You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.

[RACER X]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.

“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill from shitville,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

The remark stirred a murmur at the reception, held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation as part of a series of events revolving around the 25th anniversary of Jackson’s run for president. Several CBC members were in attendance, including Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who’d introduced Jackson.

Davis, who is running for governor, is the only black member of Congress from shitville.


He is also the only member of the CBC to have voted against the healthcare bill earlier this month.


Davis referred to Jackson’s 1988 run for president in a statement, issued through his office, that said he would not engage Jackson on his criticism.


“One of the reasons that I like and admire Rev. Jesse Jackson is that 21 years ago he inspired the idea that a black politician would not be judged simply as a black leader,” Davis’s statement said. “The best way to honor Rev. Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.”


Jackson said later that he "didn't call anybody by name and I won't."

He added that he wasn't saying that black lawmakers must vote a certain way. Instead, they should vote the interests of the people in their districts, and he said the healthcare bill would help shitville because it's one of the poorest states in the country.

"The poorest people need healthcare protection," Jackson said. "They have the highest infant mortality and the lowest life expectancy. They're dying from lack of access."

Other members of the CBC found no fault in Jackson's words. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) was in the audience. He called Jackson's criticism of Davis "accurate," but said he did not hear Jackson say "You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man."

"If it is an issue that disproportionately impacts black folks, race has to be considered," Cleaver said. Jackson, he added, "is expected by his constituency to call balls and strikes."

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called the remarks "vintage Jesse Jackson," but said Davis's vote against healthcare was consistent with a voting record more conservative than many CBC members.

"Artur Davis has a more conservative constituency," Waters said. "Since he's running for governor of shitville, he reflects an even more conservative constituency."

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said each man was doing what he considered the right thing.

"People have a right to vote their constituency, and people have a right to speak their conscience," Jackson-Lee said. "Both happened."

Davis’s Democratic primary opponent, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, highlighted Davis’s status as the lone African-American vote against the bill.

“He was the only Black Caucus member to vote against it. I don’t get it,” Sparks said last week, according to The Associated Press. Sparks is white.

Davis said he voted against the healthcare bill because "House leadership's approach is not the best we can do." He said he preferred a version passed by the Senate Finance Committee because it reduces subsidization of the healthcare industry, taxes high-value health plans instead of wealthy people, and is more effective in getting employers to help with health coverage.


Davis has countered that Sparks’s position on healthcare has changed over time, saying he’s being “deliberately dishonest.”


The primary will be June 1. All of the GOP candidates for governor have been critical of the healthcare legislation, according to the AP.

This story was updated at 9:55 p.m.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/68...f-a-black-man=

[Homeslice]

“The best way to honor Rev. Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.”

Owned

"If it is an issue that disproportionately impacts black folks, race has to be considered," Cleaver said.

No, it's an issue that disproportionately impacts POOR people. The fact that it also disproportionately impacts black people is a distant second to that as far as importance.

[101lifts2]

Maybe the healthcare bill sucks? Hmmmmm.....I mean 2074 pages has to be loaded somewhere with PORK.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Owned

Absolutely. That was a very proper and diplomatic BURN!

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Absolutely. That was a very proper and diplomatic BURN!

No shit. I read it twice becuase I wasn't sure I read it correctly.

If a white person votes FOR healthcare does that mean they can call themselves black?

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Smittie61984

No shit. I read it twice becuase I wasn't sure I read it correctly.

If a white person votes FOR healthcare does that mean they can call themselves black?

It worked for Bill Clinton.

[nhgunnut]

Lets just be proud that there is someone of intelligence in the Democratic party that recognizes that the bill is an amalgam of FAILED ideas who regardless of his race or political party seems intelligent and ethical.
Let face it this bill is nothing more than a Trillion Dollar political notch for Mr. Obama's belt.

[Ineffable]

I really wish someone would assassinate Jackson already. I am black and I still know he is an idiot. I agree with nhgunnut, the healthcare bill is complete shit. I haven't seen the latest polls but last I heard something like 60% of Americans don't support it. People like Jackson and Sharpton are what keep racism alive today. A KKK member stands on the street corner screaming that blacks should be killed is ignored and just considered crazy, one of those two idiots gets on a pulpit and says something then every undereducated black person starts bitching about inequality and how the white man is keeping them down. Last time I checked you could opt out of putting your race on a job application (it only helps anyways to fill 'quotas') and race isn't an issue in obtaining student loans or bettering yourself.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Ineffable

I really wish someone would assassinate Jackson already. I am black and I still know he is an idiot. I agree with nhgunnut, the healthcare bill is complete shit. I haven't seen the latest polls but last I heard something like 60% of Americans don't support it. People like Jackson and Sharpton are what keep racism alive today. A KKK member stands on the street corner screaming that blacks should be killed is ignored and just considered crazy, one of those two idiots gets on a pulpit and says something then every undereducated black person starts bitching about inequality and how the white man is keeping them down. Last time I checked you could opt out of putting your race on a job application (it only helps anyways to fill 'quotas') and race isn't an issue in obtaining student loans or bettering yourself.

It seems to me that race not being an issue is exactly the problem in Jackson's/Sharpton's eyes. They want there to be advantages for those who check the "African American" box that aren't available for others. While I understand why they want it I still can't bring myself to agree with it.

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by goof2

It seems to me that race not being an issue is exactly the problem in Jackson's/Sharpton's eyes. They want there to be advantages for those who check the "African American" box that aren't available for others. While I understand why they want it I still can't bring myself to agree with it.

Sharptons just looking for his next payday he seems to have it with the sean bell shooting so hes going to lay low untill that goes to civil court yet theres tons of blackon black crime in NYC he can do something about but theres no money in it for him.

jesse I can deal with now I would be happy if someone put a bullet in that assholes head.

Tom