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The Spectacle Blog
It’s not easy for a Republican presidential candidate to address a traditionally liberal organization that represents a more than 90 percent Democratic community. Some might argue Republicans shouldn’t bother. But I liked the way Mitt Romney handled himself when speaking to the NAACP convention.
Romney has gained — and indeed earned — a reputation for telling audiences what they want to hear. He was ruthlessly satirized in a Saturday Night Live skit that portrayed him as telling a group of diabetics that if he could have any disease, he would choose adult onset diabetes. That’s how Romney has come to be viewed by many Americans.
Today Romney told the NAACP he would repeal Obamacare (and he called it Obamacare). He also said that the president’s economic policies had failed to create jobs and increase wages, and that they would continue to fail. In both cases, he was booed. In both cases, he stood his ground. Romney challenged the booing crowd by citing a Chamber of Commerce survey showing that Obamacare was hurting job creation. And anything that damages jobs and growth disproportionately harms the black community.
Romney has a long way to go, and perhaps this crowd was paradoxically safer because it contained so few swing voters. But Romney isn’t exactly known for his willingness to communicate unpopular truths. He deserves credit for doing so here.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/07/11/mitt-romney-and-the-naacp
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mifreecasa | 7.11.12 @ 2:53PM
I liked the way Mitt Romney handled himself too
mjs_pa| 7.11.12 @ 3:19PM
Romney couldn't sell his "conservative" message to conservative audience let alone to a hostile crowd....who apparently wasn't his intended audience anyhow. More insincerity wrapped in deceit.
Oldefarte| 7.11.12 @ 3:19PM
I'm one who believes he wasted his time by even talking to them. This is not a liberal organization, but a racial one and therein lies the difference. Unless the candidate is black, he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hades of being listened to. It's a wonder he wasn't chased out of the building in a violent manner. This audience is stupid, racially prejudiced and representative of their indigent constituency. What he told them was truth, in that the one/only chance for their economic/financial betterment rests with him, but as Forrest said, STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!!!!!!!!!
Quartermaster| 7.11.12 @ 8:08PM
It is both Liberal and racial. I very seriously doubt, for example, that Allen West would go over very well saying anything like the things he normally says. Look at the firestorm Bill Cosby kicked up telling the truth. West is at best an Uncle Tom, but more generally is seen as an Oreo.
irish19| 7.12.12 @ 12:09PM
Yet he managed to get a standing ovation at the end of the speech. This, to me, is progress.
Reggie Love| 7.11.12 @ 3:33PM
Whe will we see Obama speak before the NRA or a pro-life group?
JmsA| 7.11.12 @ 3:37PM
Heck, at least he got a few to applaud to some of his remarks. With some luck he might have convinced a couple of them he's not the Devil.
Bob Grant| 7.11.12 @ 3:52PM
Romney performed well enough. He was honest with minimal attempts at pandering. The audience, in typical fashion, became agitated, restless, and rude when Romney brought up a few touchy issues but he didn't appear to be shaken.
Without question, a tough audience; one he has no chance of winning...ever!!!
The only way you handle such an audience is to be honest and firm, much like a principle has to be when giving a state-of-the-school address to his students.
TLP| 7.11.12 @ 6:32PM
People are people.
Blacks are affected, even MORE, than others, under this Regime.
Their Unemployment Numbers are OFF THE CHARTS. 6% Higher than everybody else.
Blacks have Families.
Blacks have Homes, that are being lost.
Blacks are Losing their Jobs.
Blacks have aspirations for their Children.
Blacks own Businesses, that are looking at Liquidation.
The're People.
They're Americans,
And, they see everything they've ever wanted, slipping away, from this Man's Leftist Policies.
At first, I thought that he would have been better served by Buying new socks, or Mowing his lawn, rather than go to the NAACP.
But, sometimes, people of good will, whatever their Colour, respect someone who does something that is Hard. Something that, in their opinion, he had no chances of Winning, but did it anyway, because it was the Right Thing To Do.
A lot of people on this site think that I HATE BLACKS, but I don't.
Just like any good Conservative, I want The Best for ALL AMERICANS.
I admire Martin Luther King Jr.
He did what he did, because it was The Right Thing To Do. And, he took all of the Slings and Arrows, that HE KNEW were coming his way, for his Just Cause.
I wonder how many Men could have done the same.
My only hope is that some of these people, today, will Judge him by his Character, and IGNORE the Coloir of his skin.
For all of our sakes.
Skippy| 7.11.12 @ 4:22PM
Why bother?
Anyone belonging to the NAACP is a racist.
MikeBee| 7.11.12 @ 4:30PM
Romney did well. In order to secure the Black vote in this country, you have to do two things: 1) be absolutely fearless. Blacks don't like cowards. And, 2) demonstrate to Blacks that you have their best interests in mind. Romney did both at the NAALCP (the L stands for Liberal). The liberals in the NAALCP will boo Romney, and they did. But, decent Blacks everywhere will listen to Romney, and think about what he is saying, while appreciating the fact that he has the guts to say it.
Bob Grant| 7.11.12 @ 4:59PM
"...be absolutely fearless. Blacks don't like cowards. And, 2) demonstrate to Blacks that you have their best interests in mind."
---
If that's true then why did 95% of them vote for obama in '08 and will do so again in '12?
obama is the epitome of cowardice and couldn't care less about the plight of the African American, as evidence by his destructive policies.
MikeBee| 7.11.12 @ 9:24PM
Bob,
You're right. Obama doesn't have the best interests of blacks in the U.S. in his mind. But, in 2008, McCain didn't give a crxp about blacks, either. He never visited Detroit; he eventually abandoned Michigan. He didn't visit any other largely black areas. He was the typical Republican, with respect to blacks. They are waiting for a Republican candidate to have the balls to come to their territory and talk with them, and be THEIR candidate. Republican candidates don't care to attempt to garnish the black vote, then are always surprised when blacks don't vote Republican. They wonder why blacks always show up 95% for the Democrats. It's the Democrats who get down in the 'hood and talk with blacks, and promise to represent them. Is it any wonder that blacks vote Democrat? If we never attempt to get the black vote, we will never have it.
Bob Grant| 7.12.12 @ 12:15AM
Maybe it requires a little more from them as well. Personally, I don't need someone to "get down to my" perceived level to convince/sell me on something.
What is Romney supposed to do, go down there and and shoot a few hoops or teach basic economics in rap form?
The problem is they set the dynamic in which it becomes a catch 22 situation where pandering is the only option. Of course, when this occurs, and you are not of the proper "political persuasion", you come off as... pandering. If you are OF the proper political persuasion, you are viewed as "sensitive to the needs of the community", "tolerant", or "shown a level of respect". This is how the left has trained (brainwashed) that community.
There is a childlike mentality in this community that is hard to comprehend for any right thinking/conservative individual. It's almost as though the actual steps required to engage them (as dictated by black and liberal leaders) is antithetical to conservatism itself.
I think a step in the right direction would be African American conservatives attending NAACP functions instead of the Republican presidential nominee.
RJ| 7.12.12 @ 1:16AM
Romney should make his case before every American. I am glad that he went. The audience may have been hostile and rude, but his message was made available to all of us and you never know who might now be more favorably disposed to vote for him because of it.
Ryan| 7.12.12 @ 8:22AM
I don't know that it's about getting them all. It's about getting an extra 2%-5% on election day. Any number below 90% of the black vote is bad for Obama.