Some women took Tammy Wynette’s song “Stand By Your Man” to the absolute extreme. Amid political corruption, love children and scandalous affairs these wives have held it down for their men, many times defending them until the bitter end.

Check out this list of ride or die wives at Black Enterprise.com.

I’m a relatively young cat when placed against the historical fabric of American politics. My first legal voting election was 2000, when I, along with the democratic majority of the country, agreed that the other guy should sit at the Oval Office.

An insightful course on politics and journalism in college taught me a few things about the changes that have occurred in the public approach to politics throughout the years, but nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught of mind-numbing Fawkery accompanying the current political zeitgeist.

Succinctly put, white people lost their damn minds the moment a darkie stepped into the big seat. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Republican Party…a group of people with generally specious ideas that seems to have devolved in the past few years into a sad clown show. I can respect a fundamental difference in ideology between two people who simply agree to disagree on the issues. But the problem with politics in this young decade is that the issues have taken an absolute back seat to what makes people feel good on a superficial level. And superficiality is no way to determine the country’s leadership.

It’s been empirically proven that the voting populous gravitates toward attractive, strong-looking leaders (if Obama looked even remotely like Booger from “Good Times”, his ideology and ability to inspire wouldn’t have mattered a damn…he wouldn’t be in office). That’s fair enough, but the Republican Party has demonstrated that the “Dude, let’s be friends!” ethos is all that’s necessary to usher folks into office.

It all started with Palin. This woman came out of obscurity to dominate the political landscape during the 2008 presidential election. Her then-rapidly growing number of fans failed to care about the fact that she was wholeheartedly ill-equipped to run her family, let alone a superpower nation of over 300 million. But she had that support system because people thought they were “like her;” folks related to her willful ignorance to the degree that they thought she would be a good leader.

The current challengers to the 2012 GOP throne follow in this trend. Michele Bachmann – an intensified-in-her-batShytetiness version of Palin – got notoriety through her affinity of highly pious Christian values (and not being terrible-looking). Rick Perry can’t string a coherent thought together but looks like he used to bang sorority girls by the houseful. And Herman Cain only exists on anyone’s radar on the strength of a “9-9-9” tax plan proposition that any expert will tell you is devoid of substance.

Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are the patron saints of the party message, which plays up subtle racism the likes of which only those who understand it can recognize best. Even still, I’d like to believe that a rational adult who claims the GOP could tell that the party message is one of lunacy. I know a few Republicans who claim Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul – two “less” crazy individuals – but too many listen to what the media has to say and wind up making woefully Shytety decisions on what diseased horse to back.

I’m not exactly enthralled with Obama and what he’s got going on in the big seat. But if I were a Republican who looked at the situation objectively, I’d be absolutely embarrassed to claim the party.

In an interview with Joy Behar, actor, singer and Civil Rights activist, Harry Belafonte, sat down to discuss his new book, “My Song”. During the interview Behar also mentioned Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. After Mr. Belafonte stopped pretending like he didn’t know who Cain was, he called him a bad apple among other things. Take a look at a clip of the interview, which will air in its entirety Friday on CNN.

Cain has been made aware of what Belafonte had to say and he responded in writing to The Hill newspaper.

“As far as Harry Belafonte’s comment, look, I left the Democratic plantation a long time ago. And all that they try to do when someone like me — and I’m not the only black person out there that shares these conservative views – the only tactic that they have to try and intimidate me and shut me up is to call me names, and this sort of thing. It just simply won’t work.”

What do you think is Belafonte right about Mr. Cain?

by Eric L. Wattree

At the very outset I’d like to make an unequivocal assertion – entrusting our economy and the well being of the poor and middle class to the GOP is like entrusting the well being of a child to a convicted child molester. If you think that’s hyperbole, simply ask yourself who was the last Republican president who didn’t drag our economy into a ditch. If you want to say Ronald Reagan, forget it. In spite of the fact that Reagan ran on a platform of limited government and economic responsibility, during his tenure he not only tripled the national debt, but did more spending than all of the presidents who preceded him – COMBINED. In addition, he effectively destroyed our industrial base in the process..

The GOP is only good at two things – propagandizing, or reframing their message to put the best face on their grossly malevolent agenda, and squandering our national resources in pursuit of that agenda. You see, they love the economy just the way it is – the rich are making money hand-over-fist, the government doesn’t have the resources to sufficiently regulate their activities, and the poor and middle class are in such dire straits that instead of making demands, they’re fighting among themselves for any crumbs that the rich are willing to throw at their feet.
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In short, the GOP is engaged in the process of lowering the standard of living of the American middle class in order to make their corporate friends more competitive in the new global economy. So if they have their way, our current condition will never change. In fact, they intend to make it a lot worse.
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And why shouldn’t they? After all, the recession isn’t having a negative impact on them or their corporate constituency – they’re doing better than ever. It’s only the poor and middle class that’s suffering, and once they get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and the unions, we’ll be totally dependent on the corporate class for our very survival. Then they’ll be right back up in the catbird seat, just like the good ole days, before they had all these pesky rules and regulations, and before that “socialist,” Franklin Roosevelt, decided the American people needed to be protected. “Let ‘em protect themselves; that’s the American way, survival of the fittest – cope or die” It’s interesting to note, however, that they didn’t feel that way when their corporations were in trouble.
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It is in pursuit of this agenda that Grover Norquist, one of the most powerful men in the GOP – a man who’s gotten virtually every Republican in congress to sign a pledge to NEVER vote to raise taxes – indicated that he wanted a government small enough to drown in a bathtub. Specifically, he said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
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Thus, the GOP wants a government just large enough to protect the interest of their corporate cronies around the word, send American youth to their death in pursuit of their corporate greed, and large enough to cover their gambling losses on the global market. But they want that same government to be too small to protect the American people from contaminated food, drugs, and water, and much too small to protect us from corporate manipulation, and safety, health, and fairness issues on the job – and they certainly want it too small to administer programs like Social Security and Medicare.
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This is a totally un-American and ruthless bunch. Norquist is also quoted as saying, “Our goal is to inflict pain. It is not good enough to win; it has to be a painful and devastating defeat. We’re sending a message here. It is like when the king would take his opponent’s head and spike it on a pole for everyone to see.” The opponent that Norquist is talking about is the well being of the American people, and all those who advocate in their interest.
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Take a moment to consider the ramifications of his pledge to never raise taxes. That permanently protects the rich from having to pay their fair share of any burden, regardless of the national emergency. Thus, no matter what tragedy might befall this nation, if we can never raise taxes, that means that the burden of addressing that emergency must come out of the pocket of the poor and middle class in the form of fewer governmental services and protections. That’s their way of attacking the poor and middle class safety net. Since Social Security and Medicare are much too popular among the American people to attack head on, their strategy is to ravage the United States treasury in order to make them too expensive to fund.
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We currently see this strategy at work in congress as we speak. Republican House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, is refusing disaster relief funding for states hit by Hurricane Irene without being offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Talking Points Memo reports that Laene Fallon, a spokesperson for Cantor, said that “We aren’t going to speculate on damage before it happens, period. But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts.”

.This episode betrays much about the GOP mindset. First and foremost, it clearly demonstrates that the GOP leadership couldn’t care less about the welfare of the American people. Secondly, it clearly illustrates their gross hypocrisy. They claim that they’re so concerned about the national debt that they’re willing to deny disaster relief to Americans suffering the ravages of a hurricane, yet, they’re not so concerned that it prevents them from giving trillions of dollars away to the top 2% of the population. Thus, by their demonstrated behavior, the GOP has betrayed their belief that subsidizing the wealth of the wealthy should take priority over relieving the suffering of poor and middle-class Americans – and these people are asking us to turn the government over to them? Please.
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And Mr. President, the facts presented above are exactly why it’s so important that you refrain from confronting your base with terms and phrases like compromise, bipartisan, and shared sacrifice for the rest of your days in office. Your base is sick to death of hearing them. We’re not stupid, and we understand that the American people have been compromised to the hilt. And engaging in bipartisanship with the GOP constitutes nothing less than consorting with the enemy of American democracy.
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As for “shared sacrifice,” that’s really a joke. What you’re asking us to do is cut a pie into ten pieces, give the GOP nine of them, and then engage in negotiations over the sliver that’s left.Give us a break, Mr. President. Stand up and fight. Give the American people a clear choice, and start lecturing the GOP like you did the Congressional Black Caucus.

Oh, and one more thing. Get that quiver out your voice. We know you ain’t Martin Luther King, and we also know you’re in campaign mode, so don’t insult our intelligence. It’s disrespectful.

By Jay Anderson

With more and more GOP candidates throwing their hat in the 2012 ring, silly season is officially underway. In an effort to prove who loves America the most and loves Obama the least, the 2012 presidential aspirants are figuratively elbowing each other out of the way as they jockey for position in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. This brand of retail politics has already produced some absurd moments. Here are 11 of our favorites — so far. With this cast of characters, there are certainly going to be more.

1. Herman Cain Escapes “The Democratic Plantation”
By playing the “I’m not like the rest of those black folks” angle on the campaign trail, former pizza magnate Herman Cain has become a darling of the Tea Party set. He has also repeatedly trashed Obama’s biracial upbringing by stating that he could be the first “real Black President.” But it’s Cain’s oft-repeated “I left the Democratic plantation, and I ain’t goin’ back” line that really gets em’ riled up. And truly makes little sense.

(Associated Press) — Most Americans haven’t heard of Herman Cain, the former head of a chain of pizza restaurants who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination.  But in Iowa, home to the nation’s first presidential caucuses, Cain has caught the attention of conservative activists influenced by the tea party movement who aren’t bothered by candidates who have succeeded in business but have never held a public office.

“He’s creating quite a buzz,” said former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Richard Schwarm. “He is someone Iowa caucus-goers are going to take very seriously.”  Cain, 65, from suburban Atlanta, has visited Iowa several times recently and will return to Des Moines on Monday for a conservative forum. Cain likely will express views similar to other speakers, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, but he’ll offer a vastly different resume.

Apart from a failed 2004 run for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Cain hasn’t sought election to public office. Instead, he held a series of high-profile business positions that culminated with part ownership of the Godfather’s Pizza restaurants. He left the company in 1996 and among other positions has worked as host of a radio program in Atlanta, where he espoused his views against abortion and in support of a strong national defense, a smaller government and a return to the gold standard.

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