The statement that "Democrats hate blacks" is simply ridiculous. Vrai says that former slave owners were all Democrats. This is completely true. Slaveowners were Democrats, but this was at a time when the Democratic Party was very different from the modern one. This was when the party was directed by the Jeffersonian concept of "states' rights." Jefferson and his Democratic followers believed in a "strict constructionist" interpretation of the Constitution and were labeled conservatives. Because of their viewpoint at that time, the South, where most the slaves were, was solidly Democratic. The newly formed Republican Party, meanwhile, was labeled as "Radical" and leaned to the left of the political spectrum.
The Democratic Party after Reconstruction continued to turn their back on the plight of newly freed slaves while liberals in the GOP sought to create colleges for blacks and went so far as to suggest that the Freedmen's Bureau provide ALL former slaves with 40 acres and a mule (how's that for socialism?). It was not until FDR's time that the Democrats started to concern themselves with blacks. Under Harry Truman, the armed services were desegregated and it was after this time that the conservative southern Democrats started to lose their power. JFK pushed civil rights and LBJ got the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act through Congress. Some will point to the fact that a higher percentage of Republicans voted for the legislation than Democrats but this does not account for the fact that a sizable portion of Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress was from southern states.
This leads us to 1964 Election between LBJ and Barry Goldwater, who voted against the Civil Rights Act. This year started the Republican "southern strategy." This strategy sought to play on southern discontent over Democratic leaders' support for civil rights legislation. This strategy was so divisive and so negative towards blacks that RNC chairman Ken Mehlman decided to apologize for his party's use of it recently before the NAACP. The southern strategy was first utilized by Goldwater, then Nixon and Reagan sought to exploit it as well (he stated in 1980 that he would not have voted for civil rights legislation). During this time, southern "Democrats" promptly changed their affiliation to the GOP. Since the end of Reagan's 1980 campaign, however, we have not truly seen the "Southern Strategy" in its finest and I do not expect for that to be resurrected any time soon (the only true recent use of it was Jesse Helms use of the white hands ad).
To sum up, we have the Democratic Party having a poor history with blacks from the 1800s to the early 1900s when conservatives dominated party thinking then from 1932 to 1964, the Democrats took the forefront in pushing for civil rights, then from 1964 to 1980 we have Republicans trying to exploit Democratic support for civil rights to score political points with southern conservatives. What this leads me to believe is that both parties are willing to exploit ANYTHING to receive support while there are some courageous leaders in both parties who are willing to take risks and do the right thing (like Lincoln freeing the slaves and JFK standing up for equal rights).
In the end, everyone should try to take a step back and try to not throw out wild accusations like "your side is racist, while mine loves minorities." Do not take your own reading of a certain political position and try to impose it as the truth for the other side (as you do vrai with the statement that Democrats want to keep the self-esteem of blacks down through Affirmative Action; that is just plain untrue, many Democrats have gone through a logical process and have merely reached a different conclusion from you). Do not believe that labeling people as "African-American" is racist; I have no problem being called an "Irish-American" and blacks have no problem with being "African-American." It is just silly to think that that is racist. Essentially, everyone mellow...we can have different conclusions, doesn't make us racist.
As for the Maryland Senate race, Ben Cardin is the better bet for me and I plan on voting for him next year in both the primary and the general.
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