The results are starting to roll in. William Jefferson is currently tied with Helena Moreno (25% each) with 9% reporting. They're not running against any Republicans and they're still voting for Jefferson. :nope: They deserve what they get! I bet they'll all be voting for Obama too. I'm sure they're voting for him because he's the best candidate. I'm sure it has nothing to do with race.
I heard on a local radio station here "If Obama is not elected, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We can no longer blame the white people for anything." Is it just me, or is voting for a man SIMPLY because he's "the man" who shares the same skin color you do not racist? I'm not trying to start into what I believe and why about the actual politics and all, but I would vote for John McCain if he were purple, dammit. I do not understand the reasoning behind voting for someone you know nothing about except what color they are.
I'm watching the New Orleans tv stations' coverage and everything is about race. They haven't spoken about income levels, education level, voter history, etc. It's all about how black & white voters are voting for black & white candidates. Since the majority of the voters are black could we possibly be looking at an election where racism exists in people who aren't white? Ooops, my mistake. I forgot, you can't be racist unless you're white. I wouldn't care if William Jefferson were my identical twin. He's a crook and an embarassment to Louisiana and will continue to drag us down.
I wasn't going to post here, since I don't have a dog in the hunt anymore (been out of La. for 10+ years now). I agree that Jefferson is a disgrace, and does nothing but add to the reputation of Louisiana politics. However, I think (this means my opinion, not claiming it's fact) it is logical to expect that the vast majority of the blacks will vote for the black candidate. Call it racist or whatever, white people have had the luxury of looking at different candidates who "look like them" for 200+ years and deciding who to vote for based on other issues. Blacks have not had that option for most of their lives. This is not to say they are not capable of deciding who to vote for based on non-race issues, but I'd be willing to bet if the situation were reversed we might do the same thing. Before the name calling starts, I am a right of center independent, hold Christian values and am a veteran. I have voted Republican for every Presidential election since G.H.W. Bush's first election (first one I could vote for), and usually vote Republican for lower races as well simply because for the most part those candidates have purported to represent my points of view. I will be voting for John McCain, and like another thread, I will not go into my reasons for that, I'm just stating who I am politically. Will 95% of blacks vote for Obama? I think that's almost a certainty and don't know why it should surprise anyone or be looked at as necessarily a bad thing. My theory is, the more often blacks get a chance to vote for candidates that are the same race as them, eventually, when there are more choices, they will be in a better position to make their decisions based on the actual views of the candidate, not just his skin color. Again, just my opinioin.
I don't think anyone's surprised by it. You're definitely right, Obama will get a large portion of the black vote but will also lose votes to racism as well. In the end, I don't see how he can lose, but you never know what's going to happen when the curtains close.
That's the great thing about it, Beauregard, the blacks will all vote for Obama. But the thing is . . . . . . . he's half white!
Exactly, the more pressing thing is when 85% of black people voted for Clinton, Gore, and Kerry, no one called them racist at that moment, how is it different now, because Obama is black. Get a grip people, try explaining to me, why I voted for a white guy in the last two elections? Quit playing identity politics. White people voted for white guys for the last 100 years, I am not calling anyone of those people racist. Obamas skin color has nothing to do with my vote, I am proud of him being the first African American candidate, but I know his platform like the back of my hand. I also know McCains platform pretty well.
That's my point, thought maybe stated incorrectly. When I choose who to vote for, I try to identify someone who closely matches my point of view, be it political ideology, background, life outlook, personal values, etc. Obviously, it is rare that I get more than a 50-60% match, that's just the way life is. But I would think that if I had been voting for people all of my life who had never come from the same part of society that I was from (yes, I'm talking race here), and suddenly I had that opportunity, I'm sure that at least, he would get favorable consideration for my vote, whether I looked at the other issues or not. The majority of people in this country (black, white, yellow, red, brown) vote based on superficialites. We may talk a good game, but I'd be willing to bet that less that 20% dig deeper below the surface issues when choosing who to vote for.
I agree with you 100%, you saying 20% is highly favorable, Id say less than that. People definitely vote on superficialites, voting for a guy you can have a beer with isnt necessarily good for governing. I guess we are in that 20%, because people suffer from the choices they make in elections, as I get older, the issues are much more important to me, than what a guy looks like. Btw, I wouldnt vote for Jefferson, if you have to hide 90k in your freezer, you did something illegal, 9 out of 10, I would say. I believe in transparency of govt, 90k in a freezer isnt transparent.
I don't believe blacks, African-Americans, colored people, people of color, (whatever is currently politically correct or least offensive) are necessarily going to vote for Obama because he's the same color (or half) as them. I believe they're voting for Obama because he's a Democrat. I think Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton would have a difficult time getting black votes if they were running as a Republican. There is no easier demographic to project than the black vote. The only question is how many registered voters will actually vote. They've been taken for granted by the Democrats for years. I don't see the substantial gains resulting from this choice but it still happens at a high rate.
