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の結果に関係なく ミネソタ州 再カウントプロセスとは、特別な選挙12月2日、民主党は今回の選挙は非常に成功している、特に最初のアフリカ系アメリカ人の選定は、大統領に選出した。 多くのアフリカ系アメリカ人の教会は、オバマ氏の勝利を記念して歌っている。

は、共和党の政治教会では、昔のクラシック曲詳細は、 "誰も知らない私は見たことがあるのトラブルのようですね。 "

多くの物事の投稿時に周りbantered選挙の分析は、ローカルの状態で、選挙の夜には連邦レベルの多くの共和党候補者の失敗されています。 定着するかどうかに関係なく、候補者や新興現職の政治家が、すべては、多額の損失が発生し、共和党が11月4日は全般的に、共和党の有権者集団起訴されたと述べている。 ...

With this legacy of failure looming post-election, many political pundits and Republican apologists have offered theories for the Republican meltdown as well as remedies for a Republican resurgence. Many correctly point to the economic crisis and the unpopularity of the current lame duck president George W. Bush as major factors in the undoing of the GOP in 2008. However, Republican leadership is explaining away its poor showing with other reasons as well.

Some are saying that the GOP must undergo a re-branding of the Republican Party brand because of the failures of Republican leaders after the "Contract with ", authored in initially after the mid-term election of 1994. Leaders such as Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), and others can be heard commenting that Republicans came to Washington, DC to change the way Washington operates, only to be changed themselves upon gaining power on Capitol Hill.

Others would validate this opinion by pointing to the growth of government under the Bush II Administration and the candidacy of a moderate-leaning presidential candidate in Senator John McCain. Having Bush and McCain as standard bearers of the party, many argue, betray the principles of the Republican Party and alienate the average American voter from GOP candidates.

In the mind of the average American, the current GOP brand has less to do with Republican principles than it does with current Republican way of life, which includes public mistrust, political scandal, and personal hypocrisy. A change from these ways, many would contend, would lead to a renewed embrace of the conservative party.

With that in mind, others would point to the rejection of several statewide propositions as proof that is still receptive to conservatism if only Republicans would collectively practice what they preach. With most politicos agreeing that America is still aligned with a center-right political identity, many argue that effective messaging of Republican themes would quickly close the gap of disconnect between American voters at all levels of government and Republican candidates. Republicans now look to the future, highlighting stars such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin , and US Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) as examples of worthy ambassadors of the GOP brand. Although many would clearly welcome a second coming of the Great Communicator, most would settle for a strong conservative within the Republican Party that can both "talk the talk" as well as "walk the walk."

That theory, although valid, also does not hold as much validity as one many think. Those that could easily handle the communicative mantle of GOP ambassador - including those such as Gov. Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee - did not measure to be conservative enough for those within the GOP's less-moderate factions of the party, thus hampering their ability to make a difference despite their overall appeal (especially Huckabee) to at large.

Both re-branding and re-messaging of the Republican Party is needed for the GOP to become more effective moving forward. However, if the GOP is serious about becoming a relevant option for a changing voter base in 21 ^st century , it will need to add another "RE" to its list to bring about RE surgence.

It will take recognizing that a renovation - most notably a renaissance - of the party must occur...and now.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency - and the apparent sweeping of several prominent Republicans along the way - was less of an indictment by non-traditional and new voters (the very ones that made the biggest impact on the election with their overall unanticipated involvement) of any political theory or messaging snafu. Instead, these voters found a comfort level within the dynamics of the Obama Wave due to its message and imagery of inclusion.

For all of the Republican rhetoric about less invasive government and more personal freedom, the GOP has become a political structure that exudes a sophomoric peer pressure to be homogenous in thought, look, and lifestyle to a level that often makes the Stepford Wives look like Girls Gone Wild. The lack of diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, and thought that most comment about concerning the Republicans makes the GOP an endangered species in an ever-changing America, one in which alternative lifestyles, non-traditional families, and hybrid cultural experiences are more the norm than the exception.

This failure to engage (even if not accepting) the dynamics of American social lifestyle - unknowingly or intentionally - leads the Republicans to ignore huge segments of our country, potential voters that may now be dedicated Democratic voters because of the Obama Phenomenon. If this trend continues, it will be hard for Republicans to win the White House within the near future while forfeiting California (55 electoral votes), New York (31), Michigan (17), Massachusetts (12), and even Illinois (21) because of its inability to solve its diversity deficiency and slide towards a Big Tent philosophy (even if it is not completely accepted.)

Giving up 136 electoral votes to your opponent every election makes it difficult on the path to 270 and presidential victory. Everything else would seem to need to be perfect, a trait that Republicans have certainly not been in recent times.

There are movements out there to uplift the Republican brand without changing the core values of the party. However, if the local, state, and federal party structures continue to practice a mantra that promotes the status quo, the GOP will either lose these activists and potential candidates or become fractionalized by them to a point where the party's current ineffectiveness will be increased further still.

Renaissances have been instrumental throughout history to allow people to promote new ideas for attaining current goals. If the Republican Party seeks to be relevant to this Republic post-2008, it must discover the ability to bake itself into the fabric of while developing bridges to new talent and new activists in areas that have been recently unexplored. Anything less decreases the chance of resurgence in the near future for the GOP, regardless of presidential or congressional performance.

Or, in other words, the political church of the GOP goes on preaching its gospel to an ever-decreasing choir.

____________________
Lenny McAllister is the Political Guru for Fox News - Charlotte and blogs the Republican side of politics for BlackVoices. He is a frequent contributor to The Charlotte Post and The North Carolina Conservative.

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Filed under: BlackSpin , News

Her deep and soulful voice became intertwined with the civil rights movement when she sang during the 1963 march on Washington.

Odetta died this week of a heart attack at the age of 77. She took her inspiration from blues, jazz and folk music and made a sound of her own.

Her first first solo album was called "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues" and Bob Dylan told Playboy magazine in 1978. "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta."

Wow. Now that's influence.

According to AP, Odetta Holmes, born in Birmingham, Alabama, on Dec. 31, 1930, told the Times in a 2007 interview that the music of the Great Depression, particularly the prison songs and work songs from the fields of the deep South, helped shape her musical life.


+ BV Community: Odetta Dies

Listen to Odetta sing 'Hit Or Miss' or watch more videos at Afrobella

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: BlackSpin , Elections , Barack Obama , Politics , News

There is only one person on the political right wing that seems to have made a bigger fool of himself in the last five years than Sarah Palin and that's conservative, uh -- well, I really don't know what the hell he does for a living -- Alan Keyes . Actually he was a US Ambassador under Reagan...big freakin' whoop.

Now, we've long known that Keyes is a staunch defender of what he calls traditional American Christian values. In fact, he is so far gone in his fixation on making America one big Father Knows Best marathon that he makes Pat Robertson look like Luther Campbell .

He was even made a boob of by comedian Sasha Baron Cohen in that fantastic movie of all things American Borat which was probably one of the best movies of the last 10 years simply because of its ability to clown people like Keyes.

But Keyes' latest foray into the absurd is his most stupid: a lawsuit claiming that President-Elect Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is thus ineligible to be president. ...



They've even verified that his birth certificate is an authentic document printed by the State of Hawaii. But that's not enough for Keyes, they've got to authenticate it not to the standards of the government of Hawaii, but to his standards: which basically means that Obama needs to turn into a neo-Nazi or skinhead.

Essence.com did an interview with him on this issue , and this guy makes it clear that he ain't wrapped too tight.

Actually, he reminds me of the classic Chappelle's Show skit where Dave portrayed a blind, black Klan member. That's probably one of his funniest, and most appropriate when it comes to describing fruitcakes like Keyes.



My thinking is that if there were some real question about the whereabouts of Obama's birth, other neo-con sleaze pimps who are way smarter than Keyes would have brought that out a long time ago. Now, Hawaii does not release birth certificates to anyone who does not have a vested interest in seeing it. But haters like Keyes and others, who have actually had their cases thrown out , have to have proof beyond legal documentation. But, there is none. The law is the end of the road, toad. Besides, this article from FactCheck.org pretty much shuts down any argument that Obama isn't a natural-born citizen of the United States. And don't s believe the crap about FactCheck being in Obama's pockets.

Here's the truth. On his way to the top, Obama encountered Alan Keyes while running for the US Senate seat in Illinois. The sitting Senator, Republican Jack Ryan was forced to leave office because of a freaky-deaky sex scandal and the GOP had nobody to replace him. Many names were put forth, even ex-Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka had been considered. But the Republicans pulled a precursor to the Palin move by getting ultra-conservative loser Keyes, a perpetual presidential candidate who keeps getting laughed out of the primaries. What's more, he didn't even live in Illinois, he came over from Maryland.

Obama, then an ambitious state senator, put his eye on the Senate seat and won it hands down over Keyes, who barely got a vote. In classic Keyes behavior, instead of acknowledging his defeat by Obama, Keyes wouldn't even call him to offer congratulations. At least John McCain was man enough (and classy enough) to reach across the bridge and admit he was bested by the better candidate.

I'm not going to say Alan Keyes ain't a man, but after a move like that he is most certainly a wimp.

His insane jealousy of Obama has actually made him famous for being the hater that he is and now he feels that somehow the Supreme Court will listen to his drivel before the Jan. 20 inauguration. Nothing is impossible, but baby it's a long shot.

Now, I'm sure after Keyes is once again laughed into obscurity, he'll pop up again giving new life to his flavor of haterade. Others will join him, and frankly people in high positions have to deal with haters as well as supporters, it's all par for the course.

But I do hope people will listen to legitimate scrutiny of Obama's job in the Oval Office rather than people who keep proving they couldn't solve the Soul Train Scramble Board .

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: BlackSpin , Elections , Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Politics , News

Word is, President-Elect Barack Obama will make a formal offer to Hillary Clinton to be our next Secretary of State .

According to AP , the nomination's going to come after Thanksgiving. Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported that Clinton plans to quit her Senate seat and accept the cabinet position, according to unnamed sources.

More in BV News
What do you think? Vote and comment below.

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Filed under: BlackSpin , Power List

From form er Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to media mogul Damon Dash, a host of celebrities, athletes and politicians have found themselves knocked down from the height of fame and fortune to the poverty and obscurity in their fields over the last two years of economic decline.

What is the cause of their mighty fall? Many different things, but their career downturns have created a media frenzy for stories about celebrities who are now penniless.

BV takes a look the once rich and famous who are now almost poor and shameless.

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Filed under: BlackSpin

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill, BlackVoices.com


MTV/Maverick Films

I came onto the whole 'Twilight' vampire craze rather late in the game. As a black woman in her thirties, I am not in the target audience for this mega-smash-hit, which was intended for the young adult audience. But personal experiences aside, objective observation attests to the fact that millions of teens, women and men of all races have read 'Twilight,' and fallen in love with Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Despite its intended demographic, I personally have met people of all kinds who enjoy the sweet love story and engaging horror-action of the novel 'Twilight' deeply and intensely.




But books are one thing, and movies another. Movies are engineered for mass appeal and maximum ticket sales. The main characters of 'Twilight' are all lily white, which is a problem, and I don't mean that as a pc judgment. Literally, every main interaction in the book occurs between white characters. This has certainly not hurt book sales, as the enduring experience of true romance is universal. But this is exactly the kind of one-sided on-screen representation that would have audiences outside of the rabid 'Twilight' fan base fuming.

As the point of the movie is in part to lure additional audiences into the 'Twilight' fray, the film has become an opportunity for the franchise owners to put a needed touch of diversity into this already successful mix. In a stroke of what could be marketing genius, a minor character, Laurent the Vampire, is being played by black actor Edi Gathegi. Is this a token gesture to appease the "of color" community? I shake my head and suppose it is so, although there is no way to read a Hollywood executive's mind.



A fairly seasoned actor with a string of TV and movie credits, Gathegi takes on the role of Laurent, who comes in rather late in 'Twilight,' displaying some sexy skin in a leather jacket, no shirt. The vampire in the novel is only described as French with an olive complexion. But "black" Laurent for the movie has huge dreadlocks, and is featured rather prominently on some versions of the movie posters, hopefully giving this tokenized actor some major shine.

As an avid lover of all four books in the 'Twilight' saga, I find this move on the part of the movie producers rather insulting and a little unnecessary. Pandering to the "of color" population in this way feels similar to the way McCain pandered to women by adding Palin to his ticket. It's a "nice," yet ultimately shallow and insulting gesture. I know everything in a movie version of a book cannot remain exactly the same, but this little alteration seems like a rather silly thing to have changed for minimal benefit. But then again, I think the casting for Eward and Bella sucks, too, and I am clearly in the minority.

Are you planning to see 'Twilight' the movie? Do you love the book as much as I do? Leave your thoughts below.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: BlackSpin , Barack Obama , News

Whodini once said that "the freaks come out at night." But in the case of President-elect Obama's cabinet picks, they'll probably be out closer to noon every day.

Case in point: on Tuesday news outlets reported that Washington lawyer and former deputy Attorney General in the Clinton administration Eric Holder would be Obama's choice for Attorney General when he takes office in January and the nation's first African-American to hold the spot.


Now, of course Holder should be held to proper scrutiny and vetting and the media should do its due diligence when looking this guy over. But it didn't take an entire day before conservatives (whom I thought were supposed to be regrouping after they got their gnads handed to them on election day) decided to blast the cybersphere with all sorts of distraction about Holder.

I can hardly wait until Matt Drudge goes on the attack. ...


During his time in the Clinton White House only two controversies attached themselves to Holder, the first when he was originally appointed had to do with his opposition to the death penalty. Despite his opposition, he pledged to uphold the law as it concerned the issue, which he did.

The second was during the closing days of Clinton's tenure when the president pardoned Marc Rich, a commodities trader and Democratic contributor who fled the United States while being prosecuted for tax evasion and illegal oil deals with Iran. Clinton pardoned him on his last day in office in 2001.

Holder came into the picture when Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn phoned Holder trying to test the possibility of getting a pardon. Later, he arranged a call between the White House and Holder asking for his opinion of the matter, which was neutral but leaned toward support of Clinton granting the pardon -- although the decision ultimately lay with the president.

In later testimony, Holder said that he was neutral in the matter, but the then Republican-led House of Representatives which was reviewing dozens of Clinton pardons had an influence on Rich's pardon. But that was it, he was not reprimanded or punished by any law enforcement agency or governmental entity. He instead went into private practice.

Now, all this makes me wonder why conservatives couldn't give the same scrutiny to disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was alleged to have perjured himself before a Congressional hearing and wound up resigning in 2007 over the mess he made in the Justice Department after seven US attorneys were fired for no reason. This controversy was the beginning of several including his gross misinterpretation of the constitutional writ of habeas corpus and the National Security Administration's eavesdropping controversy.

Perhaps the standards by which someone can screw up the most airtight legal organization in the world should be what we measure any new Attorney General nominees. Or maybe it's the opposite: maybe conservatives can let the vetting and selection process go through and then allow him to perform before he gets chided.

Rest assured, this is only the beginning.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: BlackSpin , Elections , News , Life and Style

秒 ince election night a few weeks ago, the passing of Proposition 8 in California--legislation that bans gay marriage--has become a hot-button issue among blacks, whites, Hispanics, etc... The reason: many Americans believe that freedom for all means the ability to marriage whoever you love, regardless of the gender. Others disagree.

Where do you stand?

Simply put, Black Voices wants to know if you are for or against gay marriage.

Let us hear your voices. Please take the time to vote in our polls and then let your voice be heard in the comment box below or continue the discussion in our message boards .