Democrats put up "Race-Baiting" Billboard in Kansas City

Republicans say billboard offensive

State GOP labels Democrats' message as ‘race-baiting'

By STEVE KRASKE

The Kansas City Star


Missouri Democrats have sponsored a billboard ad in Kansas City that Republicans contend amounts to “race-baiting.”

The billboard near the downtown loop features an African-American man next to the words “Missouri Republicans Have A Plan. You Are Not Part Of It.”

Democrats countered Friday that the Republican charge was off-base.

“We stand very much with what's behind the billboard,” said the Democratic Party's executive director, Jim Kottmeyer. “It has nothing to do with race.”

The same message, he said, applies to other groups, such as young people and seniors. “They do have a plan,” he said of Missouri Republicans. “Average Missourians are not part of it.”

In February, media company Viacom backed out of a deal to sell billboard space for the ad in Kansas City and St. Louis because the company said it did not meet its standards.

This time, a different billboard company sold the space to the Democrats, but Kottmeyer said he did not know what company it was. The Kansas City billboard is the only one now on display in the state, he said.

Democrats have prepared similar billboards featuring other groups and the same wording, Kottmeyer said. The party is assessing whether to continue the campaign, he said.

Republicans insisted the ad outraged them.

“Even after they were rejected by one of the state's largest advertisers, Democrats continued to press forward with a campaign that targets African-Americans in a hateful and vile manner,” said Ann Wagner, chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party.

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bokmeow said:

Meh.

Would the Republicans contend that the Democrats was caucasian-baiting if the face of a Caucasian was on the billboard?

I see the GOP making an issue out of a non-issue. Fair is fair, Bush re-election campaign had the image of a male African-American with a female African-American kid in one of their earliest ads that also contained images from ground zero. Democrats didn't whine about race baiting then.

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bokmeow said:

Meh.

Would the Republicans contend that the Democrats was caucasian-baiting if the face of a Caucasian was on the billboard?

I see the GOP making an issue out of a non-issue. Fair is fair, Bush re-election campaign had the image of a male African-American with a female African-American kid in one of their earliest ads that also contained images from ground zero. Democrats didn't whine about race baiting then.

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galfordo said:

The democrats have always played the "republicans are evil" race card bullshit.

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galfordo said:

Check the stats, and watch black crime go up right along with welfare.

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galfordo said:

The democrats have always played the "republicans are evil" race card bullshit. But that's ok because the democrats really care about african americans

The handouts and welfare that the dems have built up have done nothing but hurt african americans over the years. Check the stats, and watch black crime go up right along with welfare.

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jethrek said:

After all, when wealth is deliberately trasnferred UPWARD the economic chain, things get better for minorities.

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