9:59 p.m. PT: Although I’m sick of politics, I decided to participate in TV One’s Presidential Forum project. The network will link to black political bloggers starting today, leading up to a presidential forum webcast on Saturday, December 1 (yes, it’s almost December).
TV One is a “a new cable/satellite television network, programming primarily to African American [Cringe!] adults.” The network recently aired “Roots: The Next Generations,” which I thoroughly enjoyed. Hadn’t seen it in years.
My sister think it’s unwise to stop blogging about politics altogether. She says there’s a lot at stake in presidential races, and who is in the White House makes a difference in our lives, even though it may seem pointless to care. I suppose she’s right. 
I haven’t been following political news, so I’d like to know the who, what, where, when, and how of the presidential race. Can you catch me up? What’s the latest Clinton and Obama news? What do you consider blog-worthy?
Update: Shelby Steele has written a book titled A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win. I haven’t read the book, but according to a review (forgot where I read it), Steele says that because Obama grew up somewhat privileged, he was to exaggerate black America’s “oppression” to appeal to black voters, or something like that. Most Democratic politicians do that, don’t they?
Other reviews:
La Shawn,
Since ‘92 when I voted for Perot over Read-My-Lips Papa Bush & not taking down Saddam, I didn’t care anymore about national politics. My refrain was We The People deserve the govt we get. If Bill Clinton is good enough for us, then by Jove, even Bozo, the world’s most favorite clown qualifies for candidacy.
Ditto when the GOP offered Dole & Dubya (2000). By the time I realized that Dubya wasn’t a chip off the old block and appeared more conservative than republican, it was too late to register to vote for him, although he got my vote in ‘04.
More than ever, what drives this conservative is SCOTUS. The next POTUS is bound to appoint 1, maybe 2 in the 1st term and possibly 2 more by end of 2016. I simply can not abide the thot that a socialist secular progressive will be selecting nearly half of SCOTUS simply because conservatives sat out this election.
By the same token, the GOP needs to understand in no uncertain terms that we’re interested in conservatives, not republicans id it means socially and/or fiscally liberal. Bush has failed in this regard for not holding the fire to the feet of earmark happy congressionals.
Trent Lott is retiring next month. Good riddance and don’ let the door hit you on the way out.
Comment by Andy — 11.26.07 @ 2:23 pm
…I’m sick of politics…
My sister think it’s unwise to stop blogging about politics altogether. She says there’s a lot at stake in presidential races, and who is in the White House makes a difference in our lives, even though it may seem pointless to care. I suppose she’s right.
It’s important, but there are already a lot of people covering it. It’s early in the game, so most of them are spending time and energy on candidates who will be knocked out in Iowa or New Hampshire.
Forcing yourself to blog about something you’re sick of out of a sense of duty is unlikely to result in posts that are either influential or enjoyable to read.
If you run across a situation or issue where you are uniquely positioned to have a disproportionately large effect on the debate, go for it! But I suspect if such a situation arises the “sick of it” feeling will evaporate and you’ll find yourself instinctively wanting to blog it.
Comment by Ralph Phelan — 11.26.07 @ 4:19 pm
If you run across a situation or issue where you are uniquely positioned to have a disproportionately large effect on the debate, go for it!
Excellent advice, Ralph. I didn’t plan on forcing myself to blog about the candidates. I just thought readers had a few ideas…
Comment by La Shawn — 11.26.07 @ 4:25 pm
I vote in the NH primary and even I’m not paying much attention yet. I’m waiting to see if Iowa will knock some candidates out of the race and reduce my research load.
Comment by Ralph Phelan — 11.26.07 @ 4:55 pm
I am little sad that you do not want to blog about politics anymore, because your political based posts were great. I did not agree with you 100%, but I loved this blog. I still read through the archives, because I did not discover this blog until the end of 2005.
As far as the latest news on Senators Clinton and Obama is concerned, Sen. Clinton is pure socialist, but it looks like she is losing some ground due to her stance on illegal immigration. You need to check up on Sen. Obama’s attitudes and prospective policies on illegal immigration and gay marriage.
Is this forum going to include the Republicans?
If so, you can do the same check up on Rudy Giuliani. You can look into whether there is any truth to the charge that Mike Huckabee is not a real conservative.
I hope that the 2008 presidential politics pull you back in for a little while. It brought RightwingSparkle back to blogging.
What is the time frame for the forum? I want to watch it, but due to a prior committment, I may be able to catch the end of it.
Comment by Bev — 11.27.07 @ 11:59 pm