Jesse Jackson: Artur Davis not a black man
Alabama Democrats who fret that having a black man at the top of their ticket in 2010 will be a drag in Alabama have no need to fear! Jesse Jackson has proclaimed that Artur Davis is not black.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.
“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill from Alabama,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
Davis’ primary opponent, Ron Sparks, supports the health care bill. So Ron Sparks is actually the only black candidate for governor of Alabama!
I think Danny is right in that this only helps Davis. Think about it. Artur Davis just got mentioned in a Drudge Report linked article that puts him at odds with Jesse Jackson. Check. The article highlights his vote against Obama Care. Check. Readers get to see “Artur Davis” and “conservative” in the same sentence. Check. Davis could simply reprint that article in its entirety on his campaign material. I don’t think they could have planned it any better.
Jesse Jackson must have read the adverse reaction from many blacks and whites both about his comment on artur davis’ “blackness, ” and he has issued a statement in effect “erasing” his earlier comment. it’s on LeftInAlabama blog for anyone interested.
JJ is stirring the race pot stew again! I am glad that Foxnews is reporting this news:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/19/jesse-jackson-reportedly-warns-black-lawmakers-opposing-health-care/
I think Davis’ vote on the Healthcare issue was done to make him look good when the primaries roll around, this race baiting tactic by Jesse Jackson is just extra brownie points.
I do have to commend Congressman Davis on where he said that he didn’t want to argue about an issue that will just begin and end with race.
Apparently Jesse Jackson thinks you’re a traitor to other blacks if you don’t tow the Democrat party line, which is unfortunate.
That’s pretty much true for every Democrat.
Update: Jackson decided to eat his words.
So, does that mean that Artur Davis can count your vote for mayor now that Jesse Jackson has declared he’s not a black man?
Seriously, this is what Jesse Jackson actually said in case anyone is interested:
“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man”…
So, in context Jesse Jackson was cricizing Davis’s vote against the affordable health care reform bill (or Obamacare as your side calls it).
Again, will Davis’ vote against the affordable health care reform act and Jesse Jackson’s criticism of his vote make you vote for him now?
In context? Please. Jackson was using the oldest and most pernicious form of black-vs.-black racial demagoguery: The threat of revocation of Davis’ racial bona fides if he dared stray even a step or two off the Democratic Plantation. It’s the same reason Michael Steele is taunted as an “Oreo” and Condi Rice and Clarence Thomas are called “house n***as.” It’s just the flip side of how segregationist thugs used to taunt whites who supported civil rights (or who were suspected of even thinking about supporting civil rights) as “n****r-lovers” who were “traitors to the white race.”
For all the talk about how much they love black people, the real goal of the Democrats is to do whatever it takes to ensure blacks stay angry and dependent and think for themselves as little as possible.
I will not vote for Davis because I disagree with him on the issues, although I must say he was certainly a huge upgrade in Congress from the loathsome Earl Hilliard.
Ben may I ask you to provide further clarification for this statement:
For all the talk about how much they love black people, the real goal of the Democrats is to do whatever it takes to ensure blacks stay angry and dependent and think for themselves as little as possible.
What exactly do democrats do to ensure blacks stay angry and dependent and think for themselves as little as possible?
Angry at what/who?
Dependent on what/who?
Think for themseleves as little as possible about what/who?
Opps! Should read: Can Artur Davis count on your vote for Governor now, not mayor.
We understand your lack of knowledge ………. no really we understand:) I mean it, we really understand where you would confuse that with all the possible conservatives to vote for you would confuse the only black man running for governor with our mayor. No foul ..
dcm
Why doesn’t the media point out how the Democrats are the party of racists?! JJ is a racist.
I tend to agree with Brian. Think this is coordinated. Who cares if JJ ate his words. Artur still got loads of positive press making him appear more toward the middle.
Another article is at this link:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/68793-rev-jesse-jackson-injects-race-into-healthcare-debate
Only in Alabama can Artur Davis gets loads of positive press because he’s criticized by Jesse Jackson for voting against the affordable health care reform act.
Only in Alabama? Really? That’s a pretty ridiculous comment.
Redeye,
Yes, that is what Jesse Jackson was criticizing him for, but the way in which he criticized him implied something additional, which is what I was getting at earlier.
Despite the media made sterotype of the lazy, shiftless, baby making, drug dealing, gangbanger, most black men are upstanding, educated, hardworking, providers, caregivers and protectors for their familes. Most black men care about their fellow human beings and their condition. They believe they are their brothers keeper and each one reach one. Jesse Jackson asked how Artur Davis, as a black man who was elected to represent the interest of his constituents, most of whom are black and poor and have no access to quality affordable health care, most of whom who voted for President Obama with hope for change, could vote against not only the affordable health care refrom bill but the Hate Crimes Bill as well. I really don’t see how Jesse Jackson’s criticims of Davis’ vote is racist, but if it makes you feel better to call his criticism racist go for it.
Questions: How do you feel about David Cao the republican from Lousiana voting for the affordable health care reform bill and not toeing the republican party line? How come it’s ok for democrats to not toe to the party line but not republicans? How come party unity and loyalty is ok for the republicans and not for democrats? What exactly do you have against all Americans having access to quality affordable health care?
redeye,
1) I didn’t say that Jackson’s criticisms of Davis were racist, so you’re attributing that to and firing back at the wrong person on that one. I said it was unfortunate.
2) I also didn’t say that it’s not okay for Republicans to not tow the party line.
3) You’re assuming a lot by saying, “What exactly do you have against all Americans having access to quality affordable health care?” When was it again that I said I had something against all Americans having access to quality affordable health care?
4) If Jackson’s comments were just about Democrats exhibiting “party unity and loyalty,” we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all. He’s the one who made it about race.
Boy, that’s a lot of crap in one post, redeye. Jackson didn’t “ask” anything. He flat out said that no one who voted against that bill can call himself a black man. Stop trying to spin it into a completely different comment from what was actually said. If some segregationist were to claim that, “George Wallace merely asked whether it was a wise thing to enroll black students at the University of Alabama,” you (and me, too, for that matter) would rightly ridicule the moron for the pathetic fool he is. So congratulations to similarly making an ass of yourself.
But hey, if you are really going to insist that every member of Congress vote in accordance with the way their constituents voted in the presidential election, I’ll support you 100% on that. McCain won 22 states last year, so that’s 44 senators against — Bye-bye, Obamacare.
I appreciate that Artur Davis admitted that he was wrong in his statements about Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac to Sean Hannity. Considering his consistent votes to the right of the national Democratic Party (ACU = 24 = liberal but not quite socialist), I prefer him over (spit) Ron Sparks. BTW Mike Rogers (R) is rated ~80, making him the least conservative of the State’s GOP Congressman.
Redeye – I still won’t vote for a 24 liberal when I can get an 80+ GOP candidate (yes, I realize that the ACU doesn’t rate gubernatorial candidates).
Reactionary, Artur Davis is no 24 liberal. Trust me.
Yes, Reactionary — By all means don’t believe Davis’ actual voting record! Redeye’s assertions trump actual facts any time. These are not the droids you are looking for.
This is from the article in The Hill:
I didn’t see your source for the original article. Would you like to share it?
Davis represents Alabama’s 7th district and it’s hardly the bastian of conservatism. As a matter of fact his district is the only Alabama district President Obama carried in November.
Redeye,
Yes, that may be true, but as Maxine Waters pointed out, he is now running for governor, so his potential constituency is the whole state of Alabama, not just the 7th district.
I was refering to his present constituency concerned s hsv resident. You know, the ones he presently represents as the sitting United States Congressman from the 7th District of Alabama. The ones whose interest he voted against when he voted against the affordable health care reform bill.
Yes he’s running for governer and his potential constituency is the whole state. Evidently he doesn’t need the votes of his present constituency to become governor of the whole state.
So, are you in favor of the affordable health care reform bill?
Did you not say in a previous post Artur shouldn’t be criticized for not toeing the democratic party line?
Do you consider Jesse Jacksons’ criticism of Davis’ vote racist?
Jesse Jackson was at a Congressional BLACK Caucus event in his honor. He made the comment to an audiance at that event. He asked how a black man could vote against affordable health care reform when his constituents are the ones that need it most. How is that making it about race? And even if its is about race, what’s wrong with it being about race?
redeye,
To your questions up until the last two, I have no comment. I currently have neither the time nor the interest in answering right now or answering you. I think Iam owed an apology for the assumptions you made about me, whether they were correct or not. The fact that you made any assumptions was rude.
To your last two, the statement he made did make it about race: “How can you call yourself a black man…?” Do you think it is okay to make it about race? What if I questions someone’s claim to be caucasian, asian, indian, etc. because of how they vote on this bill? What if I said they should only vote a certain way based on their race? What would you think about that?
Jesse Jackson always brings out best in Southern white people.
They get to shriek “racist! racist!” as though the state they live in was an integrated state during segregation days. As though the only possible racists could be African Americans.
Or maybe Latinos. Our very own Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III recently made quite a spectacle of himself doing that.
Comedy abounds in the Deep South.
You go back almost 60 years to find an insult to Alabama and then support Jessie Jackson, your bitterness is really showing Bob, these are news lows even for you.
Still that sad little bitter man …..
dcm
@Doug Our beloved J. Beauregard’s performance at the Sotomayor hearingwasn’t 60 years ago. And all the squeals of “Racism!” were right here in the past 2 days.
Cheer up, Doug.
Foreign policy analysts are cheering the President’s opening up dialogue and reasserting American interests in Asia after nearly a decade of neglect. The 9/11 criminals are going to be tried for their crimes. The rule of laws is replacing torture in America’s values.
Kalamazoo MI voters approved a nondiscrimination ordinance to protect LGBT people in the city earlier this month. The state of Washington approved an “everything but marriage” initiative. Recently the Rev. Ms. Laurie A. McNeill of Central Presbyterian Church, an average PCUSA congregation in Montclair, announced her marriage to a another woman. A 10 year old boy, Will Phillips, made the news for refusing to say “with liberty and justice for all in the pledge to the flag in his school in Arkansas” because LGBT people didn’t have equal justice under the law. Evangelist Tony Alamo was sentenced to 175 years for sex crimes with children. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is crumbling, and the socalled Defense of Marriage Act is well on the way toward being overturned in court or repealed outright in Congress.
A catchy new slogan is starting up to address Christian Right recalcitrance: “No ’special rights’ for fundamentalists.”
These are great days for people who believe that America is a great nation, not a timid, frightened nation, and for people who believe in fundamental human rights and liberties.
and a partridge in a pear tree also ….
should have just thrown in NAMBLA while you were writing your “equal rights for anyone breathing” tirade.
dcm
@Doug, like I said, NAMBLA is more Tony Alamo’s department.
If you want special rights for fundamentalist child molesters, you’ll once again be going against what the majority of Americans stand for.
Note to Jesse Jackson: I’m not a black man either.