RNC Video Diary: African-American Republicans Weigh in on Obama

Walking through the Xcel Energy Center, I encountered a group of African-American Republicans, and asked them for their take on the historic nature of Barack Obama's nomination, and whether it left them with conflicted feelings. Check it out:

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Comments

[McCainWho]

12:58 AM on 09/07/2008

WOW. Real Black Reps that are fighting for the McCain to throw out the bone for that one black token job.

[Jingo]

12:39 AM on 09/07/2008

C'mon, black republicans get so much back from their chosen party. Every four years they are given prime seats to the republican convention and are guaranteed to be seen on TV. Plus I think the even get 2/3 votes when the RNC is crafting public policy.

[wolverine415]

11:29 PM on 09/06/2008

Believe none of what you hear and 50% of what you see. The only issue these guys really had a problem with that they mentioned was taxes so they are probably self-centered business men/woman. They should be ashamed to think that more jobs will come from lowering taxes....newsflash, Bush! If they looked at a persons record, Mccains must have not been included.

[OverCoffee]

11:13 PM on 09/06/2008

As I see it, the only legitimate excuse any black person, white woman, or working class white has for voting for McCain-Palin is that they are fiercely 100% anti-abortion. I hope however, they consider that the pro-war views of this GOP team has runs counter to true pro-life - that is, life for the living.

[GunnyJ]

11:07 PM on 09/06/2008

Republicans because they have money...................new money. Nothing wrong with that, but it seems wealthy people forget they get rich off the backs and efforts of regular people. They forget that you have to give to get. Once they make it, it's always because of what they did, they did it by themselves and their sacrifice got them to where they are. If we are not careful, we may have to take we out of the dictionary.........

[GRACE727]

10:03 PM on 09/06/2008

As a black woman I am amazed that some black people will not vote for Obama. OK. I understand the issues are important . But when the issues favor the better candidate that happens to be black why won;t you vote for him. Obama is the candidate of real change not McCain. I believe that Barack is a brilliant man who understands the United States Constitution inside and out. He also understands the importance of a simple hello, thank you or handshake and what it means to the average citizen on the street. I think that his background in community organizing prepared him to connect with the average citizen. He understands that people want to touch him and he recognizes that he is an emotional magnet. Why would you not support this black man, this universal man.. who also happens to be half white. For Black people it's a chance to break that solid steal ceiling once and for all.

[triplbee]

09:19 PM on 09/06/2008

Thank God they represent only about 4% of our community.

[bibb]

08:05 PM on 09/06/2008

Given the argument that these guys made that you shouldn't vote for someone just because they're in the same group as you and look for agreement in policies, they've just made the argument for women to avoid mindlessly voting for the McCain/Palin ticket just because Palin is a woman.

I'll second that!

[babbitt]

06:14 PM on 09/06/2008

I am a business woman, mother, wife and a really good citizen. I can not understand how anyone can support a canidate who is trying to hijack the thought process, theme and message of the candidate who is winning. It reminds me so much of our ugly history. Slavery, land being stolen, people being displaced and a whole host of evidence that the republican party represents. Now he has chosen a running mate that we don't know and neither does he. She is a woman who from my view has too much on her plate. This is obvious from the situation going on in her family. I know what it is like to have children and run a successful business and believe me the decision she has made to run as vice president is incredibly questionable from my view and really says a great deal about John McCain's lack of judgement. The issue even larger issue looming over the country now that she has made public her daughter's pregnancy is how the teens in this country will be affected.

Babbitt

[TheSecularist]

03:28 PM on 09/06/2008

I wish someone would ask these people to explain why they are in a party that has so much enmity toward minorities, especially blacks and hispanics (and, in some parts of the country, native americans). Please! Ask them to explain this conundrum: black people in the current republican party with its hateful policies. They don't have to be in either party. They could be independents and vote for candidates from any party. Maybe it's not really a mystery. Maybe these blacks are happy to be big fish in a small pond. Perhaps they get special treatment because there are so few of them. The republicans certainly trot them out in front of the cameras at every opportunity.

[trebor129]

03:26 PM on 09/06/2008

Basically we need to do what was accomplished in South Africa -- take government positions and place African Americans so that they can be fairly represented. To make up for lost time, they should get up to 20% of government jobs -- about double of their population percentage. Eventually we can go back down to 10% or so.

[BaltimoreSteve]

02:42 PM on 09/06/2008

I find it amazing how the republicans send out african american surrogates to appear on the tv shows. Based on the numbers I see, I would have thought that 75% of the convention would have been african americans, Now that 90% of african americans are committed to voting for Barack, I guess we'll start seeing more women surrogates. Hmmm....maybe even a female V.P. nominee.

[sueno]

01:36 PM on 09/06/2008

I'm soo happy, that any of these people are in my family-
The self-hate is killing me. They represent the party of slavery and unjust actions
toward people of color that exists to this day! I hope they remain exactly where they are-
Did they fail to mention that the nite of Palin's "great and empty speech", they there were only
36 black people in the whole convention in attendance?
The fake "Talented-Tenth" argument died in the 60's-
They missed the bus- really!

[jrath7]

03:06 PM on 09/07/2008

Check your history. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and it was he and the Republicans who freed the slaves.

[Free2Speak]

01:25 PM on 09/06/2008

Why do Larry King consistently ask is race going to be an issue with Obama?Why don't they ask if age or gender?You have an elderly guy with a woman with absolutely no experience.You have the 13% of blacks voting for Obama.A hispanic radio station polled that 2/3 of hispanics will vote for Obama because they trust a black person with immigration issues more than a white person.So 10% of of the 15% of hispanics added with the 13% of blacks = 23% plus another 10% of whites (reported in Times) that will vote for Obama because he's black.Now we're talking about 33% of voters for Obama just because he's black.The 5 or 10% of who wont vote for Obama because of race pales in comparison to 33% voting for him because he's black.

[NoElephants]

05:26 PM on 09/06/2008

50% of what you just said is true 35% of the time, except for the 34% of the time when it is only true 65% of the time, but only 84% of the time are statistics right, 27% of the time.

[LeftLeanWing]

01:51 AM on 09/07/2008

90% of blacks voted for Kerry, Clinton, Gore instead of the Republican candidate...


Do you see pattern here ?


because he's black you say .... ?

[wittgene]

01:04 PM on 09/06/2008

Do you want to know crux of this issue. What we have here, is African-Americans who are doing pretty well in life. Simply, they just don't want to pay anymore taxes! These are the same people who left urban neighborhoods and left thier community businesses to foreigners. No mention about paying for their Bush-War, National debt, or the poor. They give their shoulder a Jay-Z brush and say, "let the middle class pay for it".