Jack & Jill Politics

Which of these faces looks more Republican to you?

Yes, The Root goes there…or at least asks Black Republicans to get real and get over themselves if they want to be taken seriously by the other 95% of black people in America who aren’t Republican.

BTW, where on earth do they find all these Black republicans to be on TV? I swear, some folks will say anything to get a paycheck! And the GOP managed to round up the other five black people in America who aren’t on TV for their ridiculous new website which also portrays falsely that the Republican party is all multiculti and whatnot. It also tries to bite from MyBarackObama.com unsuccessfully…

One of my best friends tried for awhile, way before it was cool and could instantly get you a regular TV talking head slot, to be a Black Republican because she thought it would open doors, be good for her career, etc. She met a lot of people, but ultimately she couldn’t play pretend anymore nor deal with the condescension. No Black Republican you see on TV or on the ridiculous new GOP.com website is representative of what most African-Americans think and personally, I think their viewpoints are over-represented in the media right now…

David Swerdlick breaks it down. Here’s a slice, but you should read the rest over at TheRoot:

There’s a reason most African Americans don’t take kindly to the GOP agenda. Here’s what black Republicans have to own before they can even think about getting a “fair and balanced” hearing from the black community:

Admit that Republicans say one thing and do another.

Where was the outrage of black Republicans in 2006 when President George W. Bush and a Republican Congress passed an unfunded $1 trillion Medicare prescription drug benefit as naked pander to senior citizens? Back then, there were no calls for restraint.

Now there’s a case to be made against comprehensive health care reform, but when Stanford’s black conservative dean Thomas Sowell calls Obama “charlatan in chief,” that’s not the way to make it. Big words don’t separate that attack from the less erudite, but more honest “You lie!” of Rep. Joe Wilson.

Stop selling what African Americans aren’t buying.

Jingoism is a sure route to permanently driving African Americans away from the GOP. Percentage-wise,black Americans are the only demographic that is overrepresented in the military, yet simultaneously, andoverwhelmingly opposed the Iraq War from the start.

No one did more harm to Republican hopes of attracting African Americans to their party than former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with her unadulterated championing of Bush’s shoot-first-talk-later foreign policy. Yet black Republicans persist in dismissing Obama’s foreign policy as out-of-hand. Sophiasays there’s no evidence of torture. Her response to Obama’s diplomatic efforts: “Yada, yada, yada.” These are non-starters among African Americans.

Start holding Republicans accountable for their hostility.

I know—there’s no direct evidence that Republicans are, per se, hostile to people of color—but there’s a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that they just can’t account for.

Sophia was one of few Republicans unafraid to criticize fellow Republicans for their disgraceful treatment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. But she’s in the—ahem—“minority.”

Republicans can’t hide behind ostensibly pro-equality slogans like “Party of Lincoln” anymore. It’ll take more than a new Web site to convince people of color that they are welcome in the GOP. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has done more to publicly denigrate African Americans than any of his recent predecessors. He’s so repellent to blacks—trying to draw interest with cheesy hip-hop slang and references to “bling” that fellow black Republicans tried to oust him from his post.