DNC Wrap-Up: 'Breathe. Reflect. Remember.'

"Why must a vision of a post-racial America be devoid of ordinary black Americans? Why must the story of their struggle be silenced?" Author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin helps bring our coverage of the Democratic National Convention to a close.

Come back to News & Views for status updates on the Republican National Convention from Farai Chideya.

Beyond the speech and the spectacle, the celebration and the euphoria, let us stop. Breathe. Reflect upon the magnitude of the moment. Remember the history, the struggles and the lives that brought us to this time.

Barack Obama's glorious night at Invesco Field is not the culmination of our struggle. It is but a stop on the journey. Senator Obama ended his address with a reference to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech." In so doing, he placed his candidacy and presidency at the end of a continuum beginning with Dr. King and the Civil Rights struggle of the late fifties and early sixties.

It was a triumphant narrative, told by a man who aspires to lead the most powerful country on the face of the earth. Dr. King's speech was a jeremiad --- an indictment of America. He addressed the ways the United States strayed from her democratic ideals and focused on the nation's darker children, the descendants of enslaved Africans. He insisted that the dream would be fulfilled only when they and other disenfranchised people had full, unfettered access to the promises of American democracy and to the opportunities that would ensure them access to the American Dream. Only then would America inch closer to the fulfillment of its own promise.

The very image of Barack Obama, his statesman-like manner, his ownership of America and his confidence that he has a right to lead this nation certainly point to the fulfillment of one aspect of Dr. King's dream. And yet much about the night suggests that we still have a distance to travel. Senator Obama acknowledged some of the work that awaits us.

The touching and appropriate presence of Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized how far we have traveled since Dr. King's speech and reminded us that there is still much to be done. And yet, in spite of their presence, there were some glaring absences as well: In the extraordinary parade of ordinary Americans who provided testimony to the way the Bush administration has failed them and who asserted their support for Senator Obama, there was not one African American.

In the inspiring video that preceded his speech there were very, very few black people. And in his speech he made little if any mention of the very specific black freedom struggle that ushered him to this moment, nor did he name the man whose vision he was honoring.

I fully support the candidacy of Barack Obama. I was thrilled to have shared his triumphant acceptance of the Democratic nomination with almost 85,000 others. But I still have to ask, "Why must a vision of a post-racial America be devoid of ordinary black Americans? Why must the story of their struggle be silenced?" Of course, others have struggled and suffered in the United States, but Senator Obama occupies the national stage as the result of the very specific and particular struggle of black people.

I want to close the week of blog posts about this historic 2008 Democratic Convention by naming a small number of those whose legacies and lives brought us here: Phyliss Wheatley, David Walker, Maria Stewart, Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland Garnet, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Martin Delaney, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, black Union Soldiers, Northern Yankee teachers, progressive Reconstruction politicians, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Marcus Garvey, the NAACP, the Urban League, the Pullman Car Porters, Langston Hughes, Adam Clayton Powell, Mary McCleod Bethune, A. Phillip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, the Tuskegee Airmen, Ella Baker, Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, the Montgomery Improvement Association, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, the Deacons for Defense and Justice, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, James Baldwin, Diane Nash, Toni Cade Bambara, Shirley Chisolm ... and the Many Thousands Gone.

This triumph is as much theirs as it is our own.

-- Farah Jasmine Griffin

Geoffrey Bennett

6:35 PM ET | 08-31-2008 | permalink

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Social Networking Site for NOLA/Gustav

Gustav and New(s) Orleans on Ning: Sent by one of our bloggers' roundtable participants Chris Rabb, of Afronetizen.

Worth checking out. A portal to citizen journalism about the storm, etc.

Farai Chideya

5:12 PM ET | 08-31-2008 | permalink

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McCain Shutters RNC For Monday ... And More?

Arizona Sen. John McCain speaks at a press conference after visiting the command center at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency for an update on Hurricane Gustav on Sunday.

Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images

So:

We just finished watching a briefing by Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

He said, in essence, that the convention is postponed for all intents and purposes, and chose to speak from a non-partisan point of view. One casual observer of the speech said, in essence, that McCain's approach to turning this into a rescue event rather than a rally was the most brilliant political move he could make.

But let's back up. This is a time when history meets history. This Republican Convention has now met, literally, the perfect storm.

When Senator McCain spoke, he laid out a plan where the number one priority of the party was to meet this "great national challenge and disaster." He added: "I have every expectation that we will not see the mistakes of Katrina repeated," which could be taken as a backhanded reference to the Bush Administration's response.

Also he said, "This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and act as Americans."

The RNC chair Mike Duncan expanded on his remarks.

More soon ...

Farai Chideya

4:44 PM ET | 08-31-2008 | permalink

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Confirmed: President Skips GOP Convention

A black-biracial Senator from Illinois runs for President. He's only the second black U.S. Senator since reconstruction. His absent father was African and mother was white American. He gets the Democratic presidential nomination and beating a white woman who is the nation's former First Lady. He then teams up with a longtime Senator whose first wife and baby daughter died in a brutal car accident before he was sworn in for his first Senate term.

This Democratic team is battling a former Vietnam veteran who was brutally tortured by his captors, and then went on to marry a multi-millionare heiress and become a Senator, not in that order. The Senator from Arizona teams up with the Republican party's first female vice presidential nominee, a former beauty queen and former small-town mayor with five children. She is now the Governor of Alaska; her husband is part Eskimo.

You couldn't make this up.

Neither could you make up the tragic fact that New Orleaneans and other members of Gulf states are once again fleeing in the face of a massive storm.

This time the exit from New Orleans is much more orderly and reflects the needs of people with cars. There are plenty of buses exiting the city at the moment, and even places that people can drop off their pets for transport. Some high tech approaches failed, notably a system that would have electronically "tagged" each person so that they could be located by family members. (I don't think that tagging involved crunching a tag into people's ears a la a wildlife show. At least hope not.)

The hurricane right now is heading in somewhere west of New Orleans, but could still move East.

Many of the delegates from the Gulf States are headed home. President Bush and Vice President Cheney are skipping the conventions. President Bush is headed to Texas.

The RNC is going to have a press conference soon about their plans... they may do volunteerism and phone banks to help the Gulf. Wonder if the Dems will follow suit, in terms of volunteerism.

More details when we know them...

Farai Chideya

12:51 PM ET | 08-31-2008 | permalink

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NOLA Evacuates/RepCon Cancelled?

Associated Press

After what some people are calling the most compelling political convention in decades -- and others deriding as the "coronation" of Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President -- the Republicans could be canceling their convention. At least that's a possible scenario according to an advanced news report of a Fox News interview with Senator John McCain.

The website Politico.com is running a story that quotes an interview with Senator McCain which taped on Saturday to air on Sunday. The Politico article reads:

"It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster," McCain told Chris Wallace of "Fox News Sunday" in an interview taped for Sunday. "So we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers, too."

According to that and other news reports, President Bush and Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal, both scheduled speakers at the convention, may pull out: Jindal for the obvious reason that he is governor of the state about to be hit by the storm; President Bush because, as the Politico article puts it:

The government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina still stings, and Republicans said they doubt the president would come to a political bash if New Orleans were facing a threat.

Now, after that article was written--and after the interview was reportedly taped--Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Crescent City. An Associated Press article reads in part:

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans on Saturday, directing residents of a city still recovering from the devastation left behind three years ago from Hurricane Katrina to flee from the approaching Hurricane Gustav.

Nagin said an informal evacuation that has taken place for days becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. Sunday on the city's west bank. It becomes mandatory on the east bank at noon.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million residents fled the Gulf Coast Saturday -- ahead of the official order to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana.

Residents took to buses, trains, planes and cars -- clogging roadways leading away from New Orleans, still reeling three years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and killed about 1,600 across the region.

Gustav had already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean, and if current forecasts hold up, it would make landfall Monday afternoon somewhere between the northeast corner of Texas and western Mississippi.

Forecasters warned it was still too soon to say whether New Orleans would take another direct hit, but residents weren't taking any chances judging by the bumper-to-bumper traffic pouring from the city. Gas stations along interstate highways were running out of fuel, and phone circuits were jammed.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said they were surprised at how quickly Gustav gained strength as it slammed into Cuba's tobacco-growing western tip as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane Saturday. It went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in about 24 hours, and was likely to become a Category 5 -- with sustained winds of 156 mph or more -- by Sunday.

We'll continue to monitor and keep you informed.

Farai Chideya

11:03 PM ET | 08-30-2008 | permalink

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Black vs. Woman / Black + Woman

The selection of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee unquestionably broke new ground. Barring some very unforeseen circumstances, America will either have its first black president or its first female vice president.

I took a plane yesterday directly from Denver, site of the Democratic Convention; to Minneapolis, whose twin city St. Paul is hosting the Republican Convention. Almost everyone on the flight was a working journalist. There were people speaking in half a dozen languages, reporters who'd converged on the American political conventions from all over the world.

They thought they had a big show. Well, now they have a REALLY, REALLY big show.

One question bound to emerge over the coming week is: is this election black vs. woman? ... that is, will people who want a race or gender "first" battle it out (as they arguably did during the Democratic Obama vs. Clinton bout). Or, through a different lens, could this race be black + woman? No matter who wins, there have already been historic firsts during this race, namely the first black Democratic presidential nominee; the first female Republican vice presidential nominee. This is already a double-barreled shot into the heart of politics and the history books. Regardless of the winner, could it be a positive? Could this election re-shape America's attitude towards race, gender, and achievement?

Well, we've got ten weeks until the election, and much more time to figure out how it's molding America. Our debate over race, gender, politics and achievement has been going on for hundreds of years in America. I for one am very curious how this changes the game.

Speaking of the game ... Alaskan Republicans picked Mitt Romney during their caucuses. Second up was Mike Huckabee. As we dig into the Republican convention, we'll see if we can get some black Alaskans to weigh in on their governor as the news unfolds.

Yes, there are black Alaskans. Here's a commentary from a few years ago where I reference a trip to Alaska and the black folks I met there.

Farai Chideya

10:40 PM ET | 08-30-2008 | permalink

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McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin As VP

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin photographed at the National Press Club on February 26, 2008 in Washington, D.C.

Win McNamee, Getty Images

From NPR's Deborah Tedford: "Republican Sen. John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, a move that brings youth and a staunch abortion opponent to the GOP ticket.

McCain's campaign made the announcement Friday morning in advance of a noon rally in Dayton, Ohio, where the two appeared together.

The campaign's statement touted Palin as a maverick who has challenged the influence of Big Oil and used her veto power to cut budgetary spending." Read the rest, and share your thoughts. We'll offer analysis of McCain's VP pick on today's show.

Related: Obama Picks Biden For Vice President

Geoffrey Bennett

12:32 PM ET | 08-29-2008 | permalink

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DNC Wrap-Up: 'Proud To Be An American'

"It meant a lot to me to see our nation take this great stride," writes guest blogger Princella Smith about Sen. Barack Obama's nomination. Smith serves as Chief Advocate for the Platform of the American People at American Solutions, an organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. We wrap up our coverage of the DNC, first, with Smith's reaction. We'll turn later to Farah Griffin's response.

"Tomorrow, we'll be back at it, but tonight Senator, job well done." Sen. John McCain said these words in a very classy ad he released today.

Instead of continuing with politics as usual, he paused to recognize the historic moment that unfolded before America's eyes on Thursday night. It is finally official: An African American (part-white and all) accepted the nomination of a major party as its candidate for President of the United States.

Putting ideology aside, I have to say that as an American first and then as an African American, it meant a lot to me to see our nation take this great stride. What happened Thursday night was bigger than either political party. Our nation -- at least, in part -- was able to take one step closer to not only Dr. King's dream, but the dreams of many who worked, went to jail, and even died for such a time in America.

Does this mean that all of a sudden racism and prejudice are gone? Does this mean that "all African-Americans should just forget about the past, now?" Absolutely not, and I hate it when people say either of these things, but it does mean that as a country we are preparing to put our dark past behind us and encourage the growth of a nation where young people like my two young brothers can grow up in a country where it is not such a big deal or abnormality to run for president as a minority and actually win the nomination of your party. When people say African Americans should just "forget about the past," I ask them: "Do we tell World War II vets to just forget about the war?"

Observation

On a political standpoint, I would like to note that it was the first time that I saw Obama take attack after attack and answer them. He's been accused of a lack of heft and substance in his speeches beyond soaring rhetoric, and tonight, he went after McCain. The question is whether or not America will agree with him. After getting past the historic night, America will truly have to see. This piece was written as an acknowledgment of history without regard to specific party ideology, but I encourage everyone to vote with reason and not emotion. Make the best choice based on the issues.

-- Princella Smith

Geoffrey Bennett

11:16 AM ET | 08-29-2008 | permalink

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What Did You Think Of Obama's DNC Speech?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addresses the audience at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand, AFP/ Getty Images

Sen. Barack Obama stepped into the history books last night, accepting his party's nomination for the presidency.

Writes the New York Times: "On Thursday night, the speechmaker showed, in words, that he was also a man of experience, and a man who wanted to give something back to the people who gave it to him."

Watch his full speech -- along with a transcript, and share your thoughts.

Geoffrey Bennett

11:00 AM ET | 08-29-2008 | permalink

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Open Thread: Obama Addresses DNC, Nation

Right now, I am still sitting in the NPR skybox at the Invesco Field, where minutes ago Senator Barack Obama finished his speech to 70-plus thousand people. The stagecraft was amazing, but it was also, and more importantly, a moment of syncretic convergence of the issues of politics and race.

Today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech from the March on Washington. That occurred just a year after Barack Obama's birth.

This week, some people have said that the Obama campaign downplayed race. But the coup de grace of Obama's speech referenced the words and intent of so many powerful black speeches and writings.

Here are a few that come to mind ...

*** "On Double Consciousness" by W. E. B. DuBois, excerpted from the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" in his book The Souls of Black Folk:

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, -- an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, -- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self."

*** "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

*** "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" -- Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Farai Chideya

7:14 PM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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Denver: It's a Riot! (Almost)

Farai Chideya, NPR

Okay, I'm officially in No-Sleep-Til-Brooklyn (or St. Paul) mode. Tomorrow, we head to Minnesota for the Republican Convention. Tonight is the big speech. And yesterday, there was ... a non-riot.

What I mean by that was that a bunch of protesters from a Rage Against the Machine concert/anti-war protest almost clashed with police. Almost.

I was there just inside the security perimeter when more SWAT team-ers than I have ever seen in my life started pushing back the crowds. I expected a riot. But there was none. The protesters turned away.

The security here is unbelievable. ... I expect more at tonight's speech.

Farai Chideya

3:57 PM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 4: Remembering Fannie Lou Hamer

"Conventional Wisdom" brings you perspectives from both sides of the aisle. When author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin watched as Barack Obama won the presidential nomination of his party, she writes, "I wondered what [Fannie Lou Hamer] would have thought about this night."

Last night, the Democratic Party showcased its best. The Big Three -- Kerry, Clinton and Biden -- reminded Democratic voters and all Americans of the stark differences between Democrats and Republicans, between Obama and McCain.

John Kerry delivered what may be the best speech of his career. We expected Clinton to bring brilliance, passion and clarity, but Kerry demonstrated a side of himself we needed to have seen more of during his campaign. And Biden, while not as eloquent as either Clinton or Kerry, brought just the right balance of intelligence and toughness. They defined McCain. They painstakingly described the nation's current difficulties at home and abroad. They reminded us of the stark differences between Republican and Democratic conceptions of and visions for America. And they affirmed and legitimated Barack Obama as the man most capable of leading this country at this moment. More importantly, they told the American people that they were willing to stand behind him, work with him and follow his leadership.

Throughout the evening, I kept thinking about Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker. Especially Mrs. Hamer; she wouldn't leave me. My mind's eye focused on her at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. A sharecropper turned civil-rights activist, Mrs. Hamer attended the convention as Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (The Freedom Democrats), which had been organized to challenge Mississippi's all-white, segregationist delegation to the convention. The white southern delegation threatened that if the Mississippi Freedom Party was seated, it would not to nominate Lyndon Johnson nor give him their electoral votes.

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's alternate delegation had 64 black and four white delegates. National media coverage of Hamer's testimony to the credentials committee, regarding the violence and discrimination blacks faced when trying to register and vote, garnered support for her efforts from the American people. Eager to shut her up, Lyndon Johnson (who referred to her as "that illiterate woman"), sent a delegation, including Hubert Humphrey, to negotiate with the MFDP. They offered the Freedom Party two seats at the convention and Humphrey encouraged her to accept the concession because his vice presidential nomination was at stake.

Martin Luther King did endorse the compromise. But Fannie Lou Hamer asked Humphrey: "Do you mean to tell me that your position is more important than 400,000 black people's lives?" Ultimately, Mrs. Hamer and the MFDP rejected the compromise and were not seated. But as the result of the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democrats that summer night in Atlantic City, just a year later, President Johnson signed the federal Voting Rights Act. In 1968, the Democratic Party began to demand equality of representation from all delegations.

Last night, as I listened to the soaring rhetoric and watched the waving flags, I also saw Mrs. Hamer standing outside the Convention Hall that summer night. I heard her say: "If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America: Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings -- in America?"

I wondered what she would have thought about this night when the party that refused to seat her delegation nominated an African-American man as its candidate for the presidency of the United States of America.

Would she have looked at the truly diverse delegates from all over the country and seen the successful culmination of what she'd fought for? Would she still posit the question to her party, to her nominee: "Is your position more important than the lives of black people, [of poor people]?"

She would have done both. She might have basked in the moment, but she most certainly would not have suspended judgment. Ever vigilant in holding up her people's suffering and aspirations, Mrs. Hamer nonetheless knew that the United States of America is a work in progress, capable of change though great struggle and tremendous sacrifice.

-- Farah Jasmine Griffin

Geoffrey Bennett

12:54 PM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 4: 'Historic Heft'

"The truth is that both Clinton and Biden were needed Wednesday night to provide heft to an otherwise lacking Obama resume," writes guest blogger Princella Smith. Smith serves as Chief Advocate for the Platform of the American People at American Solutions, an organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. She has the first of today's DNC morning-after analysis.

Initially, I must acknowledge this moment in history. An African American was nominated in full acclamation as the nominee of a major political party. It was touching to hear the words of people I've read about in history books like John Lewis and James Clyburn.

It was inspirational to think of those who fought with Lewis and Clyburn but were not here to speak with them because they had given their lives in the fight. It is a sentiment so unique, that words cannot really express its depth. However, because we are rational human beings, I'm encouraging everyone to use empirical reasoning and not historical emotion when casing their votes. ... Still ... congratulations, America. We are making great strides toward the America that the mothers and fathers of civil rights fought and died for ...

Well, Bubba was asked to prove that he is a team player, and he did. His speech didn't overshadow Hillary's (a future candidate), or Biden's (the Vice-Presidential nominee). He did what he needed to do to show a unified face and attempt at getting his party behind Obama.

The truth is that both Clinton and Biden were needed Wednesday night to provide heft to an otherwise lacking Obama resume. It's kind of hard to talk about Obama for three days when there is so little to say other than he has the ability to organize and galvanize people. Though, those are good traits for a leader to have, being Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation in the world will require more than ground galvanization.

The Clinton / Biden heft show leads me to the next observation. Critics of this week's convention -- including myself -- said that too much time was given to the Clintons. I thought it brilliant on the part of the Obama staff to bring Barack out on a surprise appearance after Biden's acceptance speech as an official "turn the page from the Clintons" moment. After all, his image had been seen very little over the course of the past three days.

-- Princella Smith

Geoffrey Bennett

11:29 AM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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What Did You Think Of Bill Clinton and Joe Biden?

Former president Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden (left and middle) address the DNC. Biden points to his mother Jean Finnegan Biden (right) on stage. Credit: AFP/ Getty Images

Last night at the DNC, former president Bill Clinton addressed the gathering, saying, "Barack Obama will lead us away from the division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope." Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden followed, going on an attack against Republican rival John McCain: "Again and again, on the most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was proven right."

Tell us what thought of the speeches ... and of Joe Biden's adorable mother.

Geoffrey Bennett

11:01 AM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 3: Hillary Offered 'An Eloquent Dance'

For another perspective on Hillary Clinton's DNC speech, we turn to author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin. "Did [Clinton's] supporters leave that hall ready to support Obama? I am sure some of them did, with varying degrees of commitment," writes Griffin. Tell us what you think.

She wore a burnt orange pantsuit that popped in contrast to the blue backdrop of the stage. Looking fit and ready to lead, Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a rousing address to an audience that seemed enraptured with her. In a speech peppered with specific critiques of McCain and clear suggestions for policy, Mrs. Clinton linked herself to the history of women's suffrage in this country by invoking the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention -- the first women's rights convention -- and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted the women the right to vote.

In one of her most soaring passages she quoted the freedom fighter, Harriet Tubman who when faced with slave catchers, bullets and blood hounds commanded "keep running!" In that one gesture, Clinton accomplished a number of important things: She brought together the struggles for women's and black rights in the United States, and subtly called attention to her own run for the presidency, in which she kept going long after others thought she should have quit. In fact, the whole speech was an eloquent dance between these two positions:

1. We must come together to defeat the Right. Our movements must converge and unify behind Barack Obama.

2. I ran a hell of a campaign, I bring a lot power and influence, I am steadfast, sturdy and persistent AND I am in it for the long haul.

So, the question remains: Did her supporters leave that hall ready to support Obama? I am sure some of them did, with varying degrees of commitment. Even among those who did emerge ready to elect Senator Obama there remains a sense that Hillary Clinton would have been the better candidate and should have been the party's nominee or, at the least, Obama's VP.

Hillary's supporters are a diverse group. Those with whom I have been most impressed are older, professional, politically astute women, [including some pretty fierce black women.] They are not marching in the street, they are not spewing racist invectives, they are not swearing to stay home or vote for McCain. But they are loyal to their candidate, believe her to have been deeply wronged by the media and by the young, smart but inexperienced and ungracious people who run the Obama campaign.

They are angry, they are hurt. But they are not the types to go into the corner and lick their wounds. Nor or they willing to give this election to McCain. Yesterday's Women's Caucus meeting reminded women voters that a McCain presidency will greatly undermine many hard won advances. (Sheila Johnson Rice delivered an extraordinary address in support of Obama at the Women's Caucus. She deserves a national hearing.)

The most significant assignment Hillary Clinton gave to her follower's last night: "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?" These are questions well worth pondering. (Last night provided some pretty compelling answers to these questions, particularly in the speeches of ordinary American's who spoke about their own struggles with pay equity and healthcare.)

However, it isn't just disgruntled Hillary supporters who need to meditate on these queries because they are not the only ones who are dissatisfied with the campaign. The reasons are diverse. Some are concerned about the so-called 'post-racial' nature of the campaign. Others cite the dearth of black faces in its leadership. Still others feel left out because their advice has not been sought or if sought, not heeded. There are some that are bothered by what feels like the campaign's tendency to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Then there are those who are apprehensive by the euphoria that seems to have overtaken so many of Obama's supporters. All of us, including staunch Obama supporters, need to ask ourselves, why were/are we in this. What are the larger issues that drew us to the energy, vibrancy and possibility of this election season?

-- Farah Jasmine Griffin

Geoffrey Bennett

2:29 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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A Hillary Clinton Supporter To The End ...

If you watched CNN's DNC coverage last night ... then you, no doubt, know all about Clinton supporter and DNC delegate Anne Price-Mills. Here's a reprise:

What say you?

Geoffrey Bennett

12:45 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Actor Glynn Turman 'Excited' Over First Emmy Nom

You may remember him as Ben Pettit in Fame, Col. Bradford Taylor on A Different World, or Leroy "Preach" Jackson in Cooley High. Actor Glynn Turman -- whose acting career spans nearly 40 years -- finally scored his first Emmy nomination for his work in the HBO drama In Treatment.

Here, he talks with NPR's Tony Cox. The full interview will air later on our show.

Geoffrey Bennett

11:24 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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What Did You Think Of Hillary Clinton's DNC Speech?

Sen. Barack Obama watches Hillary Clinton address the Democratic National Convention from the home of a supporter in Billings, Montana. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand, AFP/ Getty Images

After all the hand-wringing about what Hillary Clinton would or wouldn't say during her address to the DNC, she took the occasion to stress party unity, saying "Barack Obama is my candidate."

Watch her full speech here -- along with a transcript. And share your thoughts.

Geoffrey Bennett

11:00 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Barack Obama's Cuban Look-Alike Hits Denver

One man is making a splash in Denver this week, but his name isn't Barack Obama -- he just happens to look like the Senator.

Gerardo Passiaux is an impersonator from Guantanamo, Cuba, and says he supports the real Obama. We would definitely do a double-take if we saw him strolling the streets of the Mile High City. Thanks to Black Voices for locating this video.

More DNC Coverage:
What Did You Think of Hillary's Speech?
Rate Michelle Obama's Opening Night Speech

Geoffrey Gardner

10:52 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 3: 'Big Game Player'

"Conventional Wisdom" brings you perspectives from both sides of the aisle each day. What did News & Views guest blogger Princella Smith think of Hillary Clinton's DNC address? In short: "a masterful Clintonesque calculation." Smith serves as Chief Advocate for the Platform of the American People at American Solutions, an organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Short notes:
* Governor Warner: Had the keynote, but not extremely inspiring.
* Gov. Brian Schweitzer (MT): Sure to be a rising star in the party. Displayed a gift for rousing the crowd that was a little unexpected.

Hillary Clinton:
"She's a big game player, and that was a big game speech." -- John King of CNN

I agree with John King but for a few different reasons. After Sen. Clinton's address, she had even more of her followers wishing that she were the nominee: wondering what more they could have done to get her elected. I will have to say, that even though I absolutely disagree fundamentally with Sen. Clinton, she deserves her props for being so cleverly shrewd in her presentation. Put bluntly, there are very few people who could have pulled off what she did.

What do I mean? Think about this: It had to be one of the hardest things in the world for Sen. Clinton to stand on that stage and speak at a convention that she felt would be hers for so long. It had to be tough to have to make a speech on behalf of someone she campaigned against so intently, on top of having her own words used in commercials as fodder by the McCain campaign and being accused of only caring about her own self interests and not the interests of her party.

So, what does she do? She made her case for why she ran for president. She espoused her feminist beliefs. She attacked McCain in a way that no one has really done in the two nights of the conventions, showing her heft on the national stage.

Most cleverly of all, she spoke for her party as the best party to change the status quo. All of this WITHOUT speaking to Sen. Obama's readiness to be Commander-in-Chief. (Maybe Bill will tomorrow.) She gave homage to Biden's abilities and said that Ms. Obama would make a great first lady, but she NEVER spoke of Obama's abilities. Quite frankly, her lines about Obama were very generic, but she spoke so cleverly that it passed as an attempt to unify. It was as if she presented Obama as the lesser of two evils: saving face so that her political future wasn't ruined and so she would not produce anymore one-liners for McCain campaign commercials.

To top it off, as soon as she was done, her Web site updated with a banner reading: "LET US UNITE" at the very moment her speech ended. A true MC -- Masterful Clintonesque calculation.
As I stated earlier, many of her supporters were left with the feeling that Obama would have to earn their votes. They cheered. They cried. They listened -- intently. I watched a tearful African-American female Clinton supporter speculate on camera whether or not she would vote for Obama or stay home. "He will have to show me," she said. "Look, you just saw it! That was presidential," she cried.

One thing is for certain: our argument at American Solutions is validated. Americans want substance from their leaders. Rhetoric alone just won't cut it. Unfortunately for the attendees in the Pepsi Center, neither Clinton nor Obama are championing the views of a truly American Platform of the American People.

-- Princella Smith

Geoffrey Bennett

10:46 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Mikki O and Madcap Conventioneering

Nicole Beemsterboer, NPR

So: I'm definitely HERE. That is: I am witnessing the convention fever that hit the entire city of Denver (and certainly, with the millions of dollars in hotels etc., enriching Denver's coffers).

We (meaning me and producer Roy Hurst) are working for News & Notes; plus I am helping to chit-chat on NPR's nightly convention specials. (They air from 8-11PM EASTERN, live, every night of the Democratic and Republican conventions. Adjust the clock for your appropriate time zone.)

It's fantastic to get to work for both News & Notes and NPR national. I'll repeat the honors tonight, Wednesday, and Thursday.

So: on today's show, we talked to bloggers about Michelle Obama's speech (avec kid cameo). If you didn't see the Michelle speech, you can see it on... wait for it ... the Obama site!

After the convention night broadcast, I linked with some other journalist friends who were heading to something called the "Party with a Purpose," which highlighted Katrina awareness on this third anniversary of the disaster.

Of course, I didn't get there early enough to hear any speeches about Katrina, but they had food, open bar, and a bunch of black folks. One black Denverite said to me, "I wish it was like this EVERY week." She also happens to be a Denverite who podcasts our show every day.

Anyway, Biz Markie DJ'd and Wyclef Jean did a special live performance in a room that could only hold about a quarter of the people who came to the larger party. Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who gave another lauded speech last night, helped the non-celebrity Chideya posse get right up in the action.

So, me and my friends/colleagues were right by the stage as Wyclef took over. Clef did this amazing remix/remake of Wu Tang's "C.R.E.A.M." (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) as a rock song. I cannot even explain how he did it, but it took me a while to recognize the hip hop epic. He also did Bob Marley ("Exodus"; "Redemption Song"), Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" (including playing the guitar with his teeth), plus African high-life and soca. By the end of the night, the whole crowd was busting moves on the stage and on the floor, and Wyclef was climbing up the speakers to preach from the heights, then he bodysurfed. Then it ended. Some people went to other parties. I went to bed.

Entertainment reporters come just to cover the party scene... and some conventioneers come just to party. That's a point that Charles Robinson of Charles Black Politics Blog made on today's roundtable. He wrote a post called Denver Is Chocolate City that gives you a pretty good picture of what things are like.

I also got lost in the Pepsi Center and stumbled across a celebrity/VIP entrance. It was a steady stream of actors from Giancarlo Esposito to Hugh Jackman. (Jackman is teeny! Pocket sized! Not quite Tom Cruise's extra teeny but ... teeny.)

I'm hitting a couple of parties not just because they're fun, but because part of my job is to give you some behind-the-scenes flavor of what these conventions are. That said, this Sister needs sleep and so tonight and tomorrow night I will be drinking hot milk ... or decaf tea ... and snuggling quite quickly into bed.

Farai Chideya

2:20 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 2: Will America Accept First Lady Michelle?

Author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin shares her thoughts on Michelle Obama's DNC address last night. She writes, in part, "It is Michelle's blackness that has deeply disturbed many Americans and much of the press, and it is that same blackness that has endeared her to many, but not all, black Americans." Read and respond.

By the time Michelle Obama -- the woman who many hope will be America's next First Lady -- took center stage, the Pepsi Stadium was electric with anticipation. We'd just watched a well-produced video, South Side Girl, documenting her "American" story.

It was followed by her brother's loving introduction. Watching her, resplendent in teal, perfectly made up and coifed, I wondered, "What will it take for Americans to love this woman?" Surrounded by tall placards with her name in bold white print, I thought "What will the pundits make of her performance?" I had no doubt she would be elegant, beautiful, intelligent and graceful. She always is. I wasn't concerned that she might slip up and speak a basic truth about our deeply flawed nation. She has learned her lesson and there are now handlers to assure that she makes no such slips.

It is Michelle's blackness that has deeply disturbed many Americans and much of the press, and it is that same blackness that has endeared her to many, but not all, black Americans. For those of us who share her race, gender and generation, the negative reaction she has inspired is stunning. As with Michelle, we are the daughters of hard working, even struggling, parents.

We are the daughters who were constantly told that we mustn't ever fit the stereotypes "they" have of us. We were raised to take advantage of the opportunities created for us by the Civil Rights Movement (and though rarely acknowledged, by the Feminist Movement as well). We grew up in black communities that were proud of us.

And, when we went off to predominantly white, elite colleges and universities it was with the reminder that we must do better than well, and that we dare not forget those we left behind. Why are black women like Michelle Obama, black women who have been educated alongside and worked with white Americans as equals, so unfamiliar to so many Americans?

Unlike Oprah, a billionaire media mogul who serves as a spiritual mother to millions of American women, Michelle is mother only to her own precious daughters. An accomplished professional, a devoted mother, sister, wife, daughter and friend, Michelle Obama is like countless other American women and yet many white Americans have found it impossible to see themselves or their aspirations in her.

Maybe it is because they cannot imagine her as First Lady. "Lady" is not a designation easily bestowed upon black women. In fact, it is an identity that we have had to fiercely fight for. In an effort to leave behind a legacy of forced labor and forced sex, formerly enslaved women valued ladylike behavior and instilled it in their daughters as if that alone would save the race.

However, in both legal and popular discourses, the privileges of ladyhood were reserved for white females. Many white Americans are comfortable with fictions of welfare and quota queens. Unfortunately a younger generation, encouraged by irresponsible artists and greedy corporate conglomerates, have also grown comfortable with "video hoes." But are Americans ready to bestow that designation -- Lady, First Lady -- on a black woman? And, at what price?

Last night, Michelle Obama was all that one would have expected of her. She was articulate and empathetic. She was patriotic and visionary. She stressed the importance of education without emphasizing her own educational pedigree. She was elegantly dressed, replete with portrait collar and flattering 3/4-length sleeves. Her hair was "appropriately" straight. She acknowledged her debt to past struggles for social justice, both those for racial equality and gender equality. She was magnanimous towards Hilary Clinton. She was not threatening or loud. She did not raise an eyebrow. She painted a vision of a glowing future led by her husband. And she gave Americans a picture of themselves as a people striving together toward a better tomorrow. She gave no specific policy points (Americans tend not to like that in their first ladies) nor did she acknowledge any ongoing racial tensions. She was soft and feminine.

By the end of her speech when she was joined on stage by her daughters and the stadium erupted in thunderous applause, my heart was full but my mind was still aflutter with questions:
Did she successfully do what the campaign wanted her to do? Will working class white Americans feel any closer to her and, by extension, to her husband? Will middle-class white professional women and stay-at home moms see themselves in her? Will self conscious (and a few self-hating) black Americans think she represented the race well?

I can almost say with certainty that elderly black women, the church and neighborhood mothers, were indeed proud. And the rest of us who have loved her from day one can only pray for her protection, her safety and her sanity on this mad journey.

-- Farah Jasmine Griffin

Geoffrey Bennett

11:16 AM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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What Did You Think of Michelle Obama's Speech?

If you missed it last night, you can watch video of Michelle Obama's DNC address -- along with a rolling transcript -- care of the New York Times. Share your thoughts.

Geoffrey Bennett

10:53 AM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 2: 'Heart Strings'

Yesterday, we heard from Farah Jasmine Griffin about her impressions of the DNC's opening day. Now, Princella Smith gives her account. She serves as Chief Advocate for the Platform of the American People at American Solutions, an organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. This entry is titled Sightings, Stars, and...Protests?

The weather? Beautiful. My hotel? Grandiose. The streets? Well -- it depends on where you were. ... At first I thought it was mainly media hype: "The Clinton backers are still upset that she didn't win." "There will be unrest at the convention." But then I saw it for myself! There were protests from various groups including P.U.M.A. which stands for "Party Unity My @#!" outside of the capitol and on surrounding streets.

They actually still plan to make a fuss about Hillary not being the nominee and hope to continue the fight to place her on the ticket. I even overheard super delegates saying that they had to make up their minds once the convention played out as to whether or not they would support Obama on the convention floor. MANY of the delegates still say that they plan to vote for Hillary...

At my hotel, I spotted various members of the Democratic congressional leadership including Speaker Pelosi, Henry Waxman, and others. John Stewart made it down to the lobby for pictures, and Alan Colmes and I ran into each other in the doorway.

Tom Brokaw walked into the John Elway steakhouse where I was enjoying delicious fillet and was of course immediately surrounded by admirers. As is true to form of the Democratic Party's huge functions, there were stars everywhere. Oh, and randomly, I ran into the guy who was sitting next to Jesse Jackson when Jackson was caught making disparaging remarks about Obama while a hot mic was on his lapel. He was catching a flight OUT of Denver...

I made it onto the floor today and observed the various rehearsals. R&B favorite, John Legend practiced with a choir, and drew quite the press and media draw...

Heart Strings And What Was Missing

Ideology aside, the tribute to Ted Kennedy was touching. To see him take the stage when even up to the hour there was uncertainty about his abilities due to his illness was definitely a heart-string tugger. Michelle Obama's biographical video followed by a "look at my repackaged, motherly, graceful, strong, gorgeous image" speech was one for the books followed by the trotting out of the her two beautiful daughters, who seemed more than eager to take the microphone from Mommy to speak to Daddy via satellite.

This imagery game is exactly what the Obama camp felt it needed to do to make middle America feel comfortable with him. The middle-class working white citizen -- especially the females need to feel "comfortable" with this unknown anomaly called Barack Obama.
The issue with this is that the Democrats spent hours of a prime-time infomercial for their candidate and their party and used no opportunity to highlight the fact that they rolled out their platform today.

They failed to answer the questions about solving the energy crisis, the mortgage crisis, the future of education, and a plan for a secure America as leaders of the free world. Noted Democratic strategist, James Carville said it best tonight on CNN: "If this party has a message it's done a hell of a job hiding it tonight, I promise you that."

If the Obama camp truly wants to make a difference, they will have to do more than talk about change and do heart-warming speeches. So far, that only worked for a limited amount of time, and then it wore off because the American people want ANSWERS. They want true leadership. The fact about rock stars is that soon people tire of them and run on to the next thrill. If the Obama camp isn't careful, their candidate can turn into that "old CD" that the young people will burn out on, and the rest of America will choose the alternative candidate who by appearance, substance, and resume appears safer and more substantive.

**Note of interest: What we did on behalf of American Solutions

I arrived early to the convention floor accompanied by our company president to present the 1.5 million names on the American Solutions petition to Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices and diesel and other fuel prices by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries. The time is now for the leaders of both major political parties to listen to the voices of American people who are struggling each day in this energy crisis when they say: "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less."

-- Princella Smith

Geoffrey Bennett

10:29 AM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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Today: Jennifer Hudson; Yesterday: Jennifer Holliday

Barack Obama has asked Jennifer Hudson to sing the National Anthem Thursday night in Denver when he formally accepts the party's nomination.

It reminds us of that other Jennifer who once sang -- saaaang, to be exact -- in front of the DNC:

Geoffrey Bennett

7:13 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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We Are On The Hustle ...

Farai Chideya

We are on the hustle, so I just want to say I will give you details about what we're up to on the ground ... Lots of interviews!

Meanwhile, enjoy three snaps: A picture of me from our fab broadcast booth (top); a picture of the convention floor setup (middle); and actress Lynn Whitfield at a swanky Sunday Creative Coalition event thrown by Spike Lee and Alfre Woodard.

More soon!

Farai Chideya

5:25 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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DNC Day 1: Inside the Interfaith Worship Service

Each day, during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, our two guest bloggers will be offering insight and reporting from the convention floor. First up is author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin. Here, she writes about the "jarring but not surprising" aspects of yesterday's interfaith worship service.

This will be a convention of firsts: it will showcase the New Democratic Party -- one led by the first African American, Barack Obama, to receive the nomination of a major party. And yet, we know it is a convention that will be marked by tension as well, particularly the tensions and challenges brought by those who supported his fiercest rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, ironically, who is the first woman to have been a serious contender for the office of President of the United States.

Sunday saw the first official activity of the Convention, the Faith in Action Interfaith worship service, conceived of and hosted by Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, herself a Pentecostal minister. This event was scripted to demonstrate unity in diversity. It was the first such faith event to be held at a Democratic Convention, a kind of culmination of the party's recent efforts to win over and welcome people of faith. There are millions of religious people who vehemently disagree with the religious right on economic issues, the war and the environment (though many do share with the Right convictions against a woman's right to choose and homosexuality). The forum provided a platform for airing some of these countering views.

It was jarring but not surprising that a few anti-choice protestors sought to disrupt the service. What was surprising was when one of the most effective and compelling speakers pronounced from the podium that he is a dedicated pro-life Democrat. Bishop Charles Blake is the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, one of the largest and most powerful Pentecostal denominations. In one powerful gesture, he both proclaimed his opposition to a major part of the Democratic Party Platform (choice), while at the same time launching a scathing critique of the Religious Right's disregard for the lives of children already born who live in poverty and hunger today.

Sister Helen Prejean, anti-death penalty activist and author of Dead Man Walking, was perhaps the most powerful and passionate of the speakers. She urged us to consider the dignity of those we send to death row; linked our disregard for their lives to our nation's disregard for the rights of poor people and people of color; and made a connection between our practice of state sanctioned murder and our willingness to turn a blind eye to state sanctioned torture against our enemies. Hers was also a pro-life stance, guided by a vision of her faith not shared by the religious right.

There was Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb -- who advocates educational vouchers -- and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America, who spoke of Muslim Patriotism and acknowledged the role of Christians and Jews in helping to ensure the Muslim Civil Liberties in the wake of intense scrutiny and harassment faced by Muslims since 9/11.

Though the service was ecumenical, it was largely focused on the three Abrahamic faiths. There was one Buddhist reading by a student, Kathryn Ida. Although the speakers represented a diversity of faiths, the service itself seemed largely Christian because of the musical selections and the exuberant shouts of "Amen!" from the audience. Nonetheless, it successfully showcased the religious diversity of the party, articulated a common vision of justice and equality and painted a portrait of the party as a place welcoming of religious people.

However, left unspoken were the challenges that this new direction will pose for a party that has long supported the right of women to choose what happens to our bodies by opposing state intervention in this most personal matter. Also left unspoken were the rights of gay people who have found the party a place welcoming of them and supportive of many, if not all, of their legal and civil rights. Although this latter issue was not raised yesterday, it is surely yet another point of difference and tension between Democrats at this convention and in the future.

-- Farah Jasmine Griffin

Geoffrey Bennett

2:50 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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Convention Season Begins, Our Coverage Continues

www.democrats.org

Beginning today, through next week's Republican National Convention, News & Notes' special convention coverage continues here on our blog.

We'll be featuring two special guest bloggers, who will offer their perspectives and a little firsthand reporting from the convention floor. And on Thursday, when Obama accepts his party's nomination, we'll host a live online viewing party (more on that later).

In the meantime, check out these useful DNC-related resources.

Program Schedule | Delegate Profiles | Photos | Full Coverage

Geoffrey Bennett

2:11 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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Obama Picks Biden For Vice President

Barack Obama speaks as Joe Biden listens, during the Des Moines Register Presidential Debate in December 2007.

Chris Gannon, AFP/Getty Images

You were right. Barack Obama has picked Joe Biden to be on the Democratic ticket as vice president. The Associated Press has more:

Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.

Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out shortly afterward that said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee."

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

What do you think of Obama's choice ... and of the timing?

Geoffrey Bennett

6:48 AM ET | 08-23-2008 | permalink

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Lifestyles & Trends: LisaRaye Fights Back

Actress LisaRaye has released photos to Essence magazine of what she says is domestic abuse.

Plus, there's going to be a whole lot of Hollywood in Denver next week; the stars are heading to the Democratic National Convention.

For more, Farai Chideya speaks with Newsweek magazine national correspondent Allison Samuels.

Related Video:
Lifestyles & Trends: Wendy Williams' Catfight
Chante Moore: P. Diddy Stole My Hit Song for J.Lo

Never miss a new video: Subscribe to the News & Notes YouTube channel today!

Geoffrey Gardner

7:00 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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Bumper Sticker Foretells Obama/Bayh Ticket?

As the country (especially CNN's Wolf Blitzer) waits for Barack Obama to name his vice presidential pick, Drudge Report offers this clue:

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reports a company in Kansas City, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material ... MORE ... Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. At least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced...

Right now, Evan Bayh is trailing in fourth place in our online poll, tied with Virginia's Tim Kaine. Joe Biden is still your top pick.

Drudge has posted an image of an Obama/Bayh bumper sticker, which doesn't seem to match Obama's campaign branding. It's unclear whether it is part of the newly printed campaign literature mentioned above.

UPDATE: On MSNBC's Hardball today, correspondent Andrea Mitchell reported the bumper sticker is a "fake."

Geoffrey Bennett

6:17 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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First-Time Convention Delegates Share Their Stories

iStockphoto.com

The Democratic Party is preparing to officially nominate their presidential pick next week, and News & Notes will be on the ground, offering firsthand reporting of the historic moment. (We'll be offering similar coverage of the Republican National Convention the following week.)

Politics aside, Barack Obama has been lauded for drawing new people into the election process in new ways -- among them, these two first-time convention delegates. Check out their stories:

Anton Gunn, A Leader of Obama's Grassroots Army

"Anton Gunn is a first-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention from South Carolina, and he has never so much as watched a political convention on television before. Even Barack Obama's famous keynote address in 2004 didn't grab his attention (he sheepishly admits he still hasn't listened to it). In fact, until two years ago, when Gunn ran for a state house seat in Columbia and lost by 298 votes, he'd never been involved in electoral politics."

Jelani Cobb: How I Became an Obama Delegate

"My last foray into politics was in 5th grade when I lost what I'm sure was a rigged election for class president. I've been writing about black political issues since I was a college freshman. But aside from voting or organizing the occasional protest, I've never been involved in electoral politics."

What are you looking forward to during next week's convention?

Geoffrey Bennett

4:15 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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Cash-For-Tests Program Not Adding Up?

iStockphoto.com

Paying school kids to perform well on tests? When introduced, the idea was as controversial as it was innovative. But critics say, it's not helping kids make the grade.

Here's more from the Associated Press:

Students at the 31 schools participating in the program called Rewarding Achievement, or REACH, took 345 more tests this year than last year. But the passing rate dropped slightly, from 35 percent in 2007 to 32 percent this year, according to results released Wednesday.

A total of 1,161 students passed 1,476 Advanced Placement exams, earning $500 each time they scored a 3, the lowest passing mark. They received $750 for each score of 4, and $1,000 for each top score, 5. Nearly $1 million was given to the students and another $500,000 to the participating schools.

... There are limited studies on the programs' effects, but research by an independent think tank at Stanford University indicated they can raise scores.

To what would you attribute the drop in the passing rate? How should it be addressed?

Geoffrey Bennett

11:51 AM ET | 08-21-2008 | permalink

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Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones Has Died (Updated)

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones makes a statement at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C.

Alex Wong, Getty Images

UPDATE: Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, Dies

Stephanie Tubbs Jones made history as the the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress. She died today at the age of 58.

A report from the Associated Press describes what happened as she was driving yesterday:

The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed from the northbound lanes across the southbound lanes, according to a statement from police. An officer pulled a cruiser across the roadway to warn oncoming traffic. The officer reached her vehicle and found Tubbs Jones in medical distress, the statement said.

The apparent cause: a ruptured aneurysm, or a hyperextended blood vessel, in her brain.

We have been lucky enough to speak with the congresswoman several times, and we will remember her on tomorrow's show.

Among our conversations: Tubbs Jones and I spoke last year about what was, at the time, her new role as head of the House Ethics Committee. It was part of our series on the movers and shakers in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Farai Chideya

2:48 PM ET | 08-20-2008 | permalink

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Mixed-Race Kids Cuter, But Worse Behaved?

The author of Freakonomics wondered, "What's it like to grow up with one parent who is black and another who is white?" Well, here's what he offers as his findings (emphasis ours):

1) Mixed-race kids grow up in households that are similar along many dimensions to those in which black children grow up: similar incomes, the father is much less likely to be around than in white households, etc.

2) In terms of academic performance, mixed-race kids fall in between blacks and whites.

3) Mixed-race kids do have one advantage over white and black kids: the mixed-race kids are much more attractive on average.

4) There are some bad adolescent behaviors that whites do more than blacks (like drinking and smoking), and there are other bad adolescent behaviors that blacks do more than whites (watching TV, fighting, getting sexually transmitted diseases). Mixed-race kids manage to be as bad as whites on the white behaviors and as bad as blacks on the black behaviors. Mixed-race kids act out in almost every way measured in the data set.

If true, that might explain Halle Berry. Read the explanation for the findings and tell us what you think.

Geoffrey Bennett

5:33 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Politics: The Pace Picks Up

We're in the middle of it now.

Remember when the primaries started early; and then there were what seemed like dozens of debates; plus the occasional kerfuffle over a campaign advisor making a high profile mistake?

Well, those days are over. Somehow we have managed, as a nation, to survive months of active campaigning and still have an appetite for more.

With the Democratic National Convention next week; and the Republican Convention the week after that; and then just six weeks until the election, we'll see an intensification of the campaigning process. If either candidate is going to go negative, he'll probably do it after the conventions. If anyone's going to have a last-minute scandal, ditto. I don't see any scandals looming on the horizon, but as the story of Sen. John Edwards indicates, you never know.

We'll be there for you, on the ground at both conventions; and then on the final steps of the march to the White House. I can't wait to send some stories from the road ... and there will be many. We start our political journey by heading to Denver for the Democratic Convention this weekend; heading straight after that to the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minn.; and then our show is also going to do a week in Washington, D.C.

More soon!

Farai Chideya

1:08 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Who Will Be Obama's VP Pick?

Barack Obama, says the New York Times, could announce his running mate as early as tomorrow. Presumed front runners include Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware. (John McCain is expected to make his announcement later in the month.)

Who do you think Obama will pick? Take our poll.

Now tell us why below.

Related: Who's Up, Who's Down In The Veepstakes

Geoffrey Bennett

11:41 AM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Highlights From Our Interview With Pastor Rick Warren

John McCain (R-AZ), pastor Rick Warren and Barack Obama (D-IL) greet each other at the start of the Civil Forum on the Presidency at the Saddleback Church.

David McNew, Getty Images

Earlier this afternoon, Farai Chideya spoke with Pastor Rick Warren, leader of Saddleback Church and international best-selling author.

Warren moderated Saturday's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency -- a two-hour event, in which Warren engaged presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama on an array of faith and value issues.

What follows are highlights of Farai's interview with Warren, which will air in full on tomorrow's broadcast.

On the greatest success of the forum:
"I loved the fact that Americans saw not just the political differences between these two guys but also the personality differences. ... Barack was exactly who he is, and John McCain was exactly who he is. They were exactly who I know them to be. They are both friends of mine; I've known them for some time. With their answers, Barack is the thoughtful, consensus builder. He likes to nuance things. He likes to talk things through. You know, he's a constitutional attorney. John McCain is a straightforward, happy commander who says, 'Yes, yes. No. Let's get it over. Let's do it.' By asking the same questions to each candidate, it allowed America to compare apples to apples, and I liked that."

On differences between McCain and Obama:
"Both of these men love America. Both of them are patriots. I think both of them are good leaders. They just have drastically different visions for the direction of America."

On the rumor about McCain having advance notice of the questions:
"I'm afraid that that rumor might hurt the Obama campaign. I've talked to a number of people about this; they say, 'An anonymous source told me that John McCain was watching a monitor in his green room.' It's flat out impossible. In the first place, there were Secret Service staff and Saddleback [Church] staff with McCain the entire time he was there. There was no way he could have listened to anything without being seen. If he had heard anything, believe me I would have heard about it."

On a perception of the candidates finessing the audience:
"I think they were both genuinely answering the way I expected them to answer. Barack tended to look more toward me and talk to me ... John tended to look more at the audience. But part of that was because -- right [about] five minutes before we got onto the stage -- I looked at Barack and I said, 'Let's just make this a conversation between friends.' And I didn't get the opportunity to say that to Sen. McCain to remind him."

On having an influence in the Oval Office, looking ahead:
"This is not my day job. My day job is I'm a pastor of a large church in California, and I'm extremely involved in humanitarian efforts around the world. ... All my time is taken up by that. ... I have no aspirations to be a political consultant in any sense of the word."

On the conflict in Georgia being raised during the forum:
"I got a communication today from the President of Georgia's office, who said that the president of Georgia had watched the Saddleback Civil Forum in his nation and had been near tears, thanking that his country got mentioned. He was saying, 'The bear is back,' and asking for me to send out a note to all the churches in our network, saying, 'Would you pray for Georgia?' And I think this issue right here is going to be an interesting test of how either of my friends -- Barack or John -- would deal with that particular situation."

On hosting similar political forums in the future:
"What I hope will be copied is the format. I don't have to be doing it. But I do think that the debate format of the 30-second rebuttal and the five second rebuttal to the rebuttal ... is an artificial "gotcha" kind of format that doesn't play to either man's strengths, doesn't allow their personality or character or commitment to actually shine, and I'm hoping if anything happens, it will add a little civility to the dialogue."

Geoffrey Bennett

5:15 PM ET | 08-18-2008 | permalink

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New HUD Chief Takes On U.S. Mortgage Crisis

Sales of existing houses have skidded to a 10-year low, and families are still losing the homes they once owned.

In response, President Bush recently signed the multi-billion-dollar Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

Plus, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, is working on specific programs as part of a bigger push to ease the housing crisis.

For more, Farai Chideya speaks with HUD Secretary Steve Preston.

Related NPR Stories: New Bill Signals Relief for Homeowners

Geoffrey Gardner

3:19 PM ET | 08-18-2008 | permalink

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Obama 'Cool,' McCain 'Confident' At Faith Forum

John McCain, pastor Rick Warren, and Barack Obama greet the crowd at the Civil Forum on the Presidency at Saddleback Church.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Over the weekend, presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain stepped out on faith, making an appeal to evangelical voters.

They participated in a two-hour forum hosted by the minister Rick Warren at his Southern California megachurch. Post-debate analysis highlights the two men's differing approaches, many pundits favoring McCain for his performance.

If you missed it, Politico is breaking down the six moments that mattered.

Obama joined Warren for the first hour, and McCain for the second -- the result of a coin toss. Warren asked both men the same set of questions. Now some are suggesting McCain might have heard the questions asked of Obama in advance.

On today's show, we got analysis from NPRs' senior Washington editor Ron Elving; tomorrow we'll speak with Rick Warren himself.

Did you watch the forum? What did you think? Share some analysis of your own.

Geoffrey Bennett

12:16 PM ET | 08-18-2008 | permalink

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Notes on the News: Black Iraqis Rooting for Obama

Black Iraqis Hoping for a Barack Obama Win
Racism is rampant in Iraq, says an African Iraqi named Abdul Hussein Abdul Razzaq. He faces daily occupational and social discrimination and, if he felt so inclined, could never successfully run for public office. For those reasons and more, Razzaq -- and other Iraqis like him -- are hoping for a Barack Obama victory in November. "It will be a historic accomplishment for black people all over the world if Barack Obama wins," he said.

Zimbabwe Hopes Hinge on Regional Africa Meeting
With talks between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe all but dissolved, the hope for a peaceful resolution in Zimbabwe rests with an upcoming meeting between the leaders of various southern African countries. Despite upbeat talks between Mugabe and South African President Thabo Mbeki, little progress has not yet been made.

Negrito, Please
In Mexico, as well as many other countries around the world, political correctness in advertisements does not seem to be seen as important as it is in the United States. One such prominent example of this is the new Twinkie-like product produced by the Mexican brand, Bimbo: Negritos.

Continue reading "Notes on the News: Black Iraqis Rooting for Obama" »

Blake Bishton

6:09 PM ET | 08-15-2008 | permalink

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Kirk Douglas, 91, Fighting Online For Slavery Apology

Late last month, the House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for American slavery and segregation. The bill had been in the works for over a year, and it was helped along by enthusiastic support from a surprising ally -- none other than 91-year-old actor/producer Kirk Douglas.

Douglas invited Tony Cox, producer Roy Hurst, and me to his Beverly Hills home for an interview about the movement he is organizing online, via his MySpace page.

During our half hour with him, we found Douglass to be immensely personable ... every bit the major star he once was. His slurred speech -- the result of a 1996 stroke -- belied his sharp, quick wit. He spoke at length about his philanthropic work, his role in breaking the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist, and he shared insight on growing older.

Watch this conversation between Tony and Kirk Douglas (subtitling included), and be sure to share your thoughts below.

(This interview was recorded separately for our radio broadcast, which explains the boom mic you may see dipping in the shot at times.)

Related: Government Apologizes For Slavery, Jim Crow

Geoffrey Bennett

11:35 AM ET | 08-15-2008 | permalink

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Notes on the News: Gay Marriage and the Black Vote

Gay Marriage and the Black Vote
The notion that homophobia is rampant in the black community will be put to the test in November. California's black voters, who are predicted to show up in record numbers to support Barack Obama, will also be voting on the same-sex marriage measure, Proposition 8. For more on how gay marriage advocates are reaching out to the black community, check out the group And Marriage For All.

As Gas Prices Soared, He Filled Up With Prayer
59-year-old Rocky Twyman says that America has his movement, Pray at the Pump, to thank for the lowering of gas prices. "Prayer is the answer to every problem in life," he said while leading a group of people sitting around a gas pump in prayer. "If the whole country keeps on praying, we can bring down prices even more, to even less than $2."

White Americans No Longer a Majority by 2042
According to new projections issued by the U.S. government, white people will no longer make up the majority in America by 2042. This is eight years earlier than was predicted in a 2004 estimate. It's due, in part, to the increased birth rate of minorities, particularly Hispanics, but also because of the aging of the white baby boomer generation.

Continue reading "Notes on the News: Gay Marriage and the Black Vote" »

Blake Bishton

5:45 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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All The DNC News That's Fit To Print

Lots of Democratic National Convention news happening today. Here's the lowdown:

Hillary Clinton's name will be put into nomination at the convention. "The move is seen as a bid to heal the wounds of the bitter primary season."

Despite rumors to the contrary late yesterday, Colin Powell says he is not attending the Democratic National Convention and "ended the conversation without entertaining any more questions about whether he might endorse Obama."

The Obama campaign is denying House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel a speaking role at this month's Democratic National Convention -- "a move those close to the powerhouse Harlem congressman view as a spiteful snub."

Jesse Jackson won't have a speaking role either. But he tells Essence magazine he will, however, be in attendance.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick definitely won't have a formal role at the DNC, but during a hearing this morning, a judge lifted travel restrictions for Kilpatrick to attend the DNC and removed his tether.

I can only imagine how he's going to be received.

Geoffrey Bennett

3:08 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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How Did You Use Your Stimulus Check?

iStockphoto.com

Not to get too much into your business ... but did you get any or all of the $600 economic stimulus payment this year?

If so, what did you do with it? Save it? Buy a flatscreen? Pay for childcare? We want to know.

We may ask you to be on the show for an upcoming economics segment.

Geoffrey Bennett

3:01 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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White Americans No Longer A Majority By 2042

Expect to hear more about this in the coming days ... according to the Associated Press, "white people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2042, according to new government projections. That's eight years sooner than previous estimates, made in 2004."

Here's more:

"The U.S. has nearly 305 million people today. The population is projected to hit 400 million in 2039 and 439 million in 2050.

That's like adding all the people from France and Britain, said Steve A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group that advocates tighter immigration policies.

White non-Hispanics make up about two-thirds of the population, but only 55 percent of those younger than 5.

By 2050, whites will make up 46 percent of the population and blacks will make up 15 percent, a relatively small increase from today.

Asians, which make up about 5 percent of the population, are projected to increase to 9 percent by 2050.

Hispanics, who make up about 15 percent of the population today, will account for 30 percent in 2050, according to the new projections."

I knew I should have payed better attention in Spanish class.

But what are the implications of the country's changing racial composition? And to what would you attribute the "relatively small increase" expected among blacks?

Geoffrey Bennett

2:51 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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Spain's Basketball Team Stages Offensive Photo

On today's sports round-up, Tony Cox spoke with New York Times sports columnist Bill Rhoden about this photo taken by Spain's Olympic men's basketball team.

Here's more from ABC News:

"An advertisement for the Spanish Basketball Federation that appeared in the Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca featured Spain's 15 national team members in uniform pulling back the skin on their eyelids, with smiles on their faces. The team photo was taken at a center court bearing a dragon logo.

As the controversial photo makes the rounds on the Internet, speculation has begun that the gesture many consider racially insensitive toward the Asian host country -- and anyone of Eastern Asian descent -- could jeopardize the Madrid 2016 bid."

What do you think is a proper punishment for the team?

Geoffrey Bennett

2:30 PM ET | 08-14-2008 | permalink

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Are You Going To Be At The Conventions?

Hey Peeps:

Just a shout out to see who is going to be at the Democratic Convention in Denver or the Republican one in St. Paul. In addition to work and many other events, I may have a let's-meet-for-coffee (outside the conventions, of course) for any listeners or visitors in each location.

If you're interested, post here. We won't publish your comment, but I will keep your information!

And of course, if you have any good story ideas, we want to hear from you.

Thanks!

Farai Chideya

5:31 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink

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Notes on the News: Zimbabwe Talks End, No Deal

Zimbabwe Talks Break Without Deal
For the past three days, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have been in intensive negotiations to resolve the political crisis. Today, the two clashed over the key issue of which of them should lead the new unified government. Though many hoped the talks would provide a quick settlement, they were adjourned with no date scheduled for their continuation.

Opulence and Chaos Meet in an African Boomtown
Lagos, Nigeria has long been known as Africa's most traffic-plagued, most populous, and fastest growing city. Now it is also being called the most expensive and elite city in Africa. In the world it ranks 30th, making it slightly less expensive than New York, but far more so than Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington D.C. However, the contrast is all the more extreme here, as the average Nigerian makes $2 a day.

Amid Ruined New Orleans Neighborhoods, a Gadfly Buzzes
Citizens of New Orleans are beginning to grow accustomed to officials promising various plans that will do wonders for the cities rehabilitation, yet never seem to get off the ground. Most people have stopped listening to such promises as a result, but not Karen Gadbois, who investigates every claim made by officials and then blogs about their lack of progress. The New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation has been the target of much of her research. "It wasn't even that the house didn't exist; the whole block didn't exist."

Continue reading "Notes on the News: Zimbabwe Talks End, No Deal" »

Blake Bishton

2:52 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink

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TV Producer Larry Wilmore Remembers Bernie Mac

Comedian Bernie Mac died this past Saturday morning in Chicago after losing a battle with pneumonia. He was 50 years old.

Farai Chideya talks with comedian and TV producer Larry Wilmore, who was the creator and executive producer of The Bernie Mac Show, about the funny man's life and career.

In Memoriam: Bernie Mac

Geoffrey Gardner

1:50 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink

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James L. Taylor: UnAmerican Americans (Part Deux)

Here, James Lance Taylor revisits patriotism and "Americaness" in the presidential campaign. He says John McCain is picking up a strategy Hillary Clinton reportedly rejected to paint Barack Obama as something other than American. His follow-up essay is titled UnAmerican Americans (Part Deux).

Taylor is associate professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and president-elect of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists.

Some time ago, I posted an article for "Political Positions" titled, UnAmerican Americans: Or, Why Michelle Obama is "Fair Game," which sought to parse, rather discursively I must admit, the racial implications of the national media's, and opposition's depictions of the Obamas as somehow "incomplete" Americans.

This was written before the New Yorker magazine controversy The follow-up comments to my article were mixed at best. My favorite part was where it stated:

"The ideas that Michelle and Barack Obama are somehow unpatriotic, Muslim, anti-American racist Christians who -- as anti-Islamic, anti-Semites -- refuse to wear the lapel flag, to pledge allegiance to it with hand over heart, and are just recently "really proud" of their country, "terrorist fist" bumpers who secretly wear Afros, Islamic Somali traditional clothing, wrote angry undergraduate papers, might be assassinated between now and the Democratic National Convention like Bobby Kennedy in 1968, and can be a Harvard-educated married "baby mama," are all rooted in a history of "American alienation" that plays well in the strange world of American politics."

Very recent published reports confirm that both the ("suspended") Hillary Clinton and John McCain campaigns have variously considered strategically emphasizing to the electorate the "un-American" culture and values and "lack of American roots" of Barack and Michelle Obama in their efforts to defeat him.

Clinton adviser Mark Penn (left) and Sen. John McCain (right)

Getty Images

Given the diversity of his biography and the genuinely Chicago-influenced black politics of his wife, it is plausible that they harbor a left-of-center politics, which most Americans find unacceptable since the Civil Rights-Black Power movements. But polls show overwhelming disapproval of the thoroughly failed moral, military, social, economic, and political policies of right-of-center conservatism that have dominated American politics ever since.

Continue reading "James L. Taylor: UnAmerican Americans (Part Deux)" »

Geoffrey Bennett

1:02 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink

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The Hillary Clinton Campaign That Could Have Been

Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigns for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in Henderson, Nevada.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

That's a photo of Hillary Clinton campaigning solo for Barack Obama in Nevada last week. If you are still trying to figure out how in the world Clinton, the once presumptive Democratic nominee (presumed by many, at least), could end up stumping for the actual presumptive party nominee, The Atlantic takes an inside look:

How did things look on the inside, as they unraveled?

To find out, I approached a number of current and former Clinton staffers and outside consultants and asked them to share memos, e-mails, meeting minutes, diaries--anything that would offer a contemporaneous account. The result demonstrates that paranoid dysfunction breeds the impulse to hoard. Everything from major strategic plans to bitchy staff e-mail feuds was handed over.

Two things struck me right away. The first was that, outward appearances notwithstanding, the campaign prepared a clear strategy and did considerable planning. It sweated the large themes (Clinton's late-in-the-game emergence as a blue-collar champion had been the idea all along) and the small details (campaign staffers in Portland, Oregon, kept tabs on Monica Lewinsky, who lived there, to avoid any surprise encounters).

The second was the thought: Wow, it was even worse than I'd imagined! The anger and toxic obsessions overwhelmed even the most reserved Beltway wise men. Surprisingly, Clinton herself, when pressed, was her own shrewdest strategist, a role that had never been her strong suit in the White House. But her advisers couldn't execute strategy; they routinely attacked and undermined each other, and Clinton never forced a resolution. Major decisions would be put off for weeks until suddenly she would erupt, driving her staff to panic and misfire.

Read the rest, including adviser Mark Penn's strategy to zero in and attack Obama's "lack of American roots."

Geoffrey Bennett

7:32 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Speaking of Zelma Davis ...

Mention them. And they will e-mail.

When I referred to singer Zelma Davis earlier today, I can't say I expected this:

Hello Mr. Bennett,

I noticed that you mentioned me on your blog today.

I hope you have the opportunity to check out my new single, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Amber. It was released today.

All the best,

Zelma

Well in that case, do like she says and check out her new single. Show Zelma some love, y'all.

Geoffrey Bennett

7:07 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Notes on the News: Republicans Weigh Obama Vote

Airing New Views in America's Cul-de-sacs
Long-time Republican voters living in suburbs across the nation are considering voting for the other party in the ever-increasing economic crisis. This voting block of golf course communities was crucial to Bush's victory in 2004, and it was founded by cheap mortgages and cheap gas. But more members of this demographic are considering other options: "This is the first election I ever actually looked at someone else other than the Republican candidate."

Anti-Obama Book Tops 'Times' Bestseller List
Jerome V. Corsi, co-author of Unfit for Comamand, the book that took to task John Kerry's Vietnam War record, has come out with a new book. But this time it targets Barack Obama. The Obama Nation will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list.

For a Recently Plumbed Neighborhood, Validation in a Verdict
Zanesville, Ohio was a small town that until recently did not supply water to many of its residence. On Coal Run Road, a mostly black neighborhood, water pipes did not reach these homes until 2004. The expansion was set in motion after residents complained in 2002 that the water stopped "where the black folks started."

Continue reading "Notes on the News: Republicans Weigh Obama Vote" »

Blake Bishton

6:44 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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China To Kid Singer: You Just Aren't Cute Enough

Lin Miaoke lip-synched at the opening ceremony over the voice of Yang Peiyi, (right), because of Peiyi's buck teeth.

GETTY/AFP

A reader named Hiki had this to say about my previous post related to the Olympics opening ceremony:

"NPR, are you kidding me? You want to compare this amazing Olympic opening ceremony with the silly event by a so-call activist/actress that no one knows????"

I'll concede the point. The ceremony might well have been amazing. But now, it appears there was definitely some C+C Music Factory/Zelma Davis lip synch action happening that night.

Here's more from the UK's Telegraph:

The girl in the red dress with the pigtails, called Lin Miaoke, 9, and from a Beijing primary school, has become a national sensation since Friday night, giving interviews to all the most popular newspapers.

But the show's musical designer felt forced to set the record straight. He gave an interview to Beijing radio saying the real singer was a seven-year-old girl who had won a gruelling competition to perform the anthem, a patriotic song called "Hymn to the Motherland".

... [Chen Qigang's] interview gave an extraordinary insight into the control exercised over the ceremony by the Games' political overseers, all to ensure the country was seen at its best.

Officials have already admitted that the pictures of giant firework footprints which marched across Beijing towards the stadium on Friday night were prerecorded, digitally enhanced and inserted into footage beamed across the world.

... "The main consideration was the national interest," he said. "The child on the screen should be flawless in image, in her internal feelings, and in her expression. In the matter of her voice, Yang Peiyi was flawless, in the unanimous opinion of all the members of the team."

That was until attention turned to Yang Peiyi's teeth. Nevertheless, Mr Chen thought the end result a perfect compromise.

"We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation," he said. "We should all understand it like this: it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture ... So we made the choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi -- after all, we have a perfect voice, a perfect image and a perfect show, in our team's view, all together."

Cultural relativism aside ... Lin Miaoke (the cuter, more TV-friendly lip syncher) was even "allowed to give interviews in which she lapped up the praise for her singing."

What do you think about this made-for-TV controversy?

Geoffrey Bennett

11:45 AM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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What Do Obama, McCain's Offices Say About Them?

Barack Obama's office (left) and John McCain's office (right) / Credit: AP

Wondering how John McCain or Barack Obama would fare as leader of the free world? Their Senate offices may offer some indication. Here's more from the Associated Press via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

(The following hotlinks take you to photo galleries.) "McCain's office oozes comfy clutter and informality: random piles of books, a fortune-cookie message taped to the desk, an abundance of tchotchkes and bric-a-brac. Obama's office feels more like a gallery of modern art: precisely placed objects, sparsely adorned surfaces, clean lines, choreographed displays."

Play armchair psychologist for a minute: What tales do these dueling offices tell about their occupants?

Geoffrey Bennett

11:30 AM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

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Notes on the News: Ethiopian Singer Jailed

In Ethiopia, Jailed Singer Is a Political Symbol
In what is being called a nationally galvanizing incident, Ethiopia's reggae star Tewodros Kassahun is being held on prison on charges of striking a homeless boy with his BMW before fleeing the scene. Fans of Kassahun are skeptical due to the fact that he wasn't charged until April, although the boy was apparently killed in 2006. Many believe that he is being framed due to the perceived anti-government message in much of his music.

Tennessee Defies Cliches on Race and Politics
Tennessee has proven itself to be a state that defies the stereotypes of racial politics. Though its voting body is comprised of a majority of black voters, Tennessee's 9th Congressional district -- where Dr. King was assassinated by a white man -- voted against African American candidate Nikki Tinker in favor of her white opponent, Stephen Cohen. "Whites have voted for blacks and blacks have voted for whites in this state, but never like this before."

SF African American Population Shrinking
Researchers are noticing a rapid shrinking of San Francisco's African-American population, where black people are disappearing faster than in any other sizable U.S. city. Research shows that this is happening because of growing lack of good schools, affordable housing, jobs, and black culture. Over half the black population has left between 1970 and 2005. Most blame the Redevelopment Agency.

Continue reading "Notes on the News: Ethiopian Singer Jailed" »

Blake Bishton

2:35 PM ET | 08-11-2008 | permalink

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Singer Isaac Hayes Dead at 65

One day after Bernie Mac's shocking death, we learn of the passing of another African-American star. Academy Award-winning soul music legend Isaac Hayes died in Memphis on Sunday at age 65.

Hayes made history by winning an Oscar for "Theme from 'Shaft'" -- the first African American to do so.

He also won a Golden Globe Award and a Grammy Award for the all-time classic.

Known as "Black Moses," Hayes -- as a song stylist of the highest degree and a multi-talented instrumentalist -- personified black soul music during the 1970s era.

Younger fans may know him for supplying the voice of the character Chef on the hit cartoon series South Park. A devout Scientologist, he would later resign from the show citing religious reasons.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, alongside Bill Withers and John Fogerty.

Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy, referred to Hayes as "a true renaissance man" in a statement issued today.

"After laying the groundwork for the Memphis soul sound through his work with Stax Records, his groundbreaking theme song and score for the movie 'Shaft' cemented his status as a musical icon," Portnow continued about the three-time Grammy Award winner.

"He was actively involved with our Memphis Chapter, sharing his creativity with established professionals and up-and-coming musicians alike," he said, adding that "the world has lost a true creative genius and a passionate humanitarian, but his indelible legacy will remain ever present. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and all who were inspired by the man and his music."

On an unfortunately macabre note, Hayes will next be seen alongside Samuel L. Jackson and the recently deceased Bernie Mac in the film Soul Men. Please leave your thoughts and well-wishes below.

Geoffrey Gardner

12:01 PM ET | 08-11-2008 | permalink

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In Memoriam: Bernie Mac

AP

On Saturday, comedian Bernie Mac passed away from complications related to pneumonia.

Though the comedian recently completely production on Soul Men with Samuel L. Jackson, most know him from The Bernie Mac Show and the Ocean's film franchise.

Share your thoughts and favorite Bernie Mac moments below.

Geoffrey Gardner

11:39 AM ET | 08-11-2008 | permalink

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Inside the Art of Scoring Hollywood Films

What would the movie Jaws be without that deep bass refrain?

Memorable films are often propelled by an inspired musical score.

ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) runs a summer boot camp for hopeful composers. The annual film scoring workshop puts a dozen applicants -- from among hundreds -- on a soundstage with a live orchestra to make move magic.

For more, Michael Bearden shares his story with NPR's Tony Cox. Take a look.

Bearden is an alumnus of the ASCAP film composing workshop, who has scored major movies and served as musical director for stars like Whitney Houston and Madonna.

Geoffrey Gardner

6:32 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Summer Reading: NPR's 'Intern Edition'

NPR's summer interns have been hard at work producing a multimedia program called "Intern Edition," and as of this week, it's finally finished. We've reported and produced stories on just about everything imaginable, from California's native languages to Muslim voters to local hip-hop artists.

To read or listen to our stories, visit our Web site at npr.org/internedition. Click "Listen Now" for the audio program, or visit the blog for extra reading on music, education, and our experiences this summer as we traveled the country and tried to tell a story with a sense of place.

Ashley Lystne

6:12 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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John Edwards Admits to Affair, Denies Love Child

John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards photographed in May 2008.

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Former presidential contender John Edwards today admitted an extramarital affair to ABC News, after lying about it publicly for nearly a year.

The National Enquirer was first on the story, publishing damning photos of Edwards earlier this week.

What follows are key points from the ABC News report:

Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her.

Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter's baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test.

According to friends of Hunter, Edwards met her at a New York city bar in 2006. His political action committee later paid her $114,000 to produce campaign website documentaries despite her lack of experience.

Rielle Hunter

Edwards said the affair began during the campaign after she was hired. Hunter traveled with Edwards around the country and to Africa.

Edwards said he told his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family about the affair in 2006.

Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.

The former Senator said his wife had not known about the meeting.

Edwards denied paying any money to Hunter to keep her from going public but said it was possible some of his friends or supporters may have made payments without telling him.

Edwards will speak with ABC News' Bob Woodruff on tonight's Nightline. Late today, Edwards issued a written statement. Here's some of it:

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

What do you think of Edwards' admission? And what shadow, if any, does it cast over the Democratic Party?

Flashback: Edwards Says He's 'In It for the Long Haul'

Geoffrey Bennett

6:08 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Tickets For Obama DNC Speech All Snapped Up?

barackobama.com

If you were planning to travel to Denver for Barack Obama's historic, open-to-the-public acceptance speech at this year's Democratic National Convention, you might be out of luck.

According to the AP, "in less than 24 hours, some 60,000 Coloradans requested tickets to Barack Obama's acceptance speech -- more than the number available to state residents, campaign officials said Thursday."

If you live in Colorado, you can get on the waiting list. If you live outside the state, you can request your access credentials here.

Either way, good luck finding a hotel reservation at this point. Not even Oprah seems able to find a room (excuse me ... presidential suite). She reportedly plunked down $50,000 to rent a house in Denver during the convention.

But if you are going, let us know. And if you want to meet up with our News & Notes team on the ground, drop us a line.

Geoffrey Bennett

5:38 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Beyonce Looks Lighter In Latest L'Oreal Ad

[L'Oreal Beyonce (left) compared with normal Beyonce (right)]

L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics maker, is denying that they lightened singer Beyonce's skin tone for a recent magazine cover. Following the allegations, reps for the Paris-based company had this to say:

"We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L'Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color."

It's obvious, when comparing Beyonce magazine covers, that the L'Oreal version is lighter. Do you feel the modeling and fashion world favors lighter toned models? Don't forget to throw in your favorite conspiracy theory!

Geoffrey Gardner

12:50 PM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Two Opening Ceremonies, Two Very Different Games

Actress/activist Mia Farrow has her own idea for an Olympic opening ceremony.

Via Web cast, she's showing "Darfur refugees in the barren deserts of eastern Chad playing sports on sandy fields. ... Human rights groups, including Farrow's Dream for Darfur, have been using the Beijing Olympics to highlight accusations that China's close ties to the Sudanese government are helping fuel the bloodshed in Darfur, where the U.N. says up to 300,000 people have been killed." Read the rest.

What do you think of her chosen form of protest?

And will you be watching the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? I have to say, for some reason, I'm about as excited for these Olympics as I am for a rerun of, say, 227.

Geoffrey Bennett

11:54 AM ET | 08- 8-2008 | permalink

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Notes on News: Obama Muslim Outreach Director Out

Obama's Muslim Outreach Director Resigns
Mazen Asbahi, an attorney who volunteered to help the Obama campaign reach out to Muslim and Arab-Americans, resigned from the campaign Monday. Asbahi briefly served on the Dow Jones Islamic Index Fund, resigning his position on the board when he "became aware of public allegations against another member of the board." He said he was resigning from the presidential campaign "to avoid distracting from Barack Obama's message of change."

Mauritanian Military Overthrows President
The elected president of Mauritania in northern Africa was overthrown in a relatively quick and painless military coup on Wednesday. President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, along with many government officials were placed under house arrest, ending the nation's brief experiment with democracy.

Human Rights Take Field in China
With the Beijing Olympics only a day away, human rights takes center stage as critics attack China for banning Darfur activists from the country. In response, and in criticism of China's support of the Sudanese government, the U.S. has selected former Sudanese refugee Lopez Lomong to carry the flag in the opening ceremonies. Lomong: "It's more than a dream... There are no words to describe it."

Continue reading "Notes on News: Obama Muslim Outreach Director Out" »

Ashley Lystne

1:51 PM ET | 08- 7-2008 | permalink

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Detroit's 'Hip Hop Mayor' Ordered to Jail

Getty Images

Oops! Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been ordered to the county jail after a judge found he had violated his bond by traveling out of the country, to Canada, and not informing the proper legal channels. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., the mother of Kwame Kilpatrick, fought to save her political career Tuesday in a primary election overshadowed by her son's scandal.

In his defense, the mayor said he was sorry and that it won't happen again. The ruling by Judge Ronald Giles came after the apology, and he claimed that he would have given the same treatment to any other criminal that arrived at his court. Naturally, Kilpatrick's attorneys say they will immediately appeal the ruling.

We would love to hear from our Detroit-area audience. What is your reaction to this latest troubling news?

UPDATE: Detroit Mayor To Be Released, Faces New Charges

Geoffrey Gardner

11:20 AM ET | 08- 7-2008 | permalink

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Headlines: Obama and McCain Bicker Over Tire Gauge

Obama Is Pumped Up Over Attack
After arguing about issues such as war, taxes, and healthcare, John McCain and Barack Obama are now debating over tire gauges. When Obama advised motorists to properly inflate their tires to help reduce oil consumption by improving gas mileage, McCain responded by handing out tire pumps which read: "Obama's Energy Plan." Obama retaliated, adding, "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

Detainee Convicted by Military Panel
The first military commission trial in the U.S. since WWII ended Tuesday in a conviction for Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, on war crime charges. Hamdan was acquitted of a conspiracy charge. Hamdan faces a possible life term.

In Changing Harlem, Soul Food Struggles
Many traditional soul food restaurants in Harlem are losing customers and closing down as life in the city changes. Increased health consciousness and a growing demographic of wealthier young adults, including African Americans, are some of the many reasons these venues are on the out.

Continue reading "Headlines: Obama and McCain Bicker Over Tire Gauge" »

Blake Bishton

6:18 PM ET | 08- 6-2008 | permalink

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How Bazaar! Tyra Banks Becomes First Lady

Harper's Bazaar

Call it an homage to Michelle Obama, or call it what you will. Either way, there's no denying that Tyra Banks' new pictorial project for Harper's Bazaar is a tad weird. In a photo spread available on their website, Tyra and some dead-eyed male model try to invoke the Obama family spirit at work and play.

When it came to paying homage to Michelle Obama for this story, Banks found the process "surreal." "It's kind of embarrassing," she confesses, "but in my early 20s, I used to want to be a princess. But I didn't want to have to marry somebody in order to do it! Of course, I don't see the position of first lady as a princess, where it's something you have to marry into. With Barack Obama, his becoming president is them becoming president because Michelle was there from the beginning. Without Michelle, he wouldn't be there." Or, as she pronounces to her Tyra Banks Show camera after her Oval Office portrait, "Michelle Obama, you're one hot mama."

What do you think of the pictures? You can read her entire interview over at Harper's Bazaar.

Geoffrey Gardner

11:51 AM ET | 08- 6-2008 | permalink

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Lawsuit Exposes Rift Between Gays, Blacks in DNC

The Democratic National Committee's former gay and lesbian outreach director, Donald Hitchcock, has filed a lawsuit against the organization, and it's reverberating in political circles.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, "Hitchcock was fired by the DNC in May 2006 after his domestic partner sent an open letter to gay Democrats criticizing Dean and suggesting that gays should temporarily withhold donations to the Democratic Party."

Interestingly, the lawsuit has exposed a rift between blacks and gays within the party, as described by DNC Chairman Howard Dean in his videotaped deposition ... care of YouTube:

Read the rest of the story, and share your thoughts.

Geoffrey Bennett

6:18 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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Headlines: Teenagers Charged In Immigrant's Death

Mexican's Death Bares a Town's Ethnic Tension
Four teenagers in Shenandoah, Pa., have been charged in the death of Luis Ramirez, an illegal Mexican immigrant, who was beaten to death weeks ago. Ramirez's death has illuminated conflicts in the town that surprise local officials, who claim that local ordinances promoting discrimination against illegal immigrants in hiring and renting policies have nothing to do with the area's climate of increasing ethnic tension.

Hunger is Once Again Stalking Ethiopia
Rising food prices along with drought combine to form a new hunger crisis that is reminiscent of 1984 famine that killed almost one million people. Oddly, Ethiopia couldn't look greener right now, but children are still dying from malnutrition right and left. The Ethiopian government claims that the situation can only get better.

Up From Chicago
The term "uppity," a word the McCain campaign has used to describe Barack Obama, has a history of being used to refer to "Negroes who didn't know their place." By using terms like this to paint Obama as arrogant, the campaign may be pandering to voters who think maybe Obama doesn't know his place either.

Continue reading "Headlines: Teenagers Charged In Immigrant's Death" »

Ashley Lystne

5:44 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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Who Speaks for Black America? Nobody, Study Says

iStockphoto.com

Sharpton? Nope.
Tavis? No way.
Jesse? Not him either.
Obama? Well, maybe ...

A recent Gallup poll shows "29 percent of black Americans name Barack Obama as the individual or leader in the United States whom they would choose as their spokesman for race issues, but 49 percent name someone else and nearly a quarter produce no name."

Read the rest of the results,. Then take our poll, which replicates the Gallup survey.

Geoffrey Bennett

4:32 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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Headlines: Obama Wants Florida and Michigan Back In

Obama Wants Michigan and Florida Back In
Sen. Barack Obama has formally requested Democratic Party leaders to grant voting rights to Florida and Michigan delegates at the national convention. They had initially been stripped of voting rights for violating party rules. In a compromise reached in May, the delegates were granted half votes, but Obama is now pushing to fully reinstate them.

Track Squad Tries to Unite a Divided Country
Human rights activists have pushed for boycotts against Sudanese teams in this year's Olympic Games, as the conflict in the Darfur region persists. But 19-year-old Kaki Khamis, a runner and Sudan's best hope for its first Olympic medal, is hoping to get to Beijing to "do something positive for Sudan."

Out of FEMA Park, Clinging to a Fraying Lifeline
State and federal officials in New Orleans have been struggling to address the thousands of people left homeless when the Renaissance Village, a FEMA trailer park outside of Baton Rouge, closed down in May. No one is sure how many people are left homeless and ineligible to receive further aid from FEMA, but their numbers far exceed expectations. Many are mentally or physically disabled.

Continue reading "Headlines: Obama Wants Florida and Michigan Back In" »

Blake Bishton

3:25 PM ET | 08- 4-2008 | permalink

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'Elle' Magazine Heads 'Out Of Africa' With Diamonds

Here's one for the "Say what?!" file: The September issue of Elle magazine features "tribal inspired" diamond jewelry, made in the shape of African masks, courtesy of ... wait for it ... De Beers.

Yes, De Beers -- the same company founded by the controversial Cecil Rhodes, which admitted to price fixing in 2004.

And we're trusting that Elle's editors are little behind the curve on the particulars of Africa's conflict diamonds.

Here's more via Jezebel. Tell us what you think.

Geoffrey Bennett

12:28 PM ET | 08- 4-2008 | permalink

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Lifestyles & Trends: Wendy Williams' Catfight

Farai Chideya talks with Newsweek correspondent Allison Samuels about the new pro-Obama Ludacris track, Halle Berry's paparazzi woes, and a fiery exchange between reality show villain Omarosa and new TV talk show host Wendy Williams.

On the Show: Ludacris Blasts Obama Rivals in New Song
More: Jill Scott to Wed Drummer | Encounters on BET Red Carpet

Geoffrey Gardner

11:35 AM ET | 08- 4-2008 | permalink

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Mark Sawyer: Obama Has No 'Race Card' To Play

Earlier this week, presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Barack Obama was "playing the race card," when the Illinois senator warned an audience that his Republican rivals would try to scare Americans against voting for him.

Mark Q. Sawyer heard that charge and offers this piece, titled "Barack Obama Has No 'Race Card' to Play, But John McCain Sure Does."

Sawyer is director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and the author of Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba.

What is "the race card" anyway? It appeared in the context of the O.J. Simpson trial when Robert Shapiro, O.J.'s lawyer, worried that by doing his job as O.J. Simpson's attorney had lost his whiteness card.

Shapiro said, "'Not only did we play the race card, we dealt it from the bottom of the deck.'" That phrase was echoed as a defense by McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, in justifying the McCain's campaign likening Barack Obama -- a former state senator, editor of the Harvard Law Review, community organizer and sitting U.S. Senator -- to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The two, of course, are most known for partying, sex tapes, eschewing underwear, and flights of fancy with drunk driving, drug use, jail and child neglect.

The New York Times has accurately pointed out the connection with the Simpson trial and the irony of McCain's use of it. Now we have pundits arguing whether the "race card" was played or not, without anyone have a clear idea of what a "race card" is -- if it exists at all. But I think I can help here.

Continue reading "Mark Sawyer: Obama Has No 'Race Card' To Play" »

Geoffrey Bennett

6:07 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Obama Heckled For Ignoring Black Issues

"Siddown," said Barack Obama to a group of hecklers during a town hall meeting today in Florida.

The group -- members of the Uhuru Movement -- interrupted Obama with a banner reading, "What about the black community, Obama?"

We talked about it on today's reporters' roundtable and we'll follow up on Monday with one of the hecklers involved.

Take a look and tell us how what you think.

What should black people rightfully expect of Barack Obama now as a candidate, and later should he become president?

Read the Full Question & Answer Exchange

Geoffrey Bennett

5:15 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Your Camera, Cell Phone Subject to Search?

Next time you head across the border, you may want to hide your iPhone or digital camera when you return. U.S. customs officials are said to be searching electronics in the name of security.

Here's more from Gannett via ABC News:

Jawad Khaki came to America for justice and freedom. But he says he doubts those ideals after U.S. customs officials have repeatedly searched his smart phone when he returns from abroad.

Khaki's story joins other reports in the past few years of U.S. customs officials searching laptops, cellphones and digital cameras in the name of security. In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of border searches of electronics in a child pornography case.

"I've had to unlock my phone and show them my scheduled tasks, calendar and contacts," said Khaki, 50, a corporate executive who has been a U.S. citizen since leaving England 23 years ago.

... The Homeland Security Department has not released numbers on how often electronics searches occur, but Gurley points to a survey by her group indicating that 7% of business travelers have been subject to the seizure of a portable device.

Do you consider this an invasion of privacy?

Geoffrey Bennett

1:34 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Latest McCain Campaign Ad Is Causing An Uproar

A new campaign ad from John McCain, titled "Celeb," compares Barack Obama's worldwide popularity with that of oft-troubled Hollywood stars Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Do you feel the following ad justly critiques Obama? Take a look:

Things got crazy on The View after Joy Behar jokingly suggested that the McCain version of the ad would feature Cocoon star and diabetes spokesman Wilford Brimley. (Unlike the Britney camp, the Brimley camp had no response.)

Do you feel that the tone of either campaign is turning more negative? What are some of the issues you would rather hear about? Sound off below!

Related: Is Mudslinging the Only Way McCain Can Win?

Geoffrey Gardner

1:22 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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