Planetarium - politics/music/culture/smarts

Okay, so the man has been sounding great lately, if you actually hear any of his speeches or appearances. But of course you'd never know this if you watch/read the news. So why doesn't he grab some good-for-him, bad-for-them headlines by making some good political hay out of the anti-black-vote initiative Republicans are cooking up? Answer: they're still dumb. Very, very dumb.

From a recent MoveOn press release:

Last month John Pappageorge, a Republican state representative in Michigan, told a journalist that the Republicans would do poorly if they failed to “suppress the Detroit vote.” Detroit, of course, is 83% black.[1]

Democratic officials expressed their outrage, and Pappageorge eventually apologized for his words, but his statement spoke to a bigger truth: Republicans continue to actively suppress black and minority votes in order to win elections through intimidation, misinformation, and tampering with voter rolls and records. In 2000, the black voters who were not allowed to vote would have almost certainly swung the election in Al Gore’s favor. And the practice continues: a recent report from the NAACP and the People for the American Way Foundation documents suppression tactics in use right now.[2]

The Republican Party's continued silence is shameful. We’re joining with Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP*, Reverend Jesse Jackson, President of the Rainbow/Push Coalition*, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others to demand that the Republican Party abandon these racist, unfair, and undemocratic tactics and condemn anyone in their ranks who uses them. Please join us by signing the petition below.

So learn more (or sign the petition), hit up MoveOn.org. Now, if they would just stop having quite so many damn emails sent to us...