It really is about race.

[CCTAU 3,351]

So it seems most all blacks feel the pressure to vote black. Since this is the case, shouldn't all whites feel the need to vote white? And if not, why is it OK for blacks to feel this way?

Some Black Republicans Torn About Voting for Obama or McCain

By Nikki Schwab Mon Jun 30, 4:44 PM ET

When Michael Varner attended historically black Howard University, he tried his best to rejuvenate Howard's chapter of the College Republicans, but he was a party of one. He debated politics with his mostly African-American and Democratic classmates, candidly discussing his views on personal responsibility and limited government as reasons for aligning himself politically with the GOP.

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By the time he graduated this May, Varner was still the sole member of the College Republicans, having learned that it's "almost taboo" in the black community to be a Republican. "There's almost a stigma attached to the name," he says. "It was very frustrating for me."

Even after his hard work at Howard promoting the GOP, Varner finds himself undecided in the race between Republican John McCain and the first African-American presumptive nominee from a major party, Democrat Barack Obama. Varner wants to see the two men debate. He wants to better understand what kind of change Obama can bring. And then, he says, he'll decide. "I think they both have their strong points, and they both have their points where I can wait and see," says Varner.

This recent college grad isn't alone. More well-known black Republicans have also said they are at least considering Obama, including conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Former Republican Rep. J. C. Watts received attention when he told reporters he was contemplating an Obama vote. "I'm a free agent," says Watts, who is one of the only two black Republicans to serve in the House of Representatives since the 1930s. "I wouldn't just vote for a Republican candidate just because they are Republican, no more than I would vote for a black candidate just because they're black." For Watts it's not the historical nature of the race that leaves him undecided, it's frustration toward his own party. "African-American Republicans in the faith community are the most forgotten demographic in the Republican Party," Watts says. And he hopes the GOP will allot more resources toward attracting black voters.

Watts and others argue that the GOP hasn't done a good job bringing African Americans into the ranks of the party. "It's an astonishing record of deliberate failure, which has been carried over by John McCain this season," says Lee A. Daniels, author of a new book, Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America. "None of the primary candidates had anything to say with issues of any concern to blacks as a group."

This perceived failure has been reflected at the polls. In 2004, George W. Bush attracted 11 percent of the black vote, up from the 9 percent he garnered in 2000. In 1996, Bob Dole, running against the nation's so-called "first black president," Bill Clinton, received 12 percent. And now with Obama in the picture, more conservative blacks may feel compelled to join the heftier group of black voters who support the Democrat.

"They're practical if nothing else, and they want to see a black president," Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, says of black Republican voters. "The historical factor is going to overrun some of the other considerations." In a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 7 percent of the surveyed African-American adults supported McCain, while 90 percent supported Obama.

Despite the high support for Obama, there are some who are encouraging members of the black community to consider the GOP. One is Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association. She paints a very different historical picture than most African-Americans, pointing to what she says is the Democrats' racist past. She brings up Democrats who fought to keep blacks enslaved and those who were members of the Ku Klux Klan. "The Republican Party has been the champion of freedom and civil rights for blacks," she says. And the Democrats? "Their goal is to keep blacks in poverty and the Republicans out of power," Rice says.

However, Daniels says that after Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Democrats have been the ones who have talked about the issues, such as poverty, that are important to African-Americans. "In terms of black people, people say the conventional wisdom is that the Democrats have taken blacks for granted, but it's the Republican Party that takes blacks for granted," Daniels says.

Rice's organization refutes this and publishes the Black Republican, a magazine that provides biting criticism of the Democratic Party and sponsors large billboards in the South touting, "Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican." (While his family may have originally been Republican, King supported Democrats John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson).

As for supporting Obama, she says absolutely not. For Rice, it will be a vote for McCain come November.

Another "very likely" McCain vote, but a more moderate one, will come from Richard Ivory, founder of the blog HipHopRepublican. Ivory has a different view of the Republican Party, one that downplays the past and focuses on building the party up from a local level and bringing in urban African-American voters. "My blog was about starting a dialogue--basically get people to understand some Republican concepts from an urban perspective," Ivory says. And like Varner at Howard University, Ivory finds that some are miffed by his Republicanness and don't quite understand why he would support a "white old guy." But with the general election in full swing, he has found a good way to express his feelings: "I tell my friends, my heart is with Obama, and my brain is with McCain," Ivory says.

LINK

[BamaGrad03 0]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

[BamaGrad03 0]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

John Gibson discussed 4 of these leaders who have gone on record as saying exactly what I said...I don't have a link to his show.

And I don't know any republicans who can HONESTLY say they are republicans, and still vote for Obama.

The guy is beyond liberal. He opposes every basic republican principle at its core.

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

Yes, of course. Just like there are republicans dont like Bush. Unlike you, I believe we should vote for the candidate with the ideals that we feel are best for us and our country, not for who we personally want to kick it with.

That said it all Ivory. "my heart is with Obama, and my brain is with McCain". SAD SAD SAD

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

Finally someone gets it! Blacks voting for him for the color of his skin are being racist and "idiotic". Why can't everyone see the obvious?!

[BamaGrad03 0]

But pro-life white voters who don't vote for him because he says it's ok to stab a living baby in the head and kill it...are racists.

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

So it seems most all blacks feel the pressure to vote black. Since this is the case, shouldn't all whites feel the need to vote white? And if not, why is it OK for blacks to feel this way?

I'm with ya. I wish just this once we did that just to make a point, but there will always be those who think they are somehow better by siding with the over represented minority while calling people like you a racist for suggesting whites do something that would only be considered racist if it was done by whites. It's sad, but no worries, we soon will be the minority and we will still continue to get ished on because of those detractors of our own race. You will notice a few of those rebels posting on these threads. Their children and grandchildren will thank them some day....NOT

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

John Gibson discussed 4 of these leaders who have gone on record as saying exactly what I said...I don't have a link to his show.

In other words, you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about, but you are absolutely convinced that you are right.

John Gibson? Please. Have some self respect.

[lukeduke 8]

But pro-life white voters who don't vote for him because he says it's ok to stab a living baby in the head and kill it...are racists.

I guess I'll go ahead and don my hood...see you at the rally this weekend?

[autigeremt 6,719]

This election could spin off a backlash of concern and a growing "rebirth" of the ole "Hoodie" gang.

Racism in this country is ONLY related to whites. Blacks are not considered racists if they oppose whites........they are givin' a pass 99% of the time. Shameful.

[AUTiger1 0]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

JC Watts

Armstrong Williams

Colin Powell

(All three have said they are seriously considering casting a vote for Obama.)

Joseph C Philips -Actor and Writer labels him self an "Obamacan".

John McWhorter-said he was for him.

I also believe that Edward Brooke said that we was considering giving his vote to Obama.

Just a few.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

John Gibson discussed 4 of these leaders who have gone on record as saying exactly what I said...I don't have a link to his show.

In other words, you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about, but you are absolutely convinced that you are right.

John Gibson? Please. Have some self respect.

I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I heard it with my own ears. And he cited DIRECT quotes from the black leaders I was talking about.

Let me get this straight...because a republican quotes the NYT, that means the quote is invalid?

Would it only be true if Al Franken said it?

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

To turn on a dime now, when faced with voting for the most liberal guy to ever run for office, is nothing short of racism.

"A LOT?"-- list them.

Do you know any Republicans who don't like McCain?

John Gibson discussed 4 of these leaders who have gone on record as saying exactly what I said...I don't have a link to his show.

In other words, you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about, but you are absolutely convinced that you are right.

John Gibson? Please. Have some self respect.

I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I heard it with my own ears. And he cited DIRECT quotes from the black leaders I was talking about.

Let me get this straight...because a republican quotes the NYT, that means the quote is invalid?

Would it only be true if Al Franken said it?

You said this:

Yeah, there are a LOT of traditional black republican leaders who are saying they are leaning towards Obama. One's who have a history of denouncing democrat values with great fervor.

But you can't name a single one of the LOT to whom you are referring, so you don't really have a clue of what they have a history of, do you?

[BamaGrad03 0]

But you can't name a single one of the LOT to whom you are referring, so you don't really have a clue of what they have a history of, do you?

So because I don't remember their names, that means it didn't happen? That means the point doesn't still stand?

Kids now may not know who Bo Jackson is, does that mean he didn't play for Auburn?

[TexasTiger 13,053]

But you can't name a single one of the LOT to whom you are referring, so you don't really have a clue of what they have a history of, do you?

So because I don't remember their names, that means it didn't happen? That means the point doesn't still stand?

Kids now may not know who Bo Jackson is, does that mean he didn't play for Auburn?

You're trying to make some larger point based on what particular people have supposedly said and supposedly backed in the past, but you can't say who they are, so we don't know by what standard you are calling someone a "leader" or a "Republican". We just know that John Gibson, who was so bad even Fox took away his TV show, claims and characterizes.

How many Black Republican leaders are there, anyway? There are so few prominent ones, you should be able to name them, right? List the Black Republican leaders you can name. Who are they for?

There are number or Republicans who have endorsed or appear to be leaning toward Obama-- including those who worked for Bush (Dowd, McKinnon).

http://www.nysun.com/national/some-republi...ck-obama/73913/

[autigeremt 6,719]

This "he said, she said, he leans, she leans" stuff isn't the point.

The point is that 95% of the black community would vote for Obama even if a bombshell, factual event happened that proved Obama was supplying information to Al Qaida (this is an example, not a shot at Obama).

This, in my view, is just an example of how many white americans have diversified, yet many black americans have not. I am saddened by it, but it's real, and noticable.

[TexasTiger 13,053]

This "he said, she said, he leans, she leans" stuff isn't the point.

The point is that 95% of the black community would vote for Obama even if a bombshell, factual event happened that proved Obama was supplying information to Al Qaida (this is an example, not a shot at Obama).

This, in my view, is just an example of how many white americans have diversified, yet many black americans have not. I am saddened by it, but it's real, and noticable.

The supposed impact of your ridiculous hypothetical is your own pure speculation. The fact is, we know that Al Sharpton could not even get a majority of the AA vote in a Dem primary. Obama was not instantly leading in the polls among AA, either. He's a strong candidate, whether you guys like him or not. The Dem gets about 90% of the AA vote in most elections. AA aren't changing their voting patterns this election year. The difference is that for the first time the Dem nominee is AA.

[autigeremt 6,719]

The TURNOUT is where it's at, Texas Tiger. It's not hypothetical.

I have listened to this from the "AA", as you refer (They are Americans who are black......not African Americans. Those people just moved here in the last 10-20 years.)

If you take away 20% of the black vote, Obama has no chance. Yes, Obama will get white votes, but not even close to the scale that McCain will. It's pretty obvious, no matter what color of glasses you wear.

[TexasTiger 13,053]

The TURNOUT is where it's at, Texas Tiger. It's not hypothetical.

I have listened to this from the "AA", as you refer (They are Americans who are black......not African Americans. Those people just moved here in the last 10-20 years.)

If you take away 20% of the black vote, Obama has no chance. Yes, Obama will get white votes, but not even close to the scale that McCain will. It's pretty obvious, no matter what color of glasses you wear.

So your argument is that too many white Americans won't vote for a black man?

[autigeremt 6,719]

My arguement is that too many americans will vote striclty on race alone. Not on issues, nor on merit. That's a poor reason to vote, in my humble opinion.

[autigeremt 6,719]

The TURNOUT is where it's at, Texas Tiger. It's not hypothetical.

I have listened to this from the "AA", as you refer (They are Americans who are black......not African Americans. Those people just moved here in the last 10-20 years.)

If you take away 20% of the black vote, Obama has no chance. Yes, Obama will get white votes, but not even close to the scale that McCain will. It's pretty obvious, no matter what color of glasses you wear.

So your argument is that too many white Americans won't vote for a black man?

You try to lead me down a road that I will not, and do not believe in. I think you need to be the one who looks in the mirror and checks with reality.

I SERVE THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR RACE! And I do it WITHOUT prejudice.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Just to be thorough

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/elec...publicans_N.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.

"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."

Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans who are far fewer in numbers. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that Obama does not sit beside them ideologically.

"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."

Perhaps sensing the possibility of such a shift, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has made some efforts to lure black voters. He recently told Essence magazine that he would attend the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights group, next month, and he noted that he recently traveled to Selma, Alabama, scene of seminal voting rights protests in the 1960s, and "talked about the need to include 'forgotten Americans."'

Still, McCain has a tall order in winning black votes, no doubt made taller by running against a black opponent. In 2004, blacks chose Democrat John Kerry over President George W. Bush by an 88% to 11% margin, according to exit polls.

J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the Republican House leadership, said he is thinking of voting for Obama. Watts said he is still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.

"And Obama highlights that even more," Watts said, adding that he expects Obama to take on issues such as poverty and urban policy. "Republicans often seem indifferent to those things."

Likewise, retired Gen. Colin Powell, who became the country's first black secretary of state under President George W. Bush, said both candidates are qualified and that he will not necessarily vote for the Republican.

"I will vote for the individual I think that brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America and the 21st-century world regardless of party, regardless of anything else other than the most qualified candidate," Powell said Thursday in Vancouver in comments reported by The Globe and Mail in Toronto.

Writer and actor Joseph C. Phillips got so excited about Obama earlier this year that he started calling himself an "Obamacan" — Obama Republican. Phillips, who appeared on "The Cosby Show" as Denise Huxtable's husband, Navy Lt. Martin Kendall, said he has wavered since, but he is still thinking about voting for Obama.

"I am wondering if this is the time where we get over the hump, where an Obama victory will finally, at long last, move us beyond some of the old conversations about race," Phillips said. "That possibly, just possibly, this great country can finally be forgiven for its original sin, or find some absolution."

Yet Phillips, author of the book "He Talk Like a White Boy," realizes the irony of voting for a candidate based on race to get beyond race.

"We have to not judge him based on his race, but on his desirability as a political candidate," he said. "And based on that, I have a lot of disagreements with him on a lot of issues. I go back and forth."

Michael Steele, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Maryland who lost a Senate race there in 2006, said he is proud of Obama as a black man, but that "come November, I will do everything in my power to defeat him." Electing Obama, he said, would not automatically solve the woes of the black community.

"I think people who try to put this sort of messianic mantle on Barack's nomination are a little bit misguided," he said.

John McWhorter, a self-described political moderate who is a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and a New York Sun columnist, said Obama's Democratic Party victory "proves that while there still is some racism in the United States, there is not enough to matter in any serious manner. This is a watershed moment."

"Obama is probably more to the left than I would prefer on a lot of issues," he adds. "But this issue of getting past race for real is such a wedge issue for me. And he is so intelligent, and I think he would be a perfectly competent president, that I'm for him. I want him to get in because, in a way, it will put me out of a job."

James T. Harris, a Milwaukee radio talk show host and public speaker, said he opposes Obama "with love in my heart."

"We are of the same generation. He's African American and I'm an American of African descent. We both have lovely wives and beautiful children," Harris said. "Other than that, we've got nothing in common. I hope he loses every state."

Moderate Republican Edward Brooke, who blazed his own trail in Massachusetts in 1966 as the first black popularly elected U.S. senator, said he is "extremely proud and confident and joyful" to see Obama ascend. Obama sent Brooke a signed copy of his book, inscribed, "Thank you for paving the way," and Brooke sent his own signed book to Obama, calling the presumed Democratic nominee "a worthy bearer of the torch."

Brooke, who now lives in Florida, won't say which candidate will get his endorsement, but he does say that race won't be a factor in his decision.

"This is the most important election in our history," Brooke said. "And with the world in the condition that it is, I think we've got to get the best person we can get."

Williams, the commentator, says his 82-year-old mother, who also has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, has already made up her mind.

"She is so proud of Senator Barack Obama, and she has made it clear to all of us that she's voting for him in November," Williams relates. "That is historic. Every time I call her, she asks, 'How's Obama doing?' They feel as if they are a part of this. Because she said, given the history of this country, she never thought she'd ever live to see this moment."

So what we have here is not "90%" of blacks voting for a democrat. We have people who ABSOLUTELY disagree with what Obama stands for...voting for him anyway. Yet when WHITE don't vote for the guy it's because WHITES are racists...not blacks.

You aren't allowed to have a moral compass or be convicted on issues...when you're voting against a black guy...you're a racist.

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Just to be thorough

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/elec...publicans_N.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.

"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."

Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans who are far fewer in numbers. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that Obama does not sit beside them ideologically.

"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."

Perhaps sensing the possibility of such a shift, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has made some efforts to lure black voters. He recently told Essence magazine that he would attend the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights group, next month, and he noted that he recently traveled to Selma, Alabama, scene of seminal voting rights protests in the 1960s, and "talked about the need to include 'forgotten Americans."'

Still, McCain has a tall order in winning black votes, no doubt made taller by running against a black opponent. In 2004, blacks chose Democrat John Kerry over President George W. Bush by an 88% to 11% margin, according to exit polls.

J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the Republican House leadership, said he is thinking of voting for Obama. Watts said he is still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.

"And Obama highlights that even more," Watts said, adding that he expects Obama to take on issues such as poverty and urban policy. "Republicans often seem indifferent to those things."

Likewise, retired Gen. Colin Powell, who became the country's first black secretary of state under President George W. Bush, said both candidates are qualified and that he will not necessarily vote for the Republican.

"I will vote for the individual I think that brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America and the 21st-century world regardless of party, regardless of anything else other than the most qualified candidate," Powell said Thursday in Vancouver in comments reported by The Globe and Mail in Toronto.

Writer and actor Joseph C. Phillips got so excited about Obama earlier this year that he started calling himself an "Obamacan" — Obama Republican. Phillips, who appeared on "The Cosby Show" as Denise Huxtable's husband, Navy Lt. Martin Kendall, said he has wavered since, but he is still thinking about voting for Obama.

"I am wondering if this is the time where we get over the hump, where an Obama victory will finally, at long last, move us beyond some of the old conversations about race," Phillips said. "That possibly, just possibly, this great country can finally be forgiven for its original sin, or find some absolution."

Yet Phillips, author of the book "He Talk Like a White Boy," realizes the irony of voting for a candidate based on race to get beyond race.

"We have to not judge him based on his race, but on his desirability as a political candidate," he said. "And based on that, I have a lot of disagreements with him on a lot of issues. I go back and forth."

Michael Steele, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Maryland who lost a Senate race there in 2006, said he is proud of Obama as a black man, but that "come November, I will do everything in my power to defeat him." Electing Obama, he said, would not automatically solve the woes of the black community.

"I think people who try to put this sort of messianic mantle on Barack's nomination are a little bit misguided," he said.

John McWhorter, a self-described political moderate who is a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and a New York Sun columnist, said Obama's Democratic Party victory "proves that while there still is some racism in the United States, there is not enough to matter in any serious manner. This is a watershed moment."

"Obama is probably more to the left than I would prefer on a lot of issues," he adds. "But this issue of getting past race for real is such a wedge issue for me. And he is so intelligent, and I think he would be a perfectly competent president, that I'm for him. I want him to get in because, in a way, it will put me out of a job."

James T. Harris, a Milwaukee radio talk show host and public speaker, said he opposes Obama "with love in my heart."

"We are of the same generation. He's African American and I'm an American of African descent. We both have lovely wives and beautiful children," Harris said. "Other than that, we've got nothing in common. I hope he loses every state."

Moderate Republican Edward Brooke, who blazed his own trail in Massachusetts in 1966 as the first black popularly elected U.S. senator, said he is "extremely proud and confident and joyful" to see Obama ascend. Obama sent Brooke a signed copy of his book, inscribed, "Thank you for paving the way," and Brooke sent his own signed book to Obama, calling the presumed Democratic nominee "a worthy bearer of the torch."

Brooke, who now lives in Florida, won't say which candidate will get his endorsement, but he does say that race won't be a factor in his decision.

"This is the most important election in our history," Brooke said. "And with the world in the condition that it is, I think we've got to get the best person we can get."

Williams, the commentator, says his 82-year-old mother, who also has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, has already made up her mind.

"She is so proud of Senator Barack Obama, and she has made it clear to all of us that she's voting for him in November," Williams relates. "That is historic. Every time I call her, she asks, 'How's Obama doing?' They feel as if they are a part of this. Because she said, given the history of this country, she never thought she'd ever live to see this moment."

So what we have here is not "90%" of blacks voting for a democrat. We have people who ABSOLUTELY disagree with what Obama stands for...voting for him anyway. Yet when WHITE don't vote for the guy it's because WHITES are racists...not blacks.

You aren't allowed to have a moral compass or be convicted on issues...when you're voting against a black guy...you're a racist.

Go back to school and take a logic course-- you may have to start with the remedial one.

You present nothing that supports your conclusion.

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

This "he said, she said, he leans, she leans" stuff isn't the point.

The point is that 95% of the black community would vote for Obama even if a bombshell, factual event happened that proved Obama was supplying information to Al Qaida (this is an example, not a shot at Obama).

This, in my view, is just an example of how many white americans have diversified, yet many black americans have not. I am saddened by it, but it's real, and noticable.

The supposed impact of your ridiculous hypothetical is your own pure speculation. The fact is, we know that Al Sharpton could not even get a majority of the AA vote in a Dem primary. Obama was not instantly leading in the polls among AA, either. He's a strong candidate, whether you guys like him or not. The Dem gets about 90% of the AA vote in most elections. AA aren't changing their voting patterns this election year. The difference is that for the first time the Dem nominee is AA.

AA = Anti Air?