…who needs Republicans?
Black voters in North Carolina have been getting mysterious robo-calls from a man calling himself “Lamont Williams.” The deadline for voting in Tuesday’s NC presidential primary has already come and gone, but the phone calls in question tell voters to wait for something to come in the mail and then, ”All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard.” Republicans have been trying to suppress votes in black neighborhoods since Richard Nixon came up with his “southern strategy” decades ago, if not longer.
Similar calls went out here in Virginia just before our presidential primary in February, and the Virginia State Police tracked it to a group calling itself Women’s Voices. Women Vote. So it comes as little surprise that this organization is behind the calls in North Carolina as well. But what’s really disappointing is that the head of this non-profit group has donated thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and John Podesta, President Clinton’s former chief of staff, sits on their board. (h/t Talking Points Memo)
Women’s Voices. Women Vote is dedicated to getting women to the polls on election day, yet they use a black man’s voice with a black man’s name in their robo calls. Meanwhile, their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, is running against…. a black man in Tuesday’s election. I’ll let you fill in the dots yourself. Listen to the call here
Yesterday Congressman Ben Chandler of Kentucky endorsed Barack Obama for President. Afterwards his office was bombarded with phone calls from constituents upset over this announcement, some of which his staff described as “racially insensitive.” Courier-Journal
A diarist at DailyKos is urging Obama supporters to call Chandler or donate money as a show of thanks and to counter these negative phone calls. I have a better idea. Why don’t Hillary Clinton supporters call Congressman Chandler and tell him that they disagree with his decision, but that bigots and bullys like these do not represent them.
Filed under: Local Politics, National Politics
