Tonight’s All-American Presidential Forum is four candidates shy of reality TV. None of the candidates on the stage have a real chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination.
Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, has assisted PBS in identifying bloggers to cover the forums (disclosure: I'm included in the mix). The even-tempered Robert has unloaded:
The absence of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson from what has been, so far, the only nationally televised debate to focus solely on topics of interest of black Americans sends a very clear message that not only is the Republican Party not interested in courting the "black vote" but is not even willing to engage on issues of importance to African-Americans.
This goes beyond any one campaign. It is nothing less than a disgrace for the entire country. Is it any wonder that when Kanye West blurts out "President Bush hates black people" on national television that many black Americans nod their heads in agreement?
OK, Barry Goldwater said candidates should "go hunting where the ducks are." And sure, Richard Nixon was the last Republican presidential candidate to garner more than 12 percent of the black vote.
But Republicans' minority outreach, the illusion of inclusion, was aimed at white swing voters. Their message: We're not your father's Republican Party.
I was puzzled by the front-runners' snub so I turned to my mentor Milton Bins, a longtime GOP analyst and activist, who now lives in Florida off vote-rich I-4.
Milton said with the partisan divide widening, the hunt for independent voters would not yield very many votes in the general election. So Republicans are concentrating their fire on the party's white conservative base.
So while they may look "stupid," Giuliani, Romney, McCain and Thompson are just keeping it real.
