http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040602/ap_on_el_pr/republicans_king_2 debate and discuss as you want PHILADELPHIA - Don King, the wild-haired boxing promoter, is touring the country with Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to tout President Bush's re-election. "Only in America," as King often says — and he did at a stop in Philadelphia Wednesday. "People understand that George Walker Bush is the man with the plan to make America better," King, sporting an American flag tie and plenty of diamond-encrusted jewelry, told a group of black business leaders at a downtown jazz club. "Sometimes, just sometimes, it ain't too bad to be in the Bushes." The latter line is the flip side of Jesse Jackson's warning at past Democratic conventions for Americans to "stay out of the Bushes." King's rap sheet makes him an odd choice for Bush front man. He was convicted in the 1967 beating death of a man who owed him money and spent nearly four years in prison. In 1954, he killed a man who was robbing a numbers house he operated in Cleveland, but it was ruled self-defense. King also has beaten tax evasion and fraud charges, faced numerous lawsuits from boxers and their handlers and endured three grand jury investigations and an FBI (news - web sites) sting operation — all while cementing his status as one of the world's top boxing promoters. Republicans see King as a way to reach the ever-elusive black vote. Bush managed just 9 percent of the black vote in 2000, matching Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s percentage in 1984 and faring just slightly better than Republican Barry Goldwater's 6 percent in 1964. "I said to him, you know they are going to come after us, they are going to attack us, and they are going to try to smear us," Gillespie said Wednesday. "But the fact is, I know the man, he is a friend of mine, and I'm proud to stand with him today." Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tara Wall, who called King a "patriot," said the GOP supports "those who support us. Don King has come out to support us and he supports President George Bush. That's something he chose to do on his own and we're glad to have him." In May, King attended a Republican fund-raiser in Washington and shook hands with Bush. King and Gillespie, who began their "Economic Empowerment Tour" in Detroit last week, also plan stops in New York and Miami. The duo was joined in Philadelphia by Miss America 2003 Erika Harold, who is black. "Where have you see a Republican chairman standing up with us in the heart of the ghetto? We're going to talk about how we can make that change, to educate and uplift and enlighten our people," King told reporters. The Democratic National Committee avoided commenting on King, instead saying that blacks in the city have been hurt by Bush's economic policies.
Hey, if it's good enough for Don King, it's good enough for me. He's my number one source for all my political decisions.
Methinks the RNC needs to make some podium time for Don King in NYC. The big question I have is....who has a better grasp of the English language: Don King or pResident Bush?
That's it I give up. There's no point in me voting this November. You know when Don King is involved it's 99.99% fixed. We'll probably have another close race like 2000's and it will probably drag on until january and someone will suggest that shrub and kerry duke it out in the ring to decide the winner. And we will probably have to pay 49.99 to watch and the fight will probably go to the judges (hopefully not Florida) who will side with shrub even though he was knocked down in every round and landed less punches.
Not true. Don knows you need a good rivalry. I predict Kerry wins in a contested fight so we all anti up for the rematch. Prez election on pay-per-view. Suddenly the campaign got interesting.
Wow. It's certainly not impossible but something big will have to happen to reverse his numbers. Every single indicator right now says he'll lose. There are a lot of wildcard possibilities out there (catching Osama, another 9/11 style attack), but I haven't even heard of anyone still believing he'll win big.
Well if Don King is involved maybe all of the polls are fixed so people start betting against Bush when Don King has already fixed things so Bush could win.
I will be voting for W. The election is still far away and I believe that Bush is effectively leading this country. I realize we may disagree at a fundamental level but I think he's doing great, all things considered. I support the war, the evil in that area of the world was coming this way eventually and I am glad we went over there with guns blazing before more terror came this way.
Not to be too condescending but what are all the things considered that you speak of? please elaborate. and as far as the evil in that part of the world, I'm pretty sure evil is endemic to the whole planet not just parts of it that are not the U.S.
Unfortunately I agree. IMO the majority of the population is too afraid to change Presidential gears in the middle of a war. I wish I still knew all of the steadfast Bush supporters from back then to see what they thought of their boy these days.
There was a good article I read somewhere a week or so ago theorizing that there probably won't be any landslides for a while, particularly this year when the country is so polarized. They cited polls that showed Bush and Kerry having astoundingly high poll numbers among their own parties and extremely low numbers among their rival parties. Since the country's pretty much divided down the middle as far as liberal and conservative, this means that a landslide for either side will not happen this year for either candidate, barring some major event occuring. Sans that, expect a very close election.
