselves affiliated with instead of realizing that we are dealing with the lives and futures of billions of people around the world. 

This vote and our say are of grave importance and should be treated as such.  

The Battle for Republican presidential hopeful is about to takeoff at full speed.  The big problem Senator McCain is gong to have is that this battle is with the conservatives within his own party. 

Senator John McCain, who has had more than his share of troubles with the more conservative of his party, has been trying to straddle the fence and keep both the moderates of his party and the ultraconservatives happy.  Both ends (and the middle of his party) have been carefully watching him with one eyebrow raised. 

While Senator McCain was using the gopher campaign technique (staying underground and poking his head out every once in while, here and there) and letting the democrats annihilate each other, this problem seemed to be dissipating.  

Now that the campaign has moved into the phase where you start to see each of the candidates more and more, there is a push to have him clearly make a stand on some issues that are important within his party. 

The few stands he has made have not been popular with the conservative end of his party and the conservatives are ready to confront this head-on beginning at the Republican Convention. 

What this means is that the riding the fence days are over.  He is going to have to make the clear stands and risk loosing the votes of those that do not approve.

The troubling part (if you are a Republican) is that your candidate has made it to July and is drifting away from having the party united instead of just going through the last needed changes to finish unifying the party.  It is as if his campaign is in reverse. 

Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama seem to having problems unifying their parties, but Senator McCain seems to be headed in the wrong direction.

The real question is; can the Moderate Republicans, the Ultra-conservative Republicans, and those somewhere in between come together and agree with Senator McCain.

If not there will be third, forth, and fifth party candidates this election season that will be looking to happily take those votes from him and absolutely destroy his chances of becoming president.

I for one am very curious where this is headed and wonder how those in his campaign will seek to unify the soon to be warring factions.

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on Monday, Independent Party presidential hopeful (it is hard to type that without believing it should be followed by a punchline), Ralph Nader, made some very interesting statements. 

When asked what is different about Senator Obama relative to other democrats he has run against, he stated that the only difference was that Senator Obama is “half African-American.”  Oh yes he did.  He went there.

He also said that Senator Obama is trying to (are you sure you are ready for this, hold on to your chair) “talk white.”

Did a person running for president actually accuse another candidate of talking white?  Seroiusly? 

It is interesting that the other candidates have mostly relied on their supporters and spouses to say incredibly stupid things, but not Mr. Nader.  He doesn’t need others to do his “stupid” work, he is perfectly capable of doing that himself. 

This crazy candidate (I will avoid the other descriptive terms that come to mind) even took a shot at Jessie Jackson while trying to explain why Senator Obama is talking white.  He stated that one of the reasons he is talking white is (hold on, I have to compose myself) he doesn’t want to “appear like Jessie Jackson.”

Holy smokes!

Is this guy for real?  I seriously think he has come to believe that he can gain more support than he has gotten in past elections by getting the racist vote.

Remember all of the talk about voter who said race mattered in the elections mostly voting for Senator Clinton.  It seems he heard that and decided that being a racist was his best bet in trying to get support.

I have looked at comments on several blogs and some chats on the subject and this foolishness seems to have some support. 

As for me, a person who does not belong to political party, I have to say I hate to have to refer to myself as an independent voter for fear that I will be associated to such an person (I’m being politically correct and nice instead of using many of the other descriptive terms that come to mind for this person). 

Just to leave us with a thought, what exactly are the implications of saying that a person of color or of mixed origin can attempt to “talk white?” 

Is he referring to that fact he does not use slang or “Ebonics” or sound like any of the rap stars on the television.  That would mean that he is saying that those who are white and “talk white” are okay in sounding educated, but any person of color or mixed origin who “talks white” is faking it to distance themselves from someone (as Mr. Nader implies) as stupid as Jessie Jackson or other persons of color.

Is he saying that “talking white” speaks of people who have money and that he is avoiding talking about those in the inner cities and poor neighborhoods of our country.  As if there are no people of color in these better neighborhoods and only people of color live in poor areas and inner cities. 

Need I go on?  How dare anyone who is not a publicly proclaimed racist support this man.  This is an assault on our sensibilities and the Independent party has a responsibility to all of us who call ourselves Americans to pull the plug on this racist madman.