Points for Honesty

A little while ago, I chided Republican candidates for avoiding debates on Black issues. A few days later, Bob Herbert joined in the fun, saying it was time for the Black community to start calling out the GOP explicitly on its anti-Black agenda.

But BlackProf contributor Sherilynn Ifill decides to go in the other direction. Slated to live-blog the upcoming GOP candidates forum on Black issues at Morgan State University-- the one which Romney, McCain, Giuliani, and Thompson are all skipping -- Ifill decided to simply give them props for their candor:

Well, I’m not angry at the Republican front-runners. In fact, I admire their refreshing honesty. They are not interested in black voters. They know that the Republican nominee, whoever he is, is unlikely to get more than 10% of the black vote. And with a short primary season, they don’t have the time to indulge in the empty gesture of debating about issues of primary importance to black voters. Moreover, most of them (Giuliani, I mean you) would be hypocrites if they stood up on the stage at Morgan and suggested that any part of their former or future policies would be aimed at addressing the particular concerns of African Americans. Why should we expect these candidates to continue the lame story peddled by the Republican Party during the past 10 years that the Party is really, really interested in courting black voters? What policies, advanced by the Republican Party in the last eight years could reasonably support the idea that Party leaders understand and are responsive to problems faced by so many blacks (e.g., over-incarceration based on draconian drug laws, predatory lending, lack of health insurance, hate crimes, property tax-funded education, voter intimidation, racial profiling, sky-high college costs, lack of meaningful public transportation, a living wage, gun violence)? I admit that the Dems have tried to make progressive change on only a few of these, but the Republicans have been resistant, even hostile, to addressing any of these issues.

She then announces that, following the leaders, she won't be attending the Morgan State debate either. "I don’t think we’ll learn much by talking with candidates who have no hope of even approaching the nomination. In fact, I think we’ve learned all we need to know about a future Republican presidency from the decision of the Party’s most viable and popular candidates that they have better things to do on Thursday night than focus on the interests of black voters."