SC Yellow Dogs

During this evening’s debate, we’ve had a round of questioning related to representation. Do you need to be a woman to understand women? African American to empathize with people of color? Hispanic to know our growing hispanic population?

Who? What? When? Where? And how?

Do you have a question or two that you’ve been wanting to ask the South Carolina Democratic Party Chair? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer.

The South Carolina Democratic Party will host a Yellow Dog Online Chat with Carol Fowler Nov. 28 from 6 to 7 p.m. Stay tuned for more details.

George W. “Compassionate” Bush, our beloved “no child left behind” president, has vetoed the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

This bill was designed to protect 10.6 million children whose families cannot afford private insurance, whereas the current program protects only 6.6 million.

The cost of the bill for one year would approximately equal the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan for one month, but President Bush claims that is far too much money for the U.S. government to spend on children’s health care.

Even more appalling is the fact that our four S.C. Republican congressmen and our two senators voted against this bill, agreeing with President Bush not to add 70,000 S.C. minors to the 61,000 currently insured under SCHIP.

Pressure must be put on our Republican congressmen, urging them to support this legislation when it comes up for a veto override vote. They need to learn that they are not representing their constituencies by denying health insurance to our children.

We have the power now to put pressure on our congressmen.

I urge everyone to exercise their power through calls, letters, e-mails and, just as important, their vote.

OPAL BROWN

Dear Democratic Colleague:

Yesterday’s Washington Post and Wall Street Journal both have front-page stories about how the public increasingly favors Democrats over Republicans on matters of fiscal responsibility and the federal budget.

Wall Street Journal
“When Americans were asked which party could better deal with national problems, they gave Democrats an edge of 25 percentage points over Republicans on cutting deficits [and] 16 points on controlling federal spending…” (page A14)

Washington Post
“Democrats also have a greater share of the public trust on other key issues, including . . . the economy (18 points) and handling the federal budget deficit (23 points).” (Page A6)

The public’s trust is a validation of Democrats’ fiscal policies. We worked hard to restore fiscal responsibility in the 1990s, maintained that commitment while we were in the Congressional minority, and reaffirmed it this year in the majority. Democrats have long advocated fiscal policies that produce a budget in balance. This year, we passed a budget resolution that reaches balance in 2012 while making strategic investments where they are needed.

In addition, we established a pay-as-you-go principle for all new net mandatory spending and revenue changes. In the face of initial skepticism, Democrats have enforced the pay-as-you-go rule on every bill we have voted to pass this year. Unlike previous Congresses, which enacted expensive tax cuts and entitlement expansions without offsetting the costs, this year we are taking responsibility for our actions now. We are paying as we go, not passing along the cost to our children and grandchildren.

The articles in yesterday’s Post and Journal confirm that the public recognizes our record of fiscal responsibility.

Sincerely,

John M. Spratt, Jr.
Chairman
House Budget Committee

The State newspaper reported recent poll results (Women Key in ‘08 by Aaron Gould Sheinin) showing that more than a third of black women were still uncertain about how they’d vote in South Carolina’s presidential primary.

Among the people interviewed in the article were Bamberg student Nancy Rivers and Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter, whose impressions seemed to mirror poll results.

The State writes:

Rivers said she rejects the stereotype she should support Obama because she is black or Clinton because she’s a woman. “There has to be more to it than that,” she said. State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said the stereotype Rivers mentions is pervasive in many black communities, and helps explain the large percentage of undecided black females.

“There are a lot of black women who are torn between Obama and Clinton,” said Cobb-Hunter, who has not endorsed any candidate.

There is an automatic assumption, she said, that black women will support Clinton because of their shared gender or Obama because of their shared race.

“In the circles I have moved around in, it really is a difficult choice and women really seem to be asking themselves - does race trump gender or does gender trump race?” Cobb-Hunter said.

On Thursday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m., ETV’s “The Big Picture” presents “Clyburn of South Carolina,” a documentary spotlighting the career of Majority Whip James E. Clyburn. Encore presentations air on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.

This 30-minute program is a revealing exploration of the life of a college-student-turned-civil-rights-activist who would become the nation’s third-most-powerful person in Congress. From his failed bids for state office to his appointment as director of the SC Human Affairs Commission to his impassioned defense of the Lake Marion bridge proposal some have dubbed “The Bridge to Nowhere,” viewers will be treated to a picture of a man whose groundbreaking accomplishments have earned the respect of a nation.

Clyburn said one of the primary motivations behind his career was changing how blacks are perceived in America:”(I wanted) to prove that black people could run state agencies in South Carolina. And when I got elected to Congress, I set out to prove that a black person could be an effective congressman and represent the people of South Carolina. That’s why I conduct myself the way I do, because I want to destroy every single myth that exists about black people.”

Also included in the broadcast is a warm-hearted moment with his wife Emily, who tells the “hamburger story” — a pivotal moment in the beginning of their relationship when she visited the jail and shared a hamburger with a famished Clyburn who had been arrested during an Orangeburg sit-in demonstration. Viewers will also see how the Congressman combined his two passions — his alma mater and golf — into an annual fundraiser-tournament that provides scholarships to students at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg.

Punctuating the production are interviews with mentors, colleagues and friends including:

• James B. Edwards, former SC Governor

• Richard W. Riley, former SC Governor

• Matthew J. Perry, Jr., Senior U.S. District Judge

• Kay Patterson, Senator, D-Richland

• James L. Felder, former SC House Member

• Herbert U. Fielding, former SC House Member

• William “Bill” Clyburn, Representative, D-Aiken

• Henry E. Brown, Jr., Representative, R-Sixth Congressional District

ETV is South Carolina’s statewide network with 11 television stations, eight radio stations and a closed-circuit educational telecommunications system in more than 2000 schools, colleges, businesses, and government agencies.
###