Every Democrat needs to read this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/magazine/01VOTERS.html?pagewanted=1
Speaking as a person of color, who voted Nader in 2000, who considers herself as part of the disaffected hip hop generation, this article is totally on target. the last straw for me was in 2000 when the Party, along with Gore and Lieberman, said NOTHING about black voting rights fraud. nothing. it was left to the NAACP and other groups. it enraged the hell out of me. if this party, that so courageously helped us earn the right to vote forty years ago, cannot defend their legacy, they have not earned my vote. what good are they? i might as well vote GOP, but given that i have a conscience, i vote third party.
fact is, Democrats have really not done crap for people of color in a long time. they just expect us to show up on election day just because the GOP is evil. that isn't working anymore. more and mor eof us are staying home, or crossing over. if i were the Democrats, i would be very very worried about this. and so should all of you no matter what color you are.
i was incredibly pissed when Dean chose Harlem to showcase his Gore endorsement. Gore never visited harlem in 2000. he had not been there in 6 years. black people were bused in from outside the community to attend the event, not the locals. you think word of such insincereity and pandering doesn't get around among colored folk? Dean gets my vote though, because he is the first white candidate i've ever heard directly adress the nixon southern strategy. that took balls. but the outreach of all the campaigns (except kucinich!) has been pretty abysmal.