The behavior of white Democratic Party leaders and white registered Democratic voters in Maryland is nothing new nor should their actions have come as a surprise to Kweise Mfume and his supporters. Nonetheless, Mfume and other black Democrats in Maryland have faithfully and loyally gone along with this behavior on the part of white Democrats since the 1960s. They have had ample opportunity to punish their white Democratic colleagues any number of times but chose not to do so for reasons that I do not accept as valid.

Now when we have a real chance to mitigate the harm being done to our country by the Bush Administration and its vast army of enablers and co-dependents, George Curry and others want to pull out the nationalist card and urge black voters to vote for a black candidate who does not owe any loyalty at all to black voters. During Steele's bid for the lieutenant governor's slot he talked, at least to black people, about initiating a study to look at how death penalty sentences are meted out in Maryland. Since being elected he has been as quiet as a tree stump on this issue.

The policies and social character of the Bush Administration have been detrimental to this country and especially to black Americans. Wresting control of the U.S. Senate from the Republican Party - the party of war and violence - should be a priority for black Americans. Maryland's black elected and appointed Democrats need to get their own house in order instead of using the black electorate to settle scores that they were too afraid to deal with by using their own political capital.

Where were they, for example, when former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke bravely challenged that state's and the nation's political establishment by publicly declaring the war on drugs to be a failure and calling for the legalization of drugs? These so-called black leaders hid behind the skirts of the Democratic Party and said virtually nothing while Schmoke was denounced and demonized by the Clinton Administration and the usual coalition of know-nothing ministers and other useful idiots who serve to keep the black community in a state of ignorance and fear on public policy issues. Treating drug possession and usage as a criminal problem instead of a public health problem has been absolutely ruinous to black communities all over the country.

I understand and appreciate George Curry's anger, but his proposed solution will not help black folks and it will not help to put an end to this terrible war. Maryland's black elected and appointed officials need to get up off of their rusty-dustys and stop trying to hold on to their place at the public trough. Urging black voters to do something that is contrary to their best interests is not a good place to start reforming Maryland's Democratic Party. It is not just white Democrats who need an attitude adjustment there.

I won't speculate on his...and Russell Simmonds'...intent out loud. I don't think this will accomplish it.

I think everyone knows where I'm at with the Republican Party.

I'm with you on the Reps come rain or come shine. Since the end of World War II the Republicans have engaged in the most dishonorable and despicable attacks possible on the Democrats. (Too many Democrats have rolled over and played dead in the face of this onslaught.) Now when the Republicans have clearly been caught with their drawers down, well, at least figuratively, they want to whine and cry and point fingers at the Democrats.

I've known all along that the Republicans were, at bottom, just bullies and wimps. 

so the election is about something bigger than individuals, and that bigger thing is...."demanding respect"?!?

this line has been used so many times over the past 100 years that we accept it as common sense. but what does it actually mean? i use a vote in many ways, but to "demand respect" isn't one of them. in fact as i think about it when was the last time that the left, actually was given a chance to vote for policies/candidates they actually WANTED?

what i'd like to see someone like george talk about, and maybe i should use this for a commentary, is about actually putting forth policies that black people want, instead of being placed in the position where we have to passively choose to support one or another candidate with our vote. this position "naturally" leads to (and comes FROM) the broker model we've been victims of since we could vote.

what i'd like to see someone like george talk about, and maybe i should use this for a commentary, is about actually putting forth policies that black people want, instead of being placed in the position where we have to passively choose to support one or another candidate with our vote. this position "naturally" leads to (and comes FROM) the broker model we've been victims of since we could vote.

Well, there's an interesting option...

My thought is, this suggestion could be to Mr. Curry's influence with the Black communities as the Iraq invasion is to American military power in exposing its limits. And I'm not feeling a fundamental difference between coming to Black churches just before Election Day to influence votes, and coming to the Black communities just before election day to influence votes.

Amen to all that, KSpence!

If we do not have an agenda and a program, then we will forever be tied to the broker model in which certain people playing the role of HNICs "pretend" to negotiate with political candidates, office holders and policy makers on our behalf.  The deals they generally cut tend to favor them, their families, friends, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers and college classmates but seldom, if ever, the people whose political capital these leaders are trading on.