These Are the Kind of Black Men Who Sold Black People Into Slavery

To Penguin Board of Directors,

 .

Here's the follow-up on yesterday's discussion that I promised you. Yes, I'm on an absolute mission, and if I'm successful, which I intend to be, I will have made a huge contribution to the Black community.  So this has gradually become a life's mission for me. As I mentioned in our discussion last night, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West represent the very same kind of Black people who delivered African-Americans into slavery when we were in Africa: "Hurry, everyone, and bring your children! The nice White man wants to take you for a boat-ride!" And these are not opinions I'm putting forward here - these are facts.  Thus, anyone who wants to argue this point, can argue with the facts. 

.

So, for me, the exposure of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West as frauds represents a debt that's way past due. And they need much more than to simply be admonished. They should to be completely, and permanently, boycotted by the Black community. Everything they touch, or is associated with should be boycotted. Because as long as Black people continue to give them a platform, they'll continue to be used by Wal-Mart, ALEC, the GOP, and other enemies of the people to undermine the Black community.  So they need to be made an example of, as a warning to anyone who may be contemplating following in their footsteps. We've got to make pimping the Black community an act of treason against the community, and we should bring it to an end, once and for all.  Four hundred years is long enough to tolerate such nonsense.

 .

 BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

The Real History of The Poverty Tours
. 

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Smiley/West Wannabe

The hostility that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have for President Obama is so transparent that if it were glass we would have walked right through it and cut ourselves to shreds. These two are shameless, and it’s not only a national disgrace how the establishment media is allowing them to prance around posing as the savior of the poor and middle class, but they're actually helping them to perpetuate this fraud by providing them constant coverage and millions of dollars worth of publicly supported air time.

.

These two thought that they were gonna become the Grand Dragons of the Black Community - which is a very profitable gig when you’re in the business of selling ALEC-connected corporations access to the Black community like Tavis Smiley. Tavis is the biggest corporate shill in the Black community. He fronts for Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, Exxon/Mobile, Allstate Ins., Nationwide Ins., etc. - a veritable who’s who of the corporations that are most responsible for victimizing the poor and middle class in the country, and who are spending millions of dollars to obstruct minority voter rights. That’s what makes it so ironic that they’re trying to portray themselves as the saviors of "the poor minorities."

.

During Obama’s first campaign for president Smiley and West had already hitched their wagons to Hillary Clinton. She was 37 points ahead of Obama in the Black community at the time, so they were all set to gain the clout, prestige, and riches of having presidential access and being acknowledged as the new grand viziers of the Black community. But then, Obama won the election - in spite of their most ardent efforts - and caught them by surprise. In fact, Cornel West tried to jump the fence and began campaigning for Obama when it became clear that Obama might actually win, but Obama wasn’t having it. That's what caused the controversy over West not being invited to the inaugural celebration.

.

At the time, West tried to frame the issue like Obama was an ingrate for not inviting him to the inauguration after he campaigned for him. But he failed to mention the fact that less than an hour after Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States West went on national television and told the Black community that Obama couldn’t be trusted.

.
That’s right - on the very day that Obama went to Springfield, Illinois to maximize the historic significance of announcing his candidacy for president in the shadow of Lincoln's former statehouse instead of coming on Tavis' "State of the Black Union" jibfest, West stood up and did an impassioned rant indicating that Obama couldn’t be trusted to be president because he didn’t come on the Tavis Smiley show, as though Tavis was the gatekeeper of the Black community - and all the while Tavis is standing there grinnin' like a chess cat as though they'd caught Obama committing some sort of unconscionable act.
.
Look at the video below and notice how entitled West sounds, as though it was more appropriate for Obama to come kiss Tavis’ ring than to announce his candidacy in the shadow of Lincoln’s former statehouse. I remember becoming slack-jawed at his unmitigated arrogance. Up until that moment I had been a big fan of both Tavis and West, but that was when I first realized that they were egomaniacal fools. That was also the morning that I started investigating them, and I’ve written nearly 30 articles on them since.
.

The video is also ironically prophetic. Notice how even as West is lecturing the nation on how Obama is surrounding himself with people who can’t be trusted, you can see Wells Fargo and Exxon/Mobil logos floating by in the background behind him. What makes that so prophetically ironic is Tavis was later involved in the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loans" scam, where Wells Fargo ended up having to settled a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice agreeing to pay poor and middle-class minorities $175 million as a result of the scam. This is the biggest scandal EVER perpetrated by a Black man on the Black community, but the establishment media is refusing to cover it. That’s why I’ve become so fixated on bringing the machinations of these two demagogues to the attention of the Black community.

.

As This Video Was Being Recorded Tavis Smiley Was Knee-Deep in a scam
that Roped 30,000 Poor and Middle-Class Minorities into the Wells Fargo
subprime loan scheme, or "The Ghetto Loan Scam,"
That Would Cause Many of Them to Lose Their Homes
and Life savings.  

.

So the Bottom Line is this - when people like myself criticize Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, or Boyce Watkins, we’re not criticizing them because they’re critical of President Obama; our problem with them is they’re cherry-picking their facts and telling half-truths to promote their own agenda.
.

HEY, AREN'T YOU THE SAME GUY
WHO SAID I COULDN'T BE TRUSTED? 

A prime example of that is they are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans. So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community, or anyone else, is to get the Republican House to go along with him.
.
That’s why it’s so important for the president to hold together a coalition of Blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and every other segment of the American population. He needs ALL of us to place pressure on the Republicans to loosen the purse strings in order for him to get anything done. So anytime you hear Tavis, West, or Watkins pointing their finger at what President Obama is doing for any other segment of the population, they’re doing you a disservice.
.
Here’s how politics works - "you support me when I need you, and I’ll support you when you need me." So whenever President Obama does anything for other segments of the population, he’s building up political capital so he can help you. But, of course, he doesn’t discuss what he’s doing for the Black community for a very good reason - as Cornel says himself (when it’s convenient), "Race Matters."
.

These gentlemen know full well that if President Obama runs around bragging about what he’s doing for the Black community, the Republicans are going to use that as leverage to tear his coalition apart. They would tell women, gays, Hispanics, and everyone else in America that Obama doesn’t care about them; all he wants to do is help his own people, and that message hurts the Black community. Don’t these so-called intellectuals recognize that? If they don’t, they’re dumb. If they do, that means that they’re purposely trying to mislead you. The question, then, is why?
.
So the fact is, when people like Tavis, West, and Watkins run around telling you that the proof that President Obama is not working for you is that he refuses to throw his fist in the air, these people are working against you, not for you - and they know it. You see, their primary agenda is NOT about helping the Black community. Their agenda is about tearing President Obama down, and again, that hurts you. But they don't care - and that's the problem.

.

.

RELATED ARTICLES

A Question For Both Tavis Smiley and Cornel West 

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html

.

Poverty Pimp, Inc.

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/poverty-pimp-inc.html

Eric L. Wattree 
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

 

 .

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

 

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

 

Sphere: Related Content

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - 'Bligoted' Turncoats Without A Home

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - 'Bligoted' Turncoats Without A Home

.

Why are Tavis Smiley and Cornel West always so racially inflammatory when referring to the policies of President Obama? Every comment they make seems to be hostile, disrespectful, and racially slanderous. Cornel West, who was alleged to be an intelligent man, doesn’t seem to be able to open his mouth without alluding to "Black puppets," "house negros," or referring to people who disagree with him as being on "Obama’s plantation."
.
They claim to want to be taken seriously, yet, they just can’t seem to bring themselves to say, "MR. PRESIDENT, I think you're making a serious error. Here are the reasons why," and then going on to engage in an intelligent and constructive discussion of the issues.  Instead, they rant and rave and name-call in a way that they never did against neither Bush, nor Clinton.
.
So are these two individuals really interested in the issues they’re discussing, or are they simply using the political issues as a pretext to attack President Obama the man? Their strident behavior is clearly not simply an oversight on their part, because in response to comedian, Steve Harvey, referring to Smiley and West as ‘Uncle Toms,’ Cornel West said the following:
.
"When you’re trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling get’s in the way. Name calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction." - Cornel West. (http://www.eurweb.com/2011/08/steve-harvey-ain%e2%80%99t-sorry-about-what-he-said-except-the-uncle-tom-thing/) 
.
So what’s the deal with these two. Why are they KNOWINGLY barraging America, and the Black community, with their "weapons of mass distraction?"
.
Based on their own definition, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are deeply engaged in a game of mass distraction. They’re not only PURPOSELY lending comfort to the enemies of the Black community - after all, PRESIDENT OBAMA is the most powerful symbol of Black competence in the world - but they’re also slapping the Black community in the face in the process, because every time they're disrespectful of the president, FOX News and every White racist and bigot across this country take that and run with it. They say, "We told you that Black people are incapable of handling power - they don't even have any respect for Obama themselves."
.
So since their propensity for distraction clearly demonstrates that they're not legitimately trying to address the issues, why are Smiley and West engaged in this outrageous behavior? The answer is quite simple. Just like the GOP and the corpo-Republican congress' strategy of promoting gridlock and maintaining high unemployment as a weapon against the American people, Smiley and West are using hostility and confusion to PUNISH America for electing this Black president. Never mind, that their activities cause division and distract from the president's attempt to create jobs and improve conditions all over America, and, in the Black community - "let the people suffer" - the only thing that matters to them is their own self-serving agenda.
.
Thus, as a direct result of their self-service and bitterness, Smiley and West have allowed themselves to become a tool against their own people. Black people have had a serious problem with that sort of mentality for nearly 400 years. The reason for that is, Black people are the product of the very same racist environment as White people, so the weaker-minded among us tend to be just as racist towards other Black people as any sheet-wearing Hillbilly. Their attitude reflects the position that Black people (except for themselves, of course) are inferior, so any Black man who thinks he's equal to the White man is a phony. That's clearly the attitude of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. 
.
Like much of Black America, at one point I had a tremendous amount of respect for these two individuals, but once they began to engage in the behavior described above, I quickly began to realize that they are two ignorant, self-serving, and weak-minded Black men who are doing a tremendous disservice to the Black community with their public stupidity. That's why I've made exposing them to the Black community a way of life. In many ways I'm hurting myself, because I should be writing books and talking about other things, but I've decided that this issue is so important, that I'd make exposing Tavis Smiley and Cornel West for what they are my contribution to my people (I recognize that discussing oneself in an article is bad form, but I'm often asked why I'm so fixated on Smiley and West).
.
While people like Tavis and West put on a good front of being super-Black, they're actually overcompensating for the way they really feel. Such people have such low self-esteem and want to be accepted by the White man so badly, that much like a beaten-down and defeated dog they feel a dire need to crawl up with their tail between their legs, and then turn over and reveal their stomachs to win the approval of those who look upon them with disdain. This is clearly the case with this Tavis and West.
.
While they engage in a lot of militant rhetoric, they engage in that rhetoric with a wink towards the White establishment. Clear evidence of that fact is Tavis Smiley’s close association with Walmart, Wells Fargo Bank, and various other ALEC-connected corporations that leave no stone unturned to victimize and undermine the Black community, including a brutal assault on the Voters’ Rights Act.
.
If Smiley was truly as dedicated to the Black community as he claims, he would not only NOT be associated with these corporations, but he would be speaking out against them with the most pronounced vigor. But when was the last time you heard either Tavis, or West, say one critical word against Walmart, or how Wells Fargo Bank, along with Tavis’ able assistance, victimized over 30,000 poor minorities in what the Department of Justice described as the second largest housing discrimination case in the nations history? (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html)
.
The same is true of Cornel West. In the 2000 election he teamed up with Ralph Nader and helped George W. Bush get elected President of the United States. Bush won the election in Florida by a mere 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition stripped away 97,488 votes from Vice President Gore in Florida alone. But did he say, "I made a big mistake?" Absolutely not. West tried to team up with Nader AGAIN in the last election to do the very same thing to Obama. So the problems that West is criticizing Obama for not fixing fast enough, West himself helped to create! In addition, since he tried to do the very same thing in the last election, we can’t even give him the benefit of a doubt by saying that he might have made a mistake. (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/09/once-again-nader-and-west-team-to-elect.html)
.
But there’s an irony here. Much like the defeated dog, people like Tavis and West never manage to win the love and respect they seek. All they succeed in doing is generating even more disdain, not only from their own people, due to their disgustingly weak behavior, but also from those whose approval they so desperately crave, because no one likes a person who is so weak, and has so little character, that he or she will turn on his or her own. Yes, the White establishment will use them to their advantage, but they’ll hold their nose in the process. Thus, that leaves Tavis and West homeless - nobody wants to claim them, other than other turncoats like themselves.
.
The bottom line is, Tavis and West are actually Black racist - "bligots" (Black-on-Black bigots) - and by definition, all racist are desperate individuals. One of the primary reasons that people become racist in the first place is because they recognize their innate mediocrity as individuals. As a result, they want to believe that in spite of their personal shortcomings, they’re special by virtue of some benevolent gift of nature that’s been bestowed up them. In short, since they see themselves as having very little personal value, they base all of their feelings of self-esteem upon being a part of a ‘special’ and exclusive club. That’s why racists - both Black, and White - hate Obama so intensely.
.
Obama’s position and superior intelligence is an assault on the self-esteem of all racists - both Black and White. For White racists, Obama’s very existence destabilizes the lie of innate superiority that they depend upon to maintain their self-esteem. Black racists tend to hate him for the same reason. They tend to believe that they’re an aberration, and an accident of birth made them innately superior to their own people. Therefore, they hate Barack Obama because his very presence clearly demonstrates that they’re nothing special. So essentially, they hate Obama because he represents a pie in the face of their delusions of grandeur.
.
Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Sphere: Related Content

Tavis, West, and Malcolm

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Tavis, West, and Malcolm



While browsing the web this morning I came across an article written by Dr. Boyce Watkins blaring, "Cornel West Says that Sharpton, Dyson are “Up for Sale”: Let’s Talk about That One, Shall We?" My first reaction was, "Hmmmm, Dr. Dyson must have gotten a new job."
.
The reason that's the first thing that came to mind was because Cornel West is rapidly building a reputation for attacking anyone in the Black community who tends to overshadow him. This tendency, and the reckless and petty way in which he pursues it, has become so pronounced in West that it's beginning to betray his primary agenda as a whole. He's not interested in the Black community at all. All Cornel West is interested in is keeping Cornel West in the media spotlight.

.

West is quick to drag out any shortcomings that he can conjure up regarding anyone black that tends to step into his spotlight. Take President Obama, for example. I don't recall West ever being so disrespectful to George W. Bush. That speaks volumes about his mentality and both he and Tavis' lack of respect for Black people in general. But they always try to claim that their critics are simply "trying to kill the messenger."  Well, in a sense they're right, because with respect to President Obama, their true message is, "How dare that spook try to con us into believing that he's good enough to do a White man's job?"  And that's a message worth killing.
.
And West's hatred and envy continue with his disrespectful remarks about Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry. Just like with Obama, West was fine with Dr. Perry at first. He recruited her to come to Princeton and they were colleagues. But once it became clear that Dr. Perry had a mind of her own, and that she wasn't prone to hero worship, West began to undermine her at Princeton, so she quietly left.
.
That should have been the end of it, but once West found out that she had been given a show on MSNBC, all hell broke lose. Instead of this good brother - who only lives to serve his people - being gratified that another intelligent Black voice gained access to the national media - as anyone who is genuinely concerned about the Black community should be - he caved in to his petty personal sentiments and publicly insulted Dr. Perry by calling her “a fake and a fraud.”  That’s not the behavior of either an intellectual, a mature adult, or even an intelligent Black man, at least, one who has even an iota of respect for the very womb of his culture.
.
So again, it seems that Cornel West is always prepared to preach a much better sermon on black love and respect than he's willing to live. His comments were extremely disrespectful toward both Black women, and the Black community as a whole. A true brother - a true man - wouldn't even speak to a lady like that in private, much less, badmouth her like that publicly.

.
Whatever happen to the concept of cherishing our women?  No one should have to teach Cornel about that. As a so-called Black intellectual, that's exactly what he should be teaching our young people - that it's impossible for them to have any respect for themselves, if they don't respect the very womb of their culture. How can anyone profess to be an intellectual and fail to understand that very fundamental concept?  West also betrayed his elitist sense of entitlement, as well as his disdain for the poor and working class, when he complained about a mere baggage handler getting tickets to the Presidential Inauguration while he couldn't.

.

And it doesn't end there. West has also seen fit to go after Jay-Z. Obviously Jay-Z was getting a little too much publicity over his part ownership of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclay Center. So West took it upon himself to set the record straight. In essence, he said, "Wait a minute, world! That pickaninny don't own nothing. TheWhite man owns it! So you see, I'm still the man!" Okay West, but what does fronting off Jay-Z have to do with moving Black people forward?
.
So Cornel West is not only a demagogue, but he's a demagogue of the very worst kind. Just before he sticks a knife in your back, he starts talking about "how much he loves his brother, however . . ."  That may be so, but with "good brothers" like Cornel West, we'd all be better off orphans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E6lS0gLH18

.

.

Now he's also badmouthing Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr.Michael Eric Dyson, saying they're "up for sale." What's wrong with this guy? What evidence does he have of that? If he has evidence to substantiate what he's saying, he should produce it.  If he doesn't, he should shut up.   How does it benefit the Black community by his running all over the country slandering every high-profile Black person who doesn't see things his way? He seems to have something to say about everybody but his buddy, Tavis, who's one of the most prolific corporate shills in the Black community. Tavis also have close associations with several corporations, including Walmart, that are, or have been, a member of ALEC, an organization that's left no stone unturned to deprive Black people of their right to vote - and we've got evidence of that.

.     

DO YOU BELIEVE NATIONWIDE
IS ON YOUR SIDE?

So the fact is, many in the Black community have allowed themselves to be hornswoggled by both the media, and Cornel West. The bottom line is,West is nothing more than a self-absorbed, egomaniacal fraud who hasn’t had an original thought in 35 years, and it looks like the Black community is the last to recognize that.

.
Some of us have allowed ourselves to be bedazzled by two words - Harvard and Princeton. The establishment has effectively used those two words to convince many of us to accept, without examination, that Cornel West has more sense than we do. That's what accounts for the rabid defense of him in some quarters. These people need to step out of their media-constructed bubble, open their eyes, ears, and minds, and stop letting others dictate who they listen to.
.
The White establishment has been propping West up with their very special kind of hype for all of his 35 years in the public eye. Yet, I have never met one person who can tell me one profound sentence he’s uttered in the three-and-a-half decades that he’s been on the public stage - and a stage is exactly what it's been, because West is more of an entertainer than an intellectual.
.
Tavis and West are exactly like Herman Cain, but with one exception - at least Herman Cain is honest about supporting the GOP. But Tavis and West are using a technique used by the FBI during COINTELPRO, when J. Edgar Hoover was trying to bring down the civil rights movement in the sixties. During that time Hoover sent in a bunch of "undercover brothers" just like Tavis and West. They were so radically militant that they turned off the American people, and they were so divisive that they caused the movement to turn on itself. That’s exactly what Tavis and West are doing today.
.
These two turncoats are trying to place Obama in an untenable position. They’re using militant rhetoric to insist that President Obama play Blackjack at a poker table, knowing damn well that he can’t do that. If he tries, he'll turn the American people against him - in which case, he becomes impotent and can't get anything done for anyone. But if he doesn’t, Tavis and West are going to try to turn Black people against him, which would also serve to destroy his presidency.
.
That’s exactly the same thing the FBI did in the sixties. In the end, they had young Black people (who supported the harder line of Malcolm) calling Martin Luther King, "Martin Luther Coon" - including myself, I’m ashamed to admit. That’s exactly what Tavis and West are doing today. I saw the parallel immediately, and that’s why I’m dead on their asses. Maybe I can make up, just a little bit, for the stupidity of my youth.
.
Malcolm saw through the problem back in the sixties and tried to instruct his followers not to allow the establishment to divide us among ourselves. He’s said that it didn’t matter whether or not we saw eye-to-eye with Martin's approach on every issue. Our goal was the same, therefore, we were allies. He then made it a point to join with Martin, but they took him out before he could complete the process.
.
So while Tavis and West are always talking about, "Brother Malcolm," Malcolm would have long since seen through their game, and he would be absolutely disgusted with both of them, just as I am.

.

Related Articles

.

Wells Fargo to pay $175 million
. "If Tavis Smiley was white, Wells Fargo and ‘Ghetto Loans’ would be front page news," 'wrote Genma Stringer Holmes, a Nashville, Tenn., business owner and blogger who has blasted out several posts on the seminars."'
http://washingtonindependent.com/59633/suit-alleges-trusted-black-figures-drew-minorities-to-high-rate-loans
.

WELLS FARGO HIRED TRUSTED BLACK FIGURES TO ALLEGEDLY DRAW MINORITIES TO HIGH-RATE LOANS

. 

Tavis Smiley Headlined Seminars
Targeting African Americans

"The Washington Independent

reports that Wells Fargo & Co. allegedly targeted African American borrowers for higher-cost subprime mortgages. The bank attracted attendees to a series of day-long "Wealth Building" seminars held in black neighborhoods in eight cities across the country by featuring trusted black speakers.

"The seminars, promoted heavily in black media, featured prominent African American commentator and PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley as well as Kelvin Boston, the host of "Moneywise," a multicultural financial affairs show."

http://www.mysanantonio.com//business/article/Wells-Fargo-to-pay-175-million-3703567.php*
　

It's Time to Boycott Tavis, West, and All Black on Black Racists

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/09/its-time-to-boycott-tavis-west-and-all.html

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Sphere: Related Content

The Tavis/West Poverty Pimp Tour

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

The Tavis/West Poverty Pimp Tour

.

Why Attack a Sleeping Sentry Before Repelling the Invading Hordes?

.

While Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have the right idea in terms of the need to confront power, it’s their motives and the hypocrisy of their agenda that I have a problem with. They’re clearly being self-serving and purposely divisive, which plays right into the hands of those who continue to subjugate us.
.
The primary reason that our government doesn't work, and the institutions that are supposed to be protecting our rights have become monuments to the maintenance of the status quo, is WE, THE PEOPLE have allowed ourselves to become so distracted by the corporate promotion of social hedonism that we're allowing the most ruthless among us to take control of government.
.
As I point out in a message to the group, CARMA (Citizens Against Reckless Middle Class Abuse), the poor and middle class will never be secure in their homes, their standard of living, or their jobs until they ensure that their politicians, unions officials, and all other representatives of the people are insecure in theirs.
 .
Keeping the people divided is the coin of the corporatist realm, and I seriously suspect that Tavis is working in concert with the corporations that he continues to shill for - Wal-Mart, Exxon, Nationwide, Wells Fargo, etc. As for West, if he was even close to as intelligent as the corporate media would have us believe, he’d surely recognize the relevance of the Abraham Lincoln maxim that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” So West is either working in collusion with Tavis’ turncoat agenda, or he’s incredibly stupid for failing to recognize that social manipulators have been keeping the people under thumb with the tactic of social division for centuries - if not eons.
.
Cornel West has been on the losing side of the last three presidential elections - in 2000 he supported Ralph Nader, in 2004, Al Sharpton, and in 2008 he jumped back and forth between Tavis Smiley's criticism of Obama and Obama's camp, depending upon which way the political winds happened to be blowing at the time. That's why Obama has little use for him.
.
The fact that West is always aligned with losing agendas, and his efforts tend to always be detrimental to the poor and middle class, should clearly demonstrate that West's assessment of the political environment is based more on some obscure theoretical construct than what's practical and in the best interest of the people. He seems to view politics as more of an academic experiment than what actually puts meat and potatos on the table of the poor and middle class. Then when his experiment fails and the people are left miserable and hungry, he says, "Oh well, maybe next time." Then he disappears back into the comfortable embrace of academia to charge outrageously high speaking fees to explain why the poor and middle class don't have meat and potatos.
.
So the fact is, the people need to ignore self-serving demagogues like Tavis and West and simply take a lesson from the Tea Party. We need to strictly control those we allow in office and make them immediately accountable for their behavior, period. Thus the problem is not the system; the problem is our apathy, and our failure to control the system. 
.
The government is SUPPOSED to be us, but we've shirked our responsibility. We’ve allowed ourselves to become more interested in Kobe’s jump shot than we are the education of our children, the future well being of our families, and even the survival of the nation as a whole. We’ve also allowed corporate instigators to create so much animosity among the people that we’ve become more interested in hating one another than we are in coming together to protect our common interests - and Tavis and West are playing a major role in that.
.
We do need to get Obama’s attention, however - at this point that’s a given. But our approach should be through educating the people, not by antagonizing half of the population against the other. That’s counterproductive, and it’s also counterrevolutionary - and believe me, the turmoil that’s taking place here in the United States, in the Middle East and Africa, and now in the United Kingdom, clearly attests to the fact that we’re currently knee-deep in a global, class revolution.
.
But people like Tavis and West are advocating that we live in a fantasy. They want us to believe that we can lay all of our problems at the feet of Obama. The problem with that is, when you live in a fantasy you're forced to view reality as a myth, so they're completely ignoring the real culprit, and that's the malevolent agenda of the GOP - in fact, they're helping to promote that agenda by spurring division among the people. They’re engaging in the very same kind of hysterically flawed, self-serving, and demagogic behavior that Ralph Nader did during the 2000 election, which led directly to the misery of the Bush era, and ultimately, to the situation that we currently find ourselves.
.
Those of us who are students of political history have seen this Tavis/West demagoguery before. They’re following directly in the footsteps of Ralph Nader, one of the worst turncoats in American history.
.
During the 2000 election Nader should have pushed his agenda during the Democratic primaries, then if his position was rejected, he should have fallen in line and supported the Democratic candidate if for no other reason than to support the public good. He should have understood that it's foolish to become so disenchanted with the Bogeyman that you elect the Devil. But instead, when his position was rejected, he took it as a personal rejection and acted like a petulant child. He ignored the greater good and purposely sabotaged the Democratic agenda, along with all of the causes that he was supposed to be so passionate about all of his life, and took his ball (and votes) and went home.
.
Nader's treachery in this matter negated everything that he ever accomplished in his life. He also betrayed the fact that everything he ever accomplished was done purely for self-promotion and not for the public good, as we had previously assumed. His miserable act of treachery during the 2000 election was purposely designed to help George Bush to win the election. He purposely set out to deny the Democrats a victory in retaliation for rejecting him as a candidate. He placed his petulance before the best interest of the nation. That makes him just as culpable as Bush and Cheney for the death of over a million Iraqi citizens, and the maiming and death of thousands of American troops. He's also partially responsible for the nations current economic condition, which is a direct result of the Bush administration’s purposeful plundering of the United States treasury.
.
The Nader/West coalition claim that Nader simply stood on principles, and in an attempt to elude responsibility for bringing George W. Bush into power they contend that it wasn't Nader's fault that Bush won. Their contention is, "Gore simply didn't fight hard enough for a recount." But the underlying message to that argument is, Gore didn't fight hard enough to undo the damage that we'd done. Because the facts are clear. Bush won the election in Florida by 537 votes, and Nader took away 97,488 votes. So Nader's personal "principles" led directly to the death and misery of literally millions of innocent people. Thus, Ralph Nader should be remembered as one of the most miserable, self-serving snakes in all of U. S. History.
.
Tavis and West are now engaged in the very same sort of treachery as Nader, and it may very well lead to the same result, or worse, because you see, this time we’re going to be left with a fascist state. Look around you. The GOP has already turned the state of Michigan into Michighanistan. So what are we gonna do, refuse to vote for Obama in the next election and turn the country over to fascists? It sounds to me like that’s eactly what Tavis and West are advocating.
.
That brings me to yet another reason why the activities of Tavis and West send up a red flag for  me. Notice that nearly all of their hostility is directed toward Barack Obama. They’re saying little or nothing about the GOP, who are DIRECTLY engaged in undermining the poor and middle class. So I have to ask a very simple question. Why are they focusing all of their energy and resources toward attacking a sleeping sentry, while completely ignoring the invading hordes?
.
So something is very wrong here, or at the very least, tactically inept.
.
Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Sphere: Related Content

Wake Up Progressives, and Get Rid of the "Liebercrats"

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE Wake Up Progressives, and Get Rid of the "Liebercrats" Can you just imagine what the Republicans would do with their man in the White House and a majority in congress the size of the majority that the Democrats currently enjoy? They'd be invincible. The Republicans are horrible at governance, but they do know how to wield power. Just look at the mayhem they managed to commit under George Bush. So why is it, with their huge majority in congress, the Democrats are struggling to pass a healthcare bill that would benefit every family in America? The answer is clear - they tolerate too many Democratic turncoats. Yes, I've said this before, but it seems that it bears repeating. If the Democratic Party wants to continue to exist, it's simply got to get rid of its "Liebercrats." What's the sense of even having a party if it's going to allow people like Joe Lieberman and his clones within its ranks to sabotage its very reason for being? It is very commendable that progressives are so dedicated to their belief in social, political and intellectual, egalitarianism. It's commendable that they believe that all Democrats should be left to their own conscience with respect to public policy. But Democrats must keep in mind that they are also a party. Their only reason for being is to promote a progressive agenda. So while it's commendable to believe in a Blue Dog's right to independent thought, it's stupid not to demand some measure of basic loyalty while that politician is benefitting from their political brand, and living on their dime (make that, their constituents' dime). The turncoats within the Democratic Party is not only making them look incompetent, but foolish. It's no wonder the American people are prepared to accept a Republican lie before they'll accept a Democrat pointing out what's right before their eyes. At least the Republican will tell his lie with conviction, and stand up for what he's lying about. There is such a thing as being too tolerant, and Democrats are just that. They allow people to walk all over both them, and their truth - even other Democrats. Just think about the treachery that Joe Lieberman committed against the Democratic Party. After the Democrats oozed blood, sweat, and tears trying to get him elected to the vice presidency, this man turned right around and started snuggling up to the very man who literally stole the election from the Democrats. Then, he not only supported the Republican Party two elections later, but became the darling of the Republican convention. Now, after winning the 2008 election, the president and Democratic congress not only welcomed him back, but passed over a loyal Democrat to give him a chairmanship - even though his own Democratic constituency had long since rejected him. Can you even imagine the Republican Party doing such a thing? Of course not, because, again, even though Republicans are lousy at governing, they recognize that as not only bad politics, but down right stupid. The Democrats might as well have let the Republican Party bug the DNC. No vote is that valuable. And what did Democrats get in return? They got a self-serving sociopath with absolutely no character. Lieberman has simply thumbed his nose at all of the loyalty, effort, and money that millions of Democrats put into supporting his candidacy in the 2000 election. And is he the least bit repentant? Not hardly. Even now, in a healthcare reform initiative that the Democratic Party has sought since 1947, Lieberman's public position is, maybe we should hold off just a little bit longer. He wants to hold off just a little bit longer as 45,000 Americans a year die due to a lack of affordable health care. This man is nothing short of Benedict Arnold, in a party filled with them. But this is the people's fault. While I'm ordinarily not one to quote the Bible, in this case the verse seems to be particularly appropriate - "God helps those who help themselves." But the Democratic Party seems to be too foolish to recognize that fact. The Democratic base should be up in arms over their party supporting such people. Their resources are being literally squandered on people who are Democrats in name only - and in the case of Lieberman, not even that. The DNC is wasting their time, money and effort propping up politicians who are only Democrats when it's convenient to use the Democratic brand to help them obtain power and prestige, or receive Democratic contributions to help them be re-elected. These are people, just like Lieberman, who give lip service to Democratic principles in public, but when the rubber meets the road, they're hard at work behind the scenes sabotaging anything that challenges the status quo. But there is a very simple way to weed these people out. As the very first order of business with each new congress, the Democrats should caucus and agree upon a reasonable, but firm, primary agenda. Thereafter, bills should be put forward and amendments considered to address minor concerns. But after a bill has been agreed upon by the Democratic leadership, any Democrat who fails to support that bill should be stripped of any positions they hold due to Democratic seniority, and targeted for replacement the very next time he or she comes up for re-election. Democrats simply have to take disloyalty more seriously. They shouldn't even have to discuss the matter. It should be routine - just so the turncoat will know there's nothing personal. If a politician wants to use Democratic resources to be elected, he should be willing to stand in solidarity behind Democratic initiatives. If he wants to be independent, he has that option. But let him be true to his fiscal or ideological philosophy and run as independent, so as not to waste Democratic resources. That way, he can support the Democrats when it's convenient, and the Democrats will support him, when it's convenient. I'm sure there are those who will say that's extreme, since Democrats come from districts with varying political persuasions. But since many of these people can't seem to find the integrity to put their constituents before self-interest, we have to find a way to force integrity down their throats. You can't always get politicians to act in the best interest of the people, but you can be virtually certain that they'll always act in their own best interest. In addition, with this process the Democratic leadership can be held directly accountable when legislation favors lobbying interests over the interests of the people. It's up to the DNC and the politicians themselves to educate the public about exactly what the Democratic Party stands for. A Democrat shouldn't have to lie to the voters about being more conservative than he actually is to be elected. He should be elected because he and the DNC have done an effective job of educating the voter that the Democratic Party's agenda is directly aligned with their best interest. If the party is effective in that area, when a voter votes for a Democrat they'll know exactly what they're getting before they even cast their vote - as they should. Sure, Democrats want to remain a "big tent" party. But big tent doesn't mean a party that compromises its basic values, and neither does it mean a party that includes all manner of wing-nuts. A big tent party is one that is reasonable and measured in its effort to reach its primary goals. But when a tent becomes so big that it begins to accommodate those who would deny basic and affordable healthcare to the American people, that should send up a red flag that it's time to trim back a bit. Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Sphere: Related Content