I pray that these folks are rising stars in the GOP because this will smash to smithereens the narrative framed by the left about who the Republican Party represents.
Mike gamecock DeVine made an excellent case for why this is important to Aaron over at RedState.
Identity politics is asking people to vote for someone based solely on race, ethnicity or gender. Or advancing policies tied to race.
All Pilgrim is doing is showing the world, incl the 99% (literally 99%, not the usual 90%) of blacks that voted for Obama and a high % of dem straight tickets, that Blacks do vote, run and get elected as repubs.
Aaron, it has been a passion of my life to improve race relations, as you know, and I favor the kind of reaching out affirmative action that JFK defined and that I have practiced that seeks qualified employees, etc of color based on merit. I was won over to the gop based on conservatism and feel I have a great message for ALL people to join the conservative movement.
You make a good point about not knowing what they believe. I guess my immediate reply is that they must believe much of conservatism to put up with all the grief they must get for being in the gop. thinking... To me, identity politics is saying someone should vote for them BASED on race.
Plus, consider this, esp in light of a current movement to run a repub in EVERY race in 2010.
The GOP often goes into districts and recruits candidates where none come forward. Obviously, in those races, the party has to take into account who can win in a district. We ought to be recruiting black conservatives to run and financing them.
Rep. Donald A. Blakey DE-34
Rep. Jennifer Carroll FL-13
Rep. Melvin Everson GA-106
Rep. Willie Talton GA-145
Sen. Bill Hardiman MI-29
Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert NM-44
Sen. Maurice Washington NV-2
Rep. T.W.Shannon OK-62
Sen. Jackie Winters OR-10
Rep. Paul Scott MI-51
We can't let PC police fear prevent us from recruiting blacks to run. Its ok, even if the libs will accuse us of tokenism and identity politics. Look at what black conservatives have to endure.
I was so disappointed this year when a good black friend of mine that is the head of a prominent black gop organization announced he was voting for Obama. This man was a conservative hero to me, but the peer pressure from his friends inside the beltway was too much.
We can't sit idly by and write off blacks or any group.
We need to find out how these brave souls won.
I am going to do some research on the two from Georgia and report back.
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson