Again we have the silliness of picking out the handful of the most conservative folks out of 250 elected Dems in Congress and acting like you've described the whole party.
I actually don't dislike Sharpton, but I see him having the same problem as Jackson's run, but more so, in that his run will be all about him, not about building a real mass movement. And favorite son Congressional black caucus members are far more representative of the black (and many non-black progressives) than Sharpton, so I'm all for Brazile mounting her campaign if she can pull it off. It would actually be a far more interesting challenge and have more effect than Reverend Al picking off the 5-10% of the primary vote he might get.
BTW how do you develop the thesis that Kerry or Edwards are DLC-backed? Edwards especially has voted against the DLC on trade issues repeatedly.
-- Nathan
----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Kennerson" <maroondog244 at lycos.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 10:14 AM Subject: Re: Jude: vote for Rev Al!
And which "favorite sons" would Ms. Brazile actually run, Nathan??? Diane Magette in Georgia, who managed a scant 15% of the black vote in her coup against Cynthia McKinney?? Harold Ford in Tennessee, who is so conservative a Democrat that he allies himself with the Blue Dogs and DLC'ers??? Does she really think that running weak candidates in the Dem primaries will prevent any of the pre-anointed DLC-backed candidates (Lieberman, Edwards, Kerry) from ultimately gaining the nomination??? This looks more like an attempt by the Dems to weld the black vote permanently to the ultimate winner of the primaries; I really believe that black folk are much smarter than that and will ultimately vote on real issues....which right now the Dems truly are lacking.
As for Rev. Al: I tend to like what he's saying at the moment, and I do hope that he gives the Dems loads of heartburn in the primaries; but we've been here before with Jessie Jackson's 1988 campaign, and his chances of gaining the nomination are about as likely as snow falling in South Louisiana in March. He'd be much better IMHO if he ultimately runs as an Independent after the primary season is over. And he would have to reconcile the same tensions that ultimately killed the Jackson movement in the 80's (culturally conservative Blacks competing with culturally liberal whites; fellow -travelling within the Dems versus a truly independent movement, among others).
I agree with Doug on this one; Sharpton isn't perfect; but he's definitly no Rev. Dr. Greedygut.
Anthony
--
On Mon, 13 Jan 2003 18:23:56
Nathan Newman wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
>>Sharpton is very smart, very quick, and knows what he's talking
>>about. Very impressive in interviews and debate (see the long
>>interview with Scott Sherman in a recent ish of Transition). There's
>>a lot that's questionable about his past - notably the Tawana Brawley
>>affair - but, hey, no one's perfect. I'm glad he's running and hope
>>he really shakes up American politics over the next year or two. He
>>could give the Dems real nightmares.
>
>We'll see how Donna Brazile does with her strategy to increase black power
>at the Dem convention AND head off Reverend Al. She's talking about
>reviving the tradition of "favorite sons", having prominent black
>personalities and officials run in the primaries in each state. The goal
>would be to sweep up enough votes to actually create a situtation where the
>"black bloc" of delegates would actually be able to decide the nomination.
>
>-- Nathan
>
>
>
>
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