Lou Ransom: Democrats and the Black vote

Ransom begins,

When Pittsburgh Courier publisher Robert L. Vann suggested in 1932 that Black voters should no longer pledge allegiance to the Republican Party, it started an unhealthy relationship between Black voters and Democrats that has reached obsessive proportions.

...and concludes,

But Reid suggested to Blagojevich that he should instead choose Tammy Duckworth or Lisa Madigan or… well, the next best white person. Anyone but those three Black men. Reid, who has never received one Illinois vote, ignores the fact that Illinois voters have twice elected a Black to the U.S. Senate.

Certainly, Blagojevich played the race card as well. In a bold stroke, Blagojevich disarmed those who said he could not make an appointment, and challenged state and national Democrats to risk alienating their loyal voting base.

It has been argued here before that Blacks should not commit their votes to a single party but instead should play power politics and force both political parties to court that vote. But remaining in thrall of Democrats, we invite the kind of disrespect we get from Reid and his U.S. Senate colleagues.

Have we started turning Franklin Delano Roosevelt's portrait to the wall yet?

Whether the Illinois GOP is ready to welcome AA voters, who've turned the portrait, with good candidates --with money behind them-- is another question to ask. Now's a time to try Mr McKenna.