CONSERVATIVE AFRICAN AMERICANS?

What the Democrats have long feared is coming to pass.

According to a poll, African Americans are willing to support a conservative African American candidate.

These citizens have broken ranks and asserted their independence from the Dems.

Matthew Mosk of The Washington Post delivers the news that is sure to send the Dems into a panic.

An internal document prepared by a top Democratic strategist warns that a majority of African American voters in Maryland are open to supporting Republican Senate candidate Michael S. Steele and advises the party not to wait to "knock Steele down."

The 37-page report says a sizable segment of likely black voters -- as much as 44 percent -- would readily abandon their historic Democratic allegiances "after hearing Steele's messaging."

"Governor Ehrlich and [Lt. Gov.] Michael Steele have a clear ability to break through the Democratic stronghold among African American voters in Maryland," says the March 27 report by Cornell Belcher, polling consultant for the Democratic National Committee, which bases its findings on a survey of 489 black voters in Maryland conducted last month.

The report, given to The Washington Post this week, drills into a topic that has emerged as a key focus of this year's U.S. Senate contest in Maryland: race.

Imagine.

African American voters are open to voting for a conservative!

The point of the Dems' 37-page report: Be worried. Be very worried.

Did it ever occur to the Dems that if they want to count on the votes of African Americans, they need to offer them ideas that produce positive RESULTS for the community?

Obviously, when it come to the African American community, the Dems' have a record of broken promises a mile long. The Dems have shown themselves to be ineffectual.

...In an interview in his State House office yesterday, Steele clutched the DNC report like a football coach who just got his hands on the opposing team's playbook. He said a copy "landed on our doorstep" in the past week.

"This explains everything," he said. "They're afraid of what I represent. They're afraid of the fact that African American voters have options, and I'm one of them."

Steele focused on two aspects of the document: the finding that a high percentage of black voters have connected with his message and the recommendation that the Democrats attack him early.

"Voters need to know they're trying to make me into something I'm not," Steele said.

Drudge has a copy of the summary of the Dems' "strategery" to deal with African Americans that are choosing to support Republicans.

Here.

I can't imagine the Dems becoming even tougher on Steele. Their attacks have already been so extreme that they've acted illegally and unethically.

As part of the Dems' opposition research, staffer Lauren B. Weiner on Chuck Schumer's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has illegally used Steele's Social Security number to access his credit report and personal financial records.

Weiner committed computer fraud by setting up a fake email account and answering a series of questions to impersonate Steele, all to obtain his financial information in hopes of uncovering some dirt the Dems could use against him.

Back in November, The Washington Times revealed some extremely disturbing instances of bigotry and harassment by the Democrats directed at Steele. Even worse, the Dems rationalize their inexcusable behavior as appropriate.

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks
against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

...State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

"Party trumps race, especially on the national level," she said. "If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It's democracy, perhaps at its worse, but it is democracy."

Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.

The Dems' plan to manage the Steele problem states:

• Democrats must be aggressive. Steele is a unique challenge. Democrats cannot affort to wait until after the primary election to knock Steele down. A persuasive campaign should start as soon as possible to discredit Steele as a viable candidate for the community.
• 
  Connecting Steele to National Republicans, especially on issues such as Medicare reform and Social Security privitization, can turn Steele into a typical Republican in the eyes of voters, as opposed to an African American candidate.

How much more aggressive can the Dems get?

They've broken the law by impersonating Steele on the Internet, and illegally obtained his financial records.

They've used the "Uncle Tom" epithet and pelted Steele with Oreos and depicted him in black-face.





I hope that ALL Americans think for themselves when it comes to voting, and are not swayed by labels.

Why would anyone cast a vote based on some traditional voting habits?

I don't get that. That's not really exercising one's right to vote.

Being pressured to follow the crowd or the expectations of one's community is a form of disenfranchisement.

It's un-American.