Politico: “If Sanders is truly going to become a Barack Obama-style Clinton-slayer of 2016, he knows he’s going to need to start racking up Obama-level support among non-white voters, and quickly, because the Democratic primary is about to come down to race.”
“The Sanders campaign understands this, which is why the first campaign stop after his blowout victory in New Hampshire is a breakfast meeting Wednesday with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem’s iconic Sylvia’s restaurant.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) contends that President Obama is the most “racially divisive” president since the days of slavery, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Brooks: “There probably has not been a more racially divisive, economic divisive president in the White House since we had presidents who supported slavery.”
He added: “But again, we did have presidents in the first 80 to 100 years of our country that supported slavery. And you cannot say that Barack Obama was worse than them.”
The residents of Whitesboro, NY voted to keep the village’s controversial seal, rather than replace it with a new image, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports.
“The controversial village seal, which dates back to 1883, shows a white settler with his hands apparently choking a Native American man. Although village officials said the seal depicts a friendly wrestling match between Hugh White, the town’s founder, and a member of the local Oneida tribe; it’s caused controversy for years. Many called it racist and offensive.”
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A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Americans’ view of race relations is as grim as it has been in 20 years, in the wake of a series of deaths of unarmed black men in confrontations with police officers.
“This month, only 34% of Americans believe race relations in the U.S. are fairly good or very good, down from a high of 77% in January 2009, after the election of Barack Obama as America’s first black president. The figure is the lowest since 34% in October 1995, after the acquittal on murder charges of African-American former football star O.J. Simpson, a traumatic and racially polarizing event.”
Together, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio “represent a watershed moment in American politics: Two Hispanics running as top-tier candidates for president, and increasingly gunning for each other, in what one Latino conservative has dubbed ‘the yuca primary,’ referring to the popular Cuban staple and an acronym for young urban Cuban-American,” the New York Times reports.
“Their collisions on defense, immigration and other issues formed one of the main story lines at Tuesday’s Republican debate. The two have emerged as perhaps the leading alternatives to Donald J. Trump.”
“We can’t make an African-American white.”
— Michigan State Senator Marty Knollenberg (R), quoted by WXYZ, on the educational disparities between different demographic groups.
Donald Trump told Yahoo News that he would increase surveillance of Muslims and consider a series of drastic measures to keep Americans safe.
Said Trump: “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”
He wouldn’t rule out requiring Muslims to carry a form of special identification: “We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”
In a new Public Religion Research Institute poll finds that 43% of Americans believe that discrimination against whites has become as large a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minority groups.
And an even bigger share of Americans — 53% — told pollsters American culture and “way of life” have mostly changed for the worse since 1950.
“I think part of this is a product of the president’s own unwillingness and inability to bring people together. When people think justice is not applied evenly and fairly, they take matters into their own hands. The lawlessness that the president has allowed to exist in this country just absolutely strips people of hope.”
— Gov. Chris Christie, quoted by the Washington Post, when asked about the protests at the University of Missouri and Yale University over complaints of racial insensitivity.
“Republicans are growing increasingly concerned that Donald Trump’s inflammatory language is damaging the party, fearing that his remarks are hardening the tone of other candidates on racial issues in ways that could repel the voters they need to take back the White House,” the New York Times reports.
“Some party leaders worry that the favorable response Mr. Trump has received from the Republican electorate is luring other candidates to adopt or echo his remarks. It is a pattern, they say, that could tarnish the party’s image among minority voters.”
Ben Carson said that Planned Parenthood puts clinics in black neighborhoods to “control that population,” The Hill reports.
Said Carson: “I think people should go back and read about Margaret Sanger who founded this place – a woman who by the way, Hillary Clinton says she admires. Look up and see what many people in Nazi Germany thought about her – a great person.”
“In a biting surprise attack, delivered as Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, waited backstage here at the annual convention of the National Urban League, Mrs. Clinton portrayed him as a hypocrite who had set back the cause of black Americans,” the New York Times reports.
“It was an unexpected moment of political theater that seemed to presage what could be a bitter general-election rivalry between two of the biggest names in American politics.”
Politico: “When Bush finally took the stage to address issues of race and repairing American cities, he didn’t hit back.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) ripped protesters in Oklahoma who greeted President Obama in Oklahoma City by waving Confederate flags, The Hill reports.
Said Cole: “Their actions were not only disappointing but incredibly disrespectful, insensitive and embarrassing to the entire state. The unacceptable behavior displayed by these individuals certainly does not reflect the values and views of the vast majority of Oklahomans. No president should ever be confronted by such behavior, especially when the purpose of the visit was meant to celebrate and recognize some of our state’s greatest achievements.”
The plight of South Carolina’s slaves was rarely mentioned until late in the debate, when state Rep. Joseph Neal (D) rose to speak, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Roll Call: “In a rapid and dramatic policy shift, Confederate flag imagery could be allowed to remain displayed on graves on federal land in some circumstances under a Republican-sponsored amendment that will be voted on in the House on Thursday.”
“I have heard enough about heritage. I have a heritage. I am a life-long South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, okay? But that does not matter. It’s not about Jenny Horne. It’s about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the statehouse grounds.”
— South Carolina state Rep. Jenny Horne (R), quoted by NBC News, supporting removal of the Confederate flag at the state capitol.
“The South Carolina House of Representatives made two historic votes early Thursday morning, ordering the permanent removal of the Statehouse’s Confederate battle flag,” the Charleston Post and Courier reports.
Said: Gov. Nikki Haley: “I’m grateful for their service and their compassion. It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.”
“Three weeks after the mass shooting at a predominantly black church in Charleston, the South Carolina House of Representatives is expected on Wednesday to step into the freshly revived debate about whether the Confederate battle flag should remain on the grounds of the State House,” the New York Times reports.
“With the flag perhaps facing its final days outside the Capitol, lawmakers have been circulating drafts of dozens of amendments that could jeopardize a bill that calls for the state to remove the flag and send it to the nearby Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.”
Charleston Post and Courier: “The bill received first reading in the House, but no vote can be taken until a bill has been on the calendar overnight. If the House approves the Senate bill on final reading Thursday, it could reach Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk by Friday. The Republican governor has called for the flag’s removal.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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