Is it wrong for a politician not to mention that he is white

Post Reply New Topic

In Houston, a black politician, Bruce Austin, says that he is going to request a recount because his opponent in the race, Dave Wilson, didn't tell the voters that he is white!

From http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=56937:

It seems to me that Bruce Austin is hardly portraying other blacks well as he seems to be saying that they are too ignorant to vote on the issues and instead must base their vote entirely on the race of the candidate.

I wonder what he expects to accomplish by a recount. Does he magically think that the recount will be able to throw out the votes for Wilson?

Here's an article about his campaign: http://www.khou.com/news/local/White-guy-wins-after-leading-voters-to-believe-hes-black-231222981.html. According to the article, he intentionally tried to make voters think he was black so that they would vote for him.

Looks to me like it was probably two racists running against each other, one black and one white.

For what it's worth, I have long advocated that we list the candidates on the ballot in random order with no party affiliations at all.

I can see no reason why party affiliations are listed on ballots other than to promote voting by those who can only vote based on the party because they don't want to spend any effort learning about the candidates and their positions.

Maybe he lost because the African Americans felt he unqualified & was expecting their vote solely on the bases of him being black. I think making race an issue shows he's a racist.

He was first elected in 1989, people are probably well sick of him.

He sounds like a racist. And the voters too, if they vote on racial lines.

And the thread title is just as twisted as both of these individuals. Not mentioning that you are white is different to implying you are of another race, the same as the majority of voters.

Could not be more appropriate.

A recount?, that makes no sense. I think what he wants as to have the results rendered null and void and thefore have a by-election held.

The thread title was meant to adequately convey the topic at hand, in this case that the black incumbent feels cheated because he lost the race to someone who intentionally hid the fact that he is white.

In other words, it was asking whether or not you agree with the incumbent or do you feel that race should play a part in who wins.

Just thinking, did he show up to the debate, was he featured in the local newspaper? I just can't beleave that there was no way at all for the public to know his skin colour with a little research.

Maybe they're all blind & Bruce referred to himself as black or the way the rap stars do with slang like the N-word which implys they are black

In an ideal world of course it should be fine for a politician to not mention what race they are. This is obviously not that world. I still feel the thread title is misleading in the same way as in the original story, not every WP member reading this thread will read the links provided. The same as not every person voting in this election will make the effort to find out who they are voting for.

From the links you provided it was obvious that Wilson's campaign was aimed to trick those least able or bothered to follow the political process. Producing material that implies you are the same race as the majority of voters, using stock pictures and black orientated language with no details of policy to give a win by 26 votes is deceitful.

Is Wilson worthy of office, I don't think so. Austin probably does feel cheated but that shows his own character. Both seem typical of the people who stand for local government.

Does a black democrat area deserve a white republican counselor for the next 6 years due to 26 votes, not really but maybe it was time to make way for some new blood.

I also do not agree with you in the omission of political party from voting ballots either. This will just increase political apathy for the majority. If a candidate has masters to answer to, or face exclusion, it's good to know who is in control of the puppet strings.

Unwritten societal rule:
Caucasians are not allowed to be proud of being caucasian.

A good example to prove my point.

The irony is that the accused, dave wilson, probably IS 'guilty' as charged of deliberately concealing his race from the voters of that voting district.

Presumably voters SHOULD- not - base their vote upon race- so both the unseated incumbent and his constituents would be deplorable if the race of the candidate mattered in their voting decision.

But acting deplorably is not actually illegile per se.

So the question is this: is deliberately decieving the voters always wrong? Even if its decieving them about something that the voters should not care about- but do care about anyway?

If the voters want to be racist ass-bleeps dont they have the right? Or reverse-racist assbleeps, or whatever?

If it is always wrong then Wilson SHOULD be persecuted for fraud ( as would a Black who similarly snuck onto the ballot of a district populated by White racist peckerwoods and who managed to get the peckerwood vote by concealing his skin color).

But then the problem is this:

If thats the case then both Ronald Reagan (who pretended to be a good christian but who was really an athiest) and Tony Blair (who pretended to be secular but was really a devout Catholic) should have been impeached. Those two along with all of the other candidates in history who pretended to be straight when they were really gay, and pretended to have happy family lives when they really had bad marriages, and deliguent kids, and so forth.

Just about every candidate in the history of democracy projected an image that was probably a slightly enhanced version of reality. So they ALL would get thrown in the slammer if this were set as a precedent!

From what I saw on Yahoo news Bruce Wilson is lucky that he had family with the same first and last name as Ron Wilson a well known african-american politician, that confusing endorcement did far more I imagine then omitting his own photo from his cards. Back to first point, do your homework!

It wouldn't have to be just a relative. One of my classmates in high school was named Ron Wilson. I'm sure that if it had me, I could have gotten his endorsement.