By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 7:22 AM
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE Labels: Exclusive, U.S._Senate_Race
Before retiring in 2002, J.C. Watts was the lone black Republican in Congress, the first elected from a southern state in over 120 years. Today he is a businessman and ordained minister in his home state of Oklahoma and a talking head on cable news.
Yesterday Watts was in St. Louis to speak to a group of local black business, religous and civic leaders. He also spoke with PUB DEF about his friend, Sen. Jim Talent ("He listens to hear, not to respond."), and the anti-incumbent sentiment of voters across the nation ("If you find yourself in a ditch, you probably dug it.").
2 Comments:
JC Watts. As an Oklahoman he is someone I know of quite well. He played football while one of my older brothers attended OU and began his religous career while I was in college at OU. He was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission just after I moved to St. Louis.
Watts is very intelligent and articulate, traits not found in all athletes. Just like everyone from St. Louis seems to be Catholic, everyone from Oklahoma seems to be Southern Baptist. This is where things get interesting. The white Southern Baptists, I'd say, are not the most welcoming of other races. Yet, an articulate and popular conservative that just happens to be black and you've got a winning combination in a state like Oklahoma.
Democrats, in my view, have taken the black vote for granted for far too long. Very conservative republicans have come along and are speaking to values that are resonating with more and more blacks of various economic backgrounds. The middle and upper income blacks like the fiscal message while lower income blacks may like the connection to the church. Democrats, however, rely on food stamps and other social programing to attempt to keep their black voting base.
JC Watts is a trojan horse in the right-wing conservative movement. He is no Colin Powel.
9/26/2006 10:40 AM
It's hard out here for a pimp, err, Black Republican.
9/26/2006 12:57 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home