June 01, 2006
RFK Jr.'s Racial Politics
Yesterday, I became aware that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was going to be releasing an article in Rolling Stone magazine today alleging massive voter fraud in the 2004 President election. I remarked that such an article had the great possibility of being a spectacular implosion, and opined about what the article was likely to discover:
I suspect the content of the article will provide bold headline-inducing accusations, weave nebulous connections and schemes, and in the end, fail to provide any sort of evidence that can be considered solid, or bring forth witnesses that won't almost immediately be found to have credibility problems.Even the flimsiest of evidence will be enough for the more excitable types on the far left, but barring something truly explosive and concrete (which is something that has been sorely lacking in every Democratic “bombshell” of the past six years), I imagine this will be grist for the Democratic Underground types for months to come, and largely forgotten within the next week by everyone else.
Now that the article has been released in Rolling Stone, my supposition turned out to be woefully unprepared for just how low this particular Kennedy was will to stoop.
Not only is Kennedy guilty of providing no actual support of election fraud in any of, "13,000 elections run by 13,000 independent, quasi-sovereign counties and municipalities," as he calls them, the tone of the article he wrote reveals itself to be something far, far worse: nothing more and nothing less than Democratic electioneering, as an attempt to smear the name of Ken Blackwell, a black conservative gubernatorial candidate in Ohio.
There is a reason that the Washington Post labeled Democratic cries of election fraud a "conspiracy theory," and the New York Times (source, full text) declared "there is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale." RFK's shoddy research (much of it largely irrelevant statistical analysis of exit polling data from carefully selected analysts and Democratic pollsters) is merely a framework for an unscrupulous, and rather blatant political agenda.
Kennedy's article was constructed for one reason, and one reason only; to smear a black fiscal and socially conservative candidate that has charisma, integrity, and cross-cultural appeal--in short, a real chance of winning. Blackwell defeated Attorney General Jim Petro in the 2006 Republican primary with 56% of the vote, and has been significantly closing the gap with Democratic frontrunner Ted Strickland in recent weeks. Strickland led Blackwell by 16 points in a Russmussen poll on May 8, but that gap has dramatically to just six points in a May 25 UC-Ohio poll.
As Blackwell continues to close in on a candidate that seems increasingly unable to find traction, the Kennedy assault targeting Blackwell's duties in the 2004 President elections seems like nothing less than an attempt to smear a black conservative and attempt to save the 2006 Ohio governorship Strickland seems primed to fumble away.
Ohio Democrats fear a Strickland loss, but the national Democratic Party fears that Blackwell may be in the vanguard of black conservatives that may cut across racial and party lines, eroding their traditional stranglehold on the black vote.
For 40 years Democrats have virtually ignored the black community, coasting on increasingly empty promises from the civil rights era, while still being able to count on their votes. With the emergence of Ken Blackwell in Ohio, Lynn Swann in Pennsylvania, and Michael Steele in Maryland, the DNC is absolutely terrified that black voters might veer away from the increasingly radicalized liberal politics that share little in common with many middle class suburban and rural black voters. They fear this year's slate of black conservatives could be be the end of their dominion.
Kennedy, a white Massachusetts liberal born of privilege, seeks to smear a self-made conservative black candidate that emerged from a traditional blue-color home under the flimsiest of pretenses to keep black voters, as his potential running mate Hillary Clinton might say, "on the plantation."
We've learned to expect almost any level of debauchery from the Kennedy clan, but this new race-driven low of RFK, Jr. goes beyond the pale.
Update: fixed some some minor grammar errors.
Old Joe has had a far greater impact on the nation than he could have ever foreseen! Too bad it couldn't have all been positive.
Posted by: Old Soldier at June 1, 2006 06:29 PMOK, a Kennedy alleges that the election in Ohio was stolen. Axe to grind? Of course not! Kennedy is totally neutral and believable! He has no political motives with this at all!
I think he tried to peddle this stuff on the Daily Show or another venue before. I was woefully unimpressed with as you say, something that comes down to saying that the exit polls were correct, and the real polls were not.
From someone living in another country - the exit polls were wrong in Norway's election last fall as well. Was Bush involved with defrauding the Conservative Party here in Norway? Hmm, I doubt it, but the exit polls overestimated some parties, and underestimated others.
Yawn.
Posted by: Seixon at June 1, 2006 07:35 PMThis is the same guy who asserted mercury preservatives used in vaccinations cause autism, right?
Posted by: letmespellitoutforyou at June 1, 2006 09:01 PMNot saying the elections were rigged by any means. I think both parties do what they can to give themselves an edge.
But...In the next election....it won't be close. Republicans have botched things so badly on just about every issue that matters, the people have had enough...Time for a change.
Posted by: Johnny at June 1, 2006 09:01 PMHere's a partial list of some of the programs the Democratic party has endorsed and enacted that aid African Americans (and all Americans).
It seems hardly necessary to point out that the only programs offered to African Americans by Confederates and their supporters was the opportunity to do all the master's work and provide their bodies as sex objects for the master. Perhaps the past tense is out of place. From what I see, some Confederate Yankees would be happy to re-establish the South's peculiar institution.
It was good of you to point your supporters to that extremely well researched and footnoted article. The evidence is undeniable: Republicans cheat. It's the only way they can win.
Don't count on it John Boy. More and more people are finding out that the democratic party is and always has been the 'racist' party. Byrd isn't the only KKK member among them. Add the fact the it's now clear the antique MSM is a one sided outfit with no real news reporting value. They proved that during Katrina by getting 99% of the facts wrong, even though some of them were on scene. How the he** do you do that except tell a lie on purpose.
Proof that the american people have finally caught on was 'news' today. The Wash. Post and the NYT are rapidly downsizing due to loss of readers, and the broadcast media has made such fools of themselves in the past 5 years that i can't name one person from any political party affiliation that believes even one word, including the weather report (they are now known as wheather reporters), that they broadcast. The left wing is in a sorry state of affairs, including their true identification as the party or corruption...70 + democrats in congress under some type of investigation, WOW, what a turn in 'who' is the party of corruption. Bet they wish they'd left that phrase alone.
Don't know if Dems will take over but I do feel that ALOT of incumbents are feeling the heat from both parties. Could be the biggest overturn of the govt (which won't necessarily change balance of power) since 1994.
JohnBoy - I think the American public is finding out that our current "leaders" from both parties are mostly spinners/liars. You quote Dems for getting most of Katrina wrong but then Repubs got most of the Iraq war wrong. The problem is actually fairly similar. Lack of (real, refuted) intelligence combined with unsupported rumors that happen to coincide with your political asperations/agenda.
Now that the infamous "W" fiasco is over....LOL CY that was hard to believe....
matt a,
In many way I agree with you. Not necessarily about Iraq, but about politicians in general. Albert Einstein said (I think it was AL - but the sentiment is the same), "You can't fix problems using the same logic that created them." That is what we are stuck with in many ways - trying to use the same logic over and over again. So - let's throw 'em all out, enact strong term limits, and start over. Get rid of the logic of, "I must be campaigning all the time." Start over....
Posted by: Specter at June 2, 2006 09:08 AMOne day (hopefully very soon) the African American community will wake up and realize that people like RFKjr, Howard Dean, Jesse Jackson, etc. have done absolutely nothing for them, and have no intention of doing so. I'm not saying they should all vote Republican; I'm just saying that the Democrats take them for granted as guaranteed voters.
Posted by: Rob at June 2, 2006 10:14 AMGood Comment Rob. IF we could get people to actually research issues rather than vote based on 60 second sound bites, photo-ops, opposition advertising, and the way a candidate's hair looks we could have a more honest legislature.
Even though I am Republican, I have voted both sides of the aisle - although it is rare. But I try to take the time to study what a candidate, or a piece of legislation really stands for before making a decision.
Posted by: Specter at June 2, 2006 10:25 AMGood grief.
Rob, Specter - you really don't pay much attention, do you? Please compare and contrast Dean and Mehlman's speeches at the NAACP last year, and bear in mind Bush's "compassionately conservative" refusal to accept the annual invitation to attend since he's been in office.
CY, if there were persistent vegetables here, you'd want to look elsewhere than your liberal audience. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian.
Hmmm...
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