My Bitch Calls Me G-Dub

After turning down an invitation to speak at the NAACP conference, Mr. Bush addressed the Urban League last week. Here's Andrew Sullivan's choice quote and reaction:

Bush asked: "Is it a good thing for the African-American community to be represented mainly by one political party? Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat Party truly served the African-American people?" That's the difference between a group of people you respect and want to win over and a group of people you marginalize for political gain.

Whatever uplift Andrew might have found there, I think, gets vaporized by this choice bit, via Wonkette:

Do you remember a guy named Charlie Gaines? Somebody gave me a quote he said, which I think kind of describes the environment we're in today. I think he's a friend of Jesse's. He said, "Blacks are gagging on the donkey but not yet ready to swallow the elephant."

Given Bush's anti-gay positions, I wouldn't have expected him to endorse either gagging on donkeys or swallowing elephants.

Anyway, when Andrew refers to one party that "respects a group of people" and "wants to win [them] over" against a party that wishes to "marginalize [them] for political gain," I have to say I'm not sure which party is which. Does Andrew think that African-Americans register in Karl Rove's political calculations at all? Well they certainly do. In order to convince suburban moderate whites that the Republicans aren't bigots, the Republican Convention will need to appear (with the sound turned off) like a Rainbow-PUSH meeting.

But Bush (or Rove) interested in winning black votes? As Andrew would say, "Puh-lease." Is that what the revival of the Southern strategy was about? Does Bush think that African-Americans are so stupid or historically ignorant that they won't recognize the logic and rhetoric used in efforts to deny them civil equality decades ago being turned on another minority?

And how exactly does Bush expect to win over black votes? Does he buy into the plainly idiotic idea that gets floated around by TV pundits that African Americans are church-going, and therefore just itching to join the religious right? Mr. Bush has made overtures to blacks, but he has also spoken at Bob Jones University and defended the use of the Confederate flag. One of those gestures was sincere, and the other was cynical. Maybe Andrew knows which was which.

In fact, I'd be interested to know the Vegas line on whether Bush will get a smaller percentage of the black vote or the gay vote.