I've Been Waiting for This

Former Representative J.C. Watts cam out swinging in an interview with ABC News and the targets were members of his own Republican Party who can't seem to get their GPS moving toward Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD for Thursdays presidential candidates forum.

I've been wondering when prominent African American Republicans would speak out, one way or the other, on this.

Watts called the decision by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, and former Senator Fred Thompson to skip the nationally televised forum "stupid" and more:

"I think the best that comes out of stupid decisions like this," said former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, is "that African-Americans might say, 'Was it because of my skin color?' Now, maybe it wasn't, but African-Americans do say, 'It crossed my mind.'"

The invitations were extended in March, but the front-runners have claimed scheduling conflicts. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who's weighing getting into the race, called that excuse "baloney" and called the no-shows "fundamentally wrong." On "Good Morning America" today, Gingrich said GOP candidates are making a mistake because "African-Americans have been hurt more by the failures of government" than any other group.

Watts pointed out that some of the candidates with more liberal histories on issues such as guns and abortion have reached out to conservative groups that don't share their views.

Watts should be commended for speaking out on this issue.  African American Republicans have to be sick about defending this party in the face of this furor.  These candidates won't pay much of a price in the primary, but the GOP nominee will be lucky to get more than 6 or 7 percent of the Black vote in November 2008.

Michael K. Fauntroy is an assistant professor of public policy at George Mason University and author of the recently published book Republicans and the Black Vote.  He blogs at MichaelFauntroy.com.