Two years ago, I attended an AARP women's luncheon at the
famed 21 Club restaurant. The wife of Rep. Charles Rangel, Alma
Rangel, also attended, and one of the organizers offered me the
opportunity of an introduction. I declined as politely as
possible, fearing I might inadvertently blurt out to her,
"Oh, you poor dear. You have my deepest sympathy."
At the time, Mr. Rangel had been making comments that defied
comprehension and I had been so shocked at his injudicious
remarks about our military that I wrote a column about it. In a
television interview, he more or less accused our soldiers of
deliberately killing innocent Iraqi women and children. In
another interview, with radio host Steve Malzberg, he called the
Iraq war "the biggest fraud ever committed on the people of
this country. ... This is just as bad as the 6 million Jews being
killed."
Apparently emboldened by the fact that his outrageous remarks
outraged only conservatives, Mr. Rangel has now demonstrated that
when it comes to smearing the president, he has carte blanche
with members of his party. At a town hall meeting of the
Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Rangel said to the cheering
crowd, "George Bush is our Bull Connor." Local black
community leaders (I use that term very loosely) like the
Reverend Al Sharpton, Rep. Major Owens, and Council Member
Charles Barron not only supported Mr. Rangel, they went even
further. Mr. Owens said President Bush was even more diabolical
than Connor. Mr. Barron added, "To be a racist in the
richest, most powerful country in the world is lethal. Look what
he's doing to communities of color all over the world. He's a
lethal racist."
Mr. Rangel was referring, of course, to the infamous Alabama
police official who turned hoses and police attack dogs against
innocent, unarmed, nonviolent civil rights protesters. What Mr.
Rangel and his fellow Democrats have not pointed out, of course,
is that Connor was a Democrat, as were George Wallace and Lester
Maddox. In fact, the 1964 Civil Rights Act needed the support of
Republicans to get through the legislature because the Southern
Democrats were vehemently opposed to it.
Mr. Rangel and many in his party are part of the black leadership
that has long taken the black community for granted, and that's
probably what inspired the title of Herman Cain's book,
"They Think You're Stupid."
Mr. Cain is a Southern man, born in Georgia, who probably has a
better understanding of the Bull Connors of the world than the
Harlem native Mr. Rangel. Mr. Cain was in New York recently on a
book tour promoting what has to be the definitive book on where
the black community stands in the eyes of both parties. Mr. Cain
refers to many in that community as the politically homeless.
He charges that the Democratic Party is losing voters because its
usual rhetoric has been exposed as empty. Republicans can't get
these voters because its rhetoric doesn't resonate with many of
them. Voters, Mr. Cain says, are hungry for common sense, a sense
of urgency, and real leadership.
He is a rarity in politics, a black Republican, but that
description does not connote any allegiance to a political party.
I contacted Mr. Cain to get his reaction to Mr. Rangel's remarks.
He said, "Rangel's comment is another perfect example of how
prominent Democrats think their constituency is stupid, in an
attempt to keep them on the Democratic plantation. The comparison
is ridiculous and an insult to anyone who thinks for
themselves."
In the introduction to his book, Mr. Cain writes, "My name
is Herman Cain and I used to be stupid. This is because I did not
know the history of the Democratic Party, nor did I know the
history of the Republican Party. Like millions of voters, I used
to make my voting decisions based on news, sound bites, political
labels, distortions, misinformation, and sometimes no information
at all. ... I am now a graduate of 'Stupid Anonymous' and want to
share my awakening with others."
How I wish that Mr. Cain were a New Yorker. Perhaps he could
awaken the black voters who continually vote for representatives
like Messrs. Rangel, Owens, and Barron. These are politicians who
always resort to interjecting race into issues rather than
offering real solutions. Because the most powerful black man and
woman in American history are not Democrats, Colin Powell and
Condoleezza Rice are regularly denigrated as race sellouts. That
the black community in New York hasn't recognized the absurdity
of that calumny means that some are just plain "stuck on
stupid."