But if they present it like “Obviously conservatives don’t care a lick, and even if they say they do they’re lying”, then that offends me (see a recent post here at TMV on the topic, and that’s exactly how the author presented it).

So what I’m saying is that there’s some leeway IMO on presenting what we think are the motivations of “the other side” as long as we aren’t stating them as foregone conclusions. I can say, for example, that I feel that some Democrats don’t pay enough attention to the costs of programs and aren’t always considering that once programs are begun or expanded, they tend to take on a life of their own- and that bureaucracies are loaded with inefficiency so that in the end this costs a lot and doesn’t necessarily solve the problems the way people think they will. That’s a lot different then saying “evil big government democrats just want to put everyone on the dole because they’re lazy and don’t want to work for a living”.

But, I’ve strictly seen this in the comments, not in the posts.

Who has said that (particularly, where have you seen a mulititude of comments like that which would lead to your being sick of reading them?)

For one thing, you can’t blame an entire party for the views/comments of a few people in that party.

Second, not being politically in tune with the views held by many African-Americans is hardly the same as “[likeing] nothing more than to ship you off to Jena, Louisiana.”

Thirdly, being opposed to illegal immigration is hardly the same thing as “[liking] nothing more than to ship you off to Mexico or wherever the heck you came from.” I happen to be Hispanic, and I can tell you that such a fear has never crossed my mind.

I think we really ought to refrain from injecting race and ethnicity into politics when it isn’t necessary. I think the current slate of GOP candidates (with the possible exception of Ron Paul) is extremely disappointing. But accusing them of racism doesn’t contribute to the debate. In fact, I think it lessens it.

Shaun, you’re at you’re best when you criticize the hypocrisy and abuse of power by the current administration. Trashing the entire GOP gets old.

Another way to look at the issue is why should the Republican more efforts into attracting blacks voters when black politicians but zero effort into trying to attract white voters.

Are they trying to win elections or playing tit for tat? This is exactly the kind of thinking that is causing the decline of the Republican Party. I disagree with the Bush administration on just about everything, but Rove’s election strategy, expanding the base of the party, while dividing Americans on wedge issues, was simply a great success. Unfortunately, Bush brought him into the WH, where this strategy continued to divide the country. For the GOP to continue to thrive, it needs to find the unity that we had after 9/11, and focus on our commonality, not our differences.

We need to apply the same standards across the board to be fair. Not a single media source on the right pointed out that Jefferson had not been indicted or convicted at election time. They just threw Jefferson back in the Democrats’ faces to counter their claims of Republican corruption. Maybe innocent until proven guilty should be the standard here. If so, only Craig is guilty, and even he’s pulling strings to erase his plea, lol! Will the party still kick him to the curb???

Black politicians never feel compelled to moderate their message to appeal to whites. Black politicians would never appear at the NRA, the Club for Growth, or in front of Mormoms.

Just like the rest of set asides, quotas, and Affirmative Action, blacks are just demanding that whites act in a way that they would never do themselves.

Oh you have to be kidding me. It wasn’t the left that suggested we let terrorists blow up San Francisco because they banned handguns, or gays and atheists that said christians brought 9/11 upon us, or that we conquer the middle east and convert them all to christianity, refer to all democrats as traitors, or want science to not conflict with the bible.

You want intolerance and groupthink you turn on the 700 club and watch good ole Pat stir the pot. Or go youtube a Bob Jones University commencement or three, maybe read some columns by Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. We are talking big names here, players. Who are you referring to? Some no name group of college kids? ELF? Perhaps some overblown douchebag like Chomsky whose writings make nice juicy excepts for those on the right to pull out and tar everyone left of middle with? Thats about extent of his political contributions to America.

Face it, the guys you are referring to are fringe elements of the left, while those who we have problems with on the right are mainstream big time influences you can see on TV almost every day.

I’m still sick that some black Democrats called former president Bill Clinton “the first black president”. Yuck!

Sam, as DLS has pointed out, you can’t seriously contend — as you do, by implication, in saying that the “mentality of Us/Them dominates the right and is one reason I find myself leaning more left as I get older” — that the us against them mentality doesn’t dominate on the left today. A random sampling of left-leaning blogs on an average day would easily rebut such a claim.

They should attend- if only for appearances sake. To do otherwise is to create the impression that they only care about the Christian white vote that forms their base.

K, this has never, repeat never, been true. The Religious Right is not the sole constituent of the GOP’s “base,” just a handy object of hype and hatred by the Left, one of their, if not their greatest, demons.

That it’s the party seen primarily as that of middle-aged and older, tending to be more affluent, white males is a much more realistic and honest depiction.

Small government message does not play with blacks or Hispanics.

Nor for the many others in the USA who see government as a service agency and surrogate parent rather than as a government, and value first and foremost entitlements. The GOP is seen first and foremost as a threat to current and future (more) entitlements.

“Why should GOP candidates attend the equivalent of an ACLU convention?”

Because thats how you win people over.

Not when they have pre-concluded they should not, probably never, be won over, and will simply use the appearance as an excuse to attack, not to learn.

Again, not to put too fine a point on it but that entire mentality of Us/Them dominates the right and is one reason I find myself leaning more left as I get older.

The Left is far worse than it, complete with group-think, enforced conformity, and PC suppression of dissent, not to mention a more irrational, frequently vicious, reason-less and even cultlike behavior than any stereotype it dares fling at the Religious Right. I needn’t add that they demonize those different from them and consider some of their own celebrity few to be saints, but I shall.

The right simply doesn’t want to negotiate or try to understand those who differ with them.

More true about the Left than about the Right, and has been true since the 1960s, if anything worse now. The Right, on the other hand, remains often on the defensive (particularly when subject to constant attacks by the media and from those in academia and in government).

Some in the GOP do, and usually get labeled RINO’s for their efforts.

No, RINOs are named for their words and deeds, behavior that is non-conservative (or non-partisan Republican), not for trying to understand the other side. Aiding if not joining the other side is more like it.

Its time the right start admitting maybe they should find some common ground if they want to lead the entire US, not just white christians.

As in 2000, 2002, and 2004? That stereotype has always been false.

Because thats how you win people over. Again, not to put too fine a point on it but that entire mentality of Us/Them dominates the right and is one reason I find myself leaning more left as I get older. The right simply doesn’t want to negotiate or try to understand those who differ with them. Some in the GOP do, and usually get labeled RINO’s for their efforts. Its time the right start admitting maybe they should find some common ground if they want to lead the entire US, not just white christians.

Schwarzenegger may not have done that much better than Bush, but Bush wouldn’t have won either time if he hadn’t gotten at least some of the Hispanic vote.

I doubt that the Republicans can find many candidates who have been in the movies and have sold DVD’s that are owned by large portions of the black and Hispanic population. If you look at black and Hispanic women, the Governor did not do any better than Bush.