Kate Taylor explains why black voters are so much more forgiving of Spitzer and Weiner – according to polls and anecdotes – than white voters.
Interviews with black ministers, political leaders, scholars and voters suggest two major factors at work: an emphasis in black congregations on forgiveness and redemption, and an experience, particularly among older black voters, of having seen their revered leaders embroiled in scandal.
“You can’t think of any major black leader that did not have some kind of legal or other kind of media attack, so we are not as prone to believe the attacks as other communities,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in an interview.
Fox News polls the “phony scandal” question, and whaddya know, only one in three or one in five people agree that “the scandals” aren’t phony.
Freshman Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a novice who upset a congressman in a primary, demonstrates the new trend in birtherism – telling the birthers they may be right but it’s too late to do anything.
Luis Gutierrez optimistically claims he knows maybe 50 House Republicans who want to vote for an immigration bill but are scared about it politically.
And the Mitch McConnell campaign is out with another Lucas Baiano/Michael Bay ad.
