William Jefferson

Charlie Rangel has been in the US Congress for 39 years. Maxine Waters has been there for 19 years. Clearly too long for both of them. It’s a fact that, for almost that long, being black and in government meant being bullet-proof and untouchable. One notable exception would be former Congressman William Jefferson, who is cooling his heels in the federal penitentiary for bribery and corruption charges. He is the exception rather than the rule, however.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus

Black members of Congress have been characterized by their high-handed tactics and outright arrogance in pulling out the race card each and every time someone said something they didn’t like. It worked for a long time. It worked so well that the Congressional Black Caucus became one of the most feared and unassailable groups in the Capitol. Whites, and even other minorities, stepped lightly around them and went to some length to avoid their ire. They were a steady and reliable cog in the increasingly left-leaning Democrat machine… as long as they got what they wanted… which amounted to beaucoup bucks for the welfare and social services plantations, which reliably kept them first in line at the public trough.

The bullet-proofing on their armor started flaking away with the expiation of the ‘white guilt’ syndrome, which they had so assiduously cultivated with the able assistance of professional racists such as the irrelevant ‘Reverend’ Jesse Jackson, who styled himself the successor to Martin Luther King’s legacy and a spokesman for all things black. He was neither. What he was, and is, is a cheap shakedown artist, preying on businesses and corporations that are afraid of having the racist jacket hung on them.

Then there is the always entertaining Al ‘Tawana Brawley’ Sharpton. Another cheap race hustler who never saw a situation he wouldn’t try to profit from, no matter how outrageously untrue or manufactured.

With the election of America’s first ‘black’ President, Barack Hussein Obama, most of that white guilt began to evaporate, and along with it much of the tolerance for business as usual in Washington, black or white. We’ve come to the point where the racist card has just been pulled out of the deck ad nauseum. We can trust them to try. We can also promise them it won’t get them very far.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

Saturday is the Louisiana runoff election. There are two races still outstanding: the 4th Congressional district in the Western part of the state where John Fleming is fighting to hold on to Jim McCrery's conservative seat. And the 2nd, in the heart of New Orleans.

Normally, we wouldn't have a prayer in LA-2. Except for one thing: the incumbent is Wiliam "Freezer Cash" Jefferson. And recent polling shows Republican Joseph Cao actually has a chance to knock off Jefferson. An internal Republican poll shows Cao leading Jefferson 50-35, with Jefferson at 60 percent unfavorables (significant because Jefferson retains a base of support in the African American community). Quin Hillyer has been tracking this race for the Spectator.

This is Exhibit A of why we need a 435 district strategy. Yes, we need to be focused on our traditional targets. We saw how replacing Woody Jenkins with Bill Cassidy made all the difference in LA-6. But we can't be playing defense all the time. Congressional races can be surprisingly nonpartisan if the incumbent is corrupt or has other liabilities. We can pick off 60-40 and 70-30 Democrat seats if we focus on getting the right candidates with some level of professional staffing. (And I wouldn't be surprised if LA-2 wound up being even more lopsided than that.)

If you want to prove we can prevail in the bluest seat in Louisiana and show the world that Obama doesn't have coattails, we need to be supporting guys like Joseph Cao.