The dirty tricks have started again.

There are reports out of Nashville that African Americans are getting phone calls telling them if they voted for Harold Ford Jr. in the August primary, they don't need to vote for him again now.

According to media reports from Nashville, volunteers driving senior citizens to the polls for early voting have had their voters tell them they'd received these calls.

Can you believe that?

Do Republicans think African Americans are stupid? In 2004, Nashville's African Americans were called and told to vote on Wednesday, not Tuesday. The racist GOP thinks black voters are too stupid to know the difference beteween a primary and an election. They think the African American community doesn't know how to vote.

It won't work. The GOP has spent the past five decades pulling these same dirty stunts, always targeting the black community. Tennessee's African American voters have learned over 50 years of these sleazy suppression tactics not to trust phone calls telling them when and how to vote.

Whoever is responsible also forgets that this is a felony. Anyone who has received one of these phone calls is urged to contact the authorities immediately.

Ron Patton
Hixson
Rlpatton@comcast.net

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Wow! Telling people they don't need to vote now if they already voted in the primary elections? I'll bet those calls are being made by the same people who stole voting machine "smartcards" over in Memphis, or who voted multiple times during early voting, or allowed people to vote multiple times.

Could it be that these same perpetrators of election misdeeds are some of the same as those 150-odd, verified people who voted illegally for Ophelia Ford during her special election? Belay that...some of those folks were dead when they voted so they can't be guilty of any illegal activity.

Those dastardly Republicans. Ya just can't trust 'em. Where's Crime Dog when we really need him?

Royce E. Burrage, Jr.
RBurrage@bellsouth.net

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On the contrary, the Republicans believe black voters are smart and resourceful enough to vote on a typical industry standard machine. The Democrats compelled dismantling the voting procedures in this country because it was allegedly too confusing and therefore disadvantaged....you got it, African American voters.

Republicans believe black voters are sharp enough to get into college and get a job without special consideration based on race. The Democrats believe anyone who has black skin needs a little help from Affirmative Action programs.

Republicans believe African Americans are sharp enough to take standardized exams beside Asians, whites, middle easterners, and Hispanics and compete fairly against other races. The Democrats argue that there is something about skin pigmentation that makes these tests unfair to African Americans.

It was the Democrat Party that instituted the perverse programs that paid taxpayer money to unwed single mothers but penalized that same family if the father tried to be a supportive and active member of the family. You can thank the Democrats for the huge numbers of unwed black mothers on government assistance.

Americans who are descended from the former slave trade in this country can trace their roots deeper into this country than probably 80% of white Americans and deeper than 95% of Asian Americans. They are perfectly capable of voting, getting college degrees, finding employment, buying a home, supporting a family, and obeying the law without special treatment from the government.

Jeff Young
Soddy Daisy
JNAY247@aol.com