Democrats in Alabama, homophobes, or stupid racists?

[dsc]

http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=8883

‘If I was black I don't think they would have contested’

Todd said she believes the challenge has nothing to do with the fact she is gay, but is about the fact that she is white and won in a majority black district.


"Of course if I was black I don't think they would have contested the election," Todd said. She blamed the contest on Joe Reed, longtime chairman of the black Democratic caucus, who wrote a letter before the election urging black leaders to support Hendricks because of her race and stressing the need for keeping the seat in black hands.


Segall also alluded to Reed's influence in his closing statement to the committee.


"This is about race. Folks are upset that a white woman won in a black district. There are some times you just have to say 'this isn't right,'" Segal said.


Contacted after the hearing, Reed said he was not responsible for filing the election challenge, but he said he believes Todd should be disqualified for violating the party rule.


"The rule requires everybody to file it. The rule doesn't exclude anyone from filing it," Reed said.


He said Todd should be punished for not following the rule, because the challenge was filed against her and not against other candidates.

end of quote

No one disputes that Ms. Todd won a race in her district. No one disputes that both candidates, and all Democratic candidates since 1988 have violated the rule for which Ms. Todd lost her seat. The only dispute here is why did this happen? Is it because she is gay or because she is white? I honestly hope it is due to her being gay. That would make the Alabama Democratic Party bigots but at least smart bigots. I would imagine that gay friendly voters in Alabama don't grow on trees. Thus they are only alienating a small percentage of voters with their bigotry. If it is because she is white then the party has done a rare twofer. They managed both to pander to voters and to turn of the majority of voters at the very same time. What, pray tell, should a person say to a racist white who refuses to vote for blacks after a candidate who wins gets removed for being white at the behest of blacks?

I hope they are merely homophobes. The alternative is just too scary to contemplate.

[William769]

1. Or both?

[Nicole]

2. All of the above

Homophobes, stupid and racists.

[MadMaddie]

3. they could have handled this in-house without removing her

I agree all of the above.....

[Kickoutthejams23]

4. I vote racist.

This isn't the first time Democrats have said no whites need apply when it comes to running in "certain" districts

[dsc]

5. I think it is the first time a white winner was removed

for such a slip shod reason.

[Solo_in_MD]

9. Starting to sound like a district in NYC as well

[OwnedByFerrets]

6. I really object to your broad brush

of naming ALL democrats in Alabama as either homophobes or racists. I am neither and dont appreciate being called one.:evilfrown: If you are going to continue to use that headline in your post, at least change it to "some" please. Lets dont fall prey to the repug tactic of swiping with that all emcompasing brush.

[nealmhughes]

7. This was a backroom deal by her Democratic challenger's mother in law and

a small group in the state party structure. The state party's head has denounced the move. The mom in law pressed an arcane statute of the party that dated from the days when the state had no state-wide reporting of finances of campaigns, which it has had for some time and the full disclosure is made to the Sec. of State instead of a party committee.
This small committee made the decision she was "ineligible," not the members of the party nor its executive committee in Alabama.
Noone knows the motives for sure. Sour grapes? White vs. Black? Gay vs. Straight? The mother in law and the loser were ready to grasp for any and all to sway the committee, and they won -- for now. But don't be surprised if an executive committee doesn't get involved really quickly, as threated yesterday in the local news in Huntsville...

[JI7]

8. why do you think homophobe is better ?

wanting to keep the seat for a black official doesn't seem so bad if you look at it from the perspective that there is a lack of representation for blacks and just looking at the reasons for why affirmative action started in the first place.

white racists will not vote for a minority no matter what. they are racist.

[dsc]

10. The got their majority black district

but presumedly some number of blacks voted for the woman who won despite race based appeals. It is one thing to draw majority minority districts something which is good. It is quite another, when the black candidate loses, to throw out the results. Any candidate running statewide in Alabama needs some percentage of white votes to win. This isn't going to appeal to them.

[KingFlorez]

11. They should know better

After the way blacks were discriminated against in Alabama for years and to some extent still are, it's wrong to be doing something like this.