Anderson@Large

Dream On

Oh, great. Black history is observed during the shortest month of the year.

And now illegal immigrants want to exploit African Americans’ struggle for civil rights to confer benefits on foreign nationals whose presence in the U.S. flouts the rule of law.

This week, the United We Dream Coalition kicked off a month-long campaign to mobilize support for the DREAM Act, which if passed would put young illegal immigrants and a chain migration of millions of illegals on a path to citizenship.

Nancy, one of the campaign coordinators, reportedly said:

We really see a close connection and a parallel between our movement and the African-American movement and their experiences in the U.S. As undocumented students, we are constantly being denied certain rights in the U.S. and within our school campuses. We are fighting for our own humanity. A lot of tactics that we’re using as undocumented students are borrowed frameworks that were established in the 60’s with the civil rights movement. Since February is nationally recognized as “African American History Month,” undocumented students hope to highlight parallels between the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and the current efforts for immigration reform. As in the 1960s, students are once again at the forefront of political activism.

Um, Nancy, there are no “parallels.” Those students were U.S. citizens.

A “new civil rights movement?” Dream on.

A recent Center for Immigration Studies survey on minority voters’ views on immigration found that when asked to choose between attrition through enforcement or offering illegals a pathway to citizenship, 50 percent of African Americans support enforcement; 30 percent support conditional legalization.

Showtime at Blair House

The curtain will rise on President Barack Obama’s health care summit at 10 a.m. The by-invitation-only event will feature a supporting cast of Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

In remarks to the Business Roundtable, Obama said:

Tomorrow, I look forward to a good exchange of ideas at the Blair House with some of the legislative leaders. And I hope everyone comes with a shared desire to solve this challenge, not just score political points.

Even before the President makes his rounds, Democrats have lost hope for a bipartisan solution. The Washington Post reports:

Congressional Democrats are already looking beyond the White House health-care summit, reckoning that Thursday's session will amount to little more than political theater and focusing instead on a final round of intraparty negotiations that are likely to determine the fate of President Obama’s top domestic priority.

Although Obama is billing the White House gathering as an opportunity for Republicans to air their ideas for reform, Democrats do not expect it to reveal much common ground and are showing little willingness to abandon the basic outline of legislation that the House and Senate have approved.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, meanwhile, has pronounced Obama’s proposal DOA:

The American people want Washington to scrap this job-killing health care bill and start over with a step-by-step approach that will lower health care costs. That is not the ‘Republican’ view; it is the view of the American people. We’ve assembled a team of individuals who understand this, because they’ve been listening to the people they were sent to Washington to represent. We’ll be ready to remind our Democratic colleagues of this and discuss the alternative, step-by-step approach Republicans have offered when we go to the White House summit on Thursday.

The show will air on C-SPAN and streamed live at WhiteHouse.gov.

For something different, tune in to the Sunlight Foundation's video stream of the event, Sunlight Live, which will bring together live blogging by policy experts, Twitter conversations and relevant facts on summiteers like who’s in bed with the special interests.

CPAC 2010 Postscript

Earlier this week, I put a lid on CPAC 2010. But then I read Micah Sifry’s post about tea partiers’ response to rumors that Bill Clinton and James Carville are planning to go after their leaders.

Since it’s harder to hit a moving target, Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella organization of tea party groups, asked grassroots activists to proclaim themselves the leaders they’ve been looking for:

It is un-American and morally wrong for a former president to attack Americans who have gotten involved in the political system.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said, “When the people fear the government there is tyranny.”

What they still don’t understand is that this is a leaderless movement, this is a ‘We The People...’ movement. This site is a chance for ‘We The People’ to stand up and say that ‘I Am The Tea Party Leader.’

Their rapid response underscores RedState’s Erick Erickson’s observations during a CPAC panel discussion, “Saving Freedom through Technology: Growth of the Online Movement”:

The right and the left are on an equal playing field online and we have a significant advantage. The left cannot, will not win on the radio. Who wants to listen to that for three hours a day? I mean, Air America has shut down and Gitmo is still open.

[...]

We have a significant advantage that we haven’t fully exploited, that we’re just beginning to exploit…It’s a beautiful marriage – online, the radio together.

Indeed, nine of the top 10 talk radio hosts are conservative, according to Talkers magazine. And Rush Limbaugh “remains the most-listened-to talk host and more relevant culturally than ever.”

Dem GOTV Plan: SOS

When in panic mode, Democrats’ get-out-the-vote strategy is as predictable as the swallows of Capistrano.

Though Democrats have not addressed racial disparities in stimulus spending, they plan to target African American to try to save their jobs.

In a recent op-ed in The Hill, former Rep. Martin Frost wrote about his strategy to win a close election:

I worked strength. Consultants will tell you to concentrate on swing voters. That’s ok as long as you don’t forget the people who brought you to the dance. My district was about 20 percent African American and we ran a massive get out the vote effort in that community. Your strongest supporters sometimes get discouraged when the general political environment is tough. It is important to make sure friends get to the polls in big numbers. We dramatically increased African American turnout in the district over what it had been in previous non-presidential years when turnout normally drops off and it was that vote that saved me on election night.

[…]

Some Democrats in swing districts will wind up losing no matter what they do because the environment is so toxic. But at least there are things they can do to increase their odds of surviving.

Democrats have forgotten the people who brought them their House and Senate majorities. So, it’s odd to expect black voters will show up at the polls eight months from today.

CPAC 2010 Wrap-Up

They say you always remember your first time. Well, my first Conservative Political Action Conference was indeed memorable. I want to thank Erick Erickson and RedState for sponsoring the Bloggers Lounge.

As I walked around the historic Marriott Wardman Park, listened to the speakers, sat in on workshops, wandered through the Exhibit Hall and interviewed a few of the 10,000 attendees, I was struck by what a difference a year makes. A year ago, conservatives were “moribund and on the run.” Progressives were triumphant and proclaimed a “permanent Democratic majority.”

After losses in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, conservatives are energized and on the move. As Bill Bennett observed:

You’re either playing offense or defense. Conservatives are on offense. We are moving the ball on them.

While the mainstream media focus on the differences among conservatives, Andrew Breitbart threw down the gauntlet:

Look mainstream media, the jig is up. We figured you out. You’re not on our team. You’re on the progressives’ team. We tried to play nice with you and nice is over.

[…]

You pit us against each other. We are going to come after you so hard. You have no idea what you have awoken in this country.

Sure, tea partiers and conservatives don’t agree on every issue. But they are united in the belief that my enemy’s enemy is my friend.

The CPAC straw poll results show that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “two of the three horses of the Apocalypse,” are their common enemy.

During his presentation, pollster Tony Fabrizio noted:

This CPAC had the largest number of straw poll participants in CPAC history; just shy of 2400 participants.

[…]

More than half of this movement feel that we’re within striking distance of taking back. That’s a tremendous amount of optimism. While the Democrats are feeling dejected, we are obviously feeling optimistic and pumped up.

Indeed, with the midterm elections eight months away, conservatives are united in their determination to rock the House and Senate.

CPAC, Day 1

On Day One, CPAC 2010 served up a double helping of beefcake Bay Staters.

Sen. Scott Brown made a surprise appearance. The Marriott Ballroom roared when he introduced himself:

I’m Scott Brown and I’m the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts … My truck is parked outside.

Brown said his victory “changed the course of politics in America.” He noted that when he started his campaign, his supporters “could have met in the phone booth.”

He was at CPAC to “introduce one of those guys who was in the phone booth with me” – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Romney began by saying, “I’d take him anywhere I can take him.” He then got down to business:

I’m not telling you something you don’t know when I say that our conservative movement took a real hit in the 2008 elections. The victors were not exactly gracious in their big win: Media legs were tingling. Time Magazine’s cover pictured the Republican elephant and declared it an endangered species. The new president himself promised change of biblical proportion. And given his filibuster-proof Senate and lopsided House, he had everything he needed to deliver it.

[...]

I know that most of you have watched intently as the conservative comeback began in Virginia and exploded onto the scene in New Jersey. But as a Massachusetts man, who, like my fellow Bay-Staters, has over the years, been understandably regarded somewhat suspiciously in gatherings like this, let me take just a moment to exalt in a Scott Brown victory!

For that victory that stopped ObamaCare and turned back the Reid-Pelosi liberal tide, we have something to that you’d never think you’d hear at CPAC, “Thank you Massachusetts!”

Romney said President Obama and congressional Democrats are responsible for “Obama’s lost year”:

So when it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys.

He bashed Obama’s “liberal agenda for government” – cap-and-trade, healthcare reform and government bailouts.

A couple of people brought to my attention a New York Times’ piece about the “racial tones” of one of the speakers, Jason Mattera, a twenty-something from Brooklyn, NY.

In an interview with Ed Morrissey in the Bloggers Lounge, Mattera blasted the Times reporter.

The speakers focused on policy differences and used mocking tones to attack Obama. While this is my first CPAC, I’ve attended several Take Back America conferences, where George W. Bush was mocked unmercifully.

BTW, the lack of diversity at CPAC is proportionately no worse than that at progressives’ annual gathering.

Bottom line: Calling conservatives “racist,” “obstructionist” or “Party of No” is like water on a duck’s back. They are fired up and ready to go to the polls in November.

CPAC 2010

I am on my way to DC for CPAC 2010, the 37th annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

I am attending as an official CPAC blogger, sponsored by RedState.com. Although I was surprised to receive the invitation, I readily accepted it.

While I don’t view myself as a conservative, many do. In a recent Facebook post, my colleague, Prof. Kim Pearson, wrote:

Thought I would explore a Black History Month-related topic that has contemporary relevance but isn’t often discussed. Might go further with this in a future post to talk about how today’s black conservatives break with the past. Although I’m not sure that “conservative” is the label that Faye Anderson chooses for herself. Faye, I’m certainly interested in your thoughts.

Well, it depends. I’m conservative on some issues, for example, illegal immigration.

But I’m progressive on voting rights and matters of race because, well, race matters.

Think Sen. Harry Reid or Chris Matthews rhapsodizing that he “forgot he [President Obama] was black tonight for an hour.”

Truth is, I’m not an ideologue. Instead, I’m animated by justice and fairness.

And I’m passionate about black folks getting a reasonable ROI on their political capital.

I have been both a Democratic and a Republican activist. I am now a registered independent and like 70 percent of Americans, I don’t like what’s going on in DC. In fact, I’m angry as a mofo.