Restore the Brand of Yesteryear, Be Visionary for Tomorrow, and Protect the Right to Vote Now

“Standing on the dual pillars of a politically-pragmatic perspective as well as from a historically-consistent moral obligation, Republicans should champion the re-strengthening of the Voting Rights Act or the creation of a new bill with all deliberate speed – from the halls of Congress to the venues of public discourse.” ~Lenny McAllister

Some have noted that many notable Republicans have been silent during the initial aftermath of Tuesday’s historic Supreme Court decision concerning Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

 

Others believe that the Supreme Court has handed the Republican Party a grand old opportunity to make their mark on the legislative landscape for generations to come.

 

They would be right.

 

Many Republicans have feared speaking out concerning the controversial and highly-charged 5-4 decision. As well, the High Court has handed the GOP a unique opportunity to make their mark on history.

 

It is time to seize upon the call to be historic.

 

Republicans – in answering the call emblazoned upon them by the Legacy of Abraham Lincoln – must take the lead in securing the suffrage of all Americans, particularly in light of the lack of confidence in current political leaders, the questionable voter ID laws in some states, and the bipartisan gerrymandering that has corrupted politics from local municipalities to congressional districts.  Standing on the dual pillars of a politically-pragmatic perspective as well as from a historically-consistent moral obligation, Republicans should champion the re-strengthening of the Voting Rights Act or the creation of a new bill with all deliberate speed – from the halls of Congress to the venues of public discourse.

 

Yes, I believe that we Republicans – starting with congressional Republicans and bolstered by high-profile Republicans on the scene – should lead the charge to research, re-write, and sponsor an appropriate 21^st-century version of the Voting Rights Act, even if this initial new rendition of the act does not have the same 25-year as-is lifespan that was prescribed in 2006. This political endeavor would be consistent with the 390-to-33 vote in the House of Representatives and the 98-to-0 vote in the Senate in 2006. It could be consistent with the sentiments of current legislators that believe that this law should not be punitive according to 1965 standards, but protective in accordance to our modern-day challenges.

 

If I were in Congress, I would begin writing up this legislation today. If I were a congressional candidate in 2014, this endeavor would be a major plank in my campaign platform.

 

From a politically-pragmatic perspective, Republicans will never win the majority of Black and Latino voters (and perhaps not even Millennials and Gen X voters) in the 21^st-century with a strategy buoyed primarily with hopes of scaling back Civil Rights advances from the 20^th century.  For Republicans to present a believable and long-lasting image of fairness and trustworthiness as competitors for these key voting blocs, my party must immediately find the political courage and endurance to mustard a conservative, common-sense approach to voting rights that reflects several harsh realities:

 

America finds herself re-segregating along economic, educational, and civic lines, among other factors;

Republicans have been better at alienating Black voters during our quests to win elections than we have been convincing the Black electorate; and

Republican candidates have won more elections by stagnating or overwhelming minority voters in key elections than we have earning a significant portion of Black voters – a remedy that is no longer viable.

Pragmatically, the optimal way to show Black voters and other minority citizens that we are a viable option in all elections annually is to illustrate to these fellow Americans that we value the power and presence of their vote. The best way to highlight this position is to uphold and champion their access to the vote through legislation, not just rhetoric. The fastest way to create partnerships with Black voters and other newly-targeted voting blocs is to show – as we did via integration – that we are not afraid to embrace them fully – including and especially at the ballot box each fall.  The smartest way to do this is to get ahead of the political curve (that one has to believe is coming), heal the social impropriety that the technically-viable Supreme Court decision caused on Tuesday, and openly champion the accessibility of all Americans to the ballot box before the sun sets on this fall’s elections.

 

My fellow Republicans: make Civil Rights a part of the GOP brand once again. Once Black voters and others believe that we care about their rights as our fellow Americans, they will soon believe earnestly in our economic, social, employment and educational solutions for their families as well once we effectively articulate these principles with the same sincerity as we have towards protecting the civil right to vote.

 

In doing so, we Republicans would finally again live up to the standards expected of a political group labeled as the Party of Lincoln. With the gravitas of the Great Emancipator’s leadership sitting on our chests like a grand old elephant, our hearts will remain heavy if we continue to ignore the call we have to heal the racial and socioeconomic injuries that have accumulated over the past decades. As a party, we have never wavered in the face of history when prompted to uphold justice and morality for the historically-disadvantaged in America – until now. We stood for the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments. We structured Reconstruction and groomed Black legislators nationally during that era. We fostered and advanced women’s suffrage. We beat back the segregation facing the Little Rock 9. We led the charge for Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s, including the Voting Rights Act and Affirmative Action.  Ignoring the spark to remedy this void for the sake of short-term electoral victories would not only dishonor the long-lasting history of the GOP from Lincoln to Dirksen, but it would also disable the long-term objectives of a political movement that, quite frankly, needs to change the current voting patterns within minority communities.

 

A new, viable, smart, and appropriately-sized Voting Rights Act for modern-day America (or adding subsections to the current act) – one that would function above the bipartisan corrosion that currently poisons much of politics today – could provide the protections of yesteryear, the flexibility needed for today, and the visionary belief that America’s people and politics can change for the better over time.

 

If Republican leadership can think of themselves as historic visionaries, not mere political victors, this proposed walk in the footsteps of Lincoln could provide the moral boost necessary to finally walk out of the shadow of Obama, particularly in the eyes of Black America and new voters nationally.  The time calls not for us to be quiet, celebrating a perceived court victory in the safe confines of friends. The time calls not for us to be safe, leveraging the oft-used political playbook to secure immediate wins before the always-ensuing backlash comes a voting cycle later. The time calls not for us to be narrow-minded, confining our definition of conservatism to the partisan whims of today’s news-cycle and tomorrow’s fundraiser. Rather, the time calls for us as Republicans to be historic, to embrace vision, to reach out to new political friends in untapped voting blocs, and to embody the promise of Civil Rights in America once again. It is time for Republicans to again lead the charge in securing voting rights for all Americans, combining the current zeal for voter ID laws and the civil rights successes of voting rights laws to craft a sensible act that protects and empowers all American citizens of voting-age. And, along the way, we will not only reinvigorate the Legacy of Lincoln among us, but we will foster a validated bridge of trust that – along with sound policies and invested partnerships – will bring Blacks and other new voters along with us.

_____________________________________________________

Political commentator and community advocate Lenny McAllister is the “Working Man’s Conservative” currently working to make his hometown of Chicago and our proud nation better by working together as #OneBigTeam. Featured as one of the “40 Under 40 to Watch in 2012” by the historic newspaper The Chicago Defender, he has been featured in several national and international publications and media outlets, including Essence, Chicago Crusader, and Charlotte Magazine. “The McAllister Minute,” a regular feature of the American Urban Radio Network, runs on more than 300 stations nationwide. 

For more information, go tohttp://www.LennyMcAllister.com

or call 773-492-0509

McAllister Statement on SCOTUS Decisions from June 24-25

“…voting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that…” – Chief Justice John Roberts
“…as for holistic review, if universities cannot explicitly include race as a factor, many may ‘resort to camouflage’ to maintain their minority enrollment.” – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg

 

CHICAGO (June 25, 2013) — Lenny McAllister, upon the release of the recent Supreme Court decisions concerning Affirmative Action and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, issued the following statement:

 

“Chief Justice John Roberts got it right with one simple yet profound statement from his majority opinion Tuesday:

 

‘…voting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that…’

 

“Coupling this admission with the reality that America is on a path of widening racial disparities and increasing social divisiveness, it is clear that we must be mindful of any law written in our current time that may threaten the progress that we have garnered through the blood, sweat, and tears of our forefathers from the recent past.

 

“Technically, the Supreme Court decisions from Monday and Tuesday concerning Affirmative Action and Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act may have been viable legally. Indeed, we do live in very different times from the volatile 1950s and 1960s, a time when children were bombed and bitten by police dogs while leaders were shot down in the streets – all during a struggle to secure the promise of the American Dream for all American citizens. Therefore, applying the standards of those times– times that ushered in the direct twilight of Jim Crow in America – without modern contextualization do not unequivocally address the challenges we face in the Era of Obama and the issues of diversity of the American 21^st century.

 

“However, it would be utterly unwise in the aftermath of the rise of hate groups enrollment, suspiciously-contrived voter ID laws, and 40 years of double unemployment rates between Black Americans and White Americans for us as a nation to believe that this is the proper time to diminish the protection that historically-disadvantaged Americans need for proper equal access to the ballot box and quality education – two much-needed resources in today’s challenging times. The implications of this week’s decisions do highlight that we as a nation have made progress in regards to race relations since the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, in light of the startling disparities in personal wealth, the de facto re-segregation of public schools, the imbalance within drop-outs and  incarceration rates, admissions of intention for some recent voter ID legislation, and the skyrocketing cost of globally-competitive education today, any thought – judicial or legislative- that purports that the day has come to sunset Affirmative Action in education or suffrage is perhaps a notion construed with a forgetfulness towards recent history, a blind eye to the developments within today’s communities, or a jaundiced view towards which citizens should have accessibility to the fullest of the American Dream.

 

“If the highest Court in the land is evolving to view the progress of the Civil Rights Movement in a 21^st century context, then it is prudent that voters and legislators conscientiously react in kind. Republicans must responsibly legislate when promoting ground-breaking and potentially-controversial laws, doing so with a morality standing outside of the realm of intention that we encountered with laws such as Pennsylvania’s 2012 voter ID law.   Democrats must dutifully legislate with a sense of historical progress without cleaving to broken political models which now yield stale results for their constituents. Voters throughout the American electorate must take the Supreme Court’s recent decisions as indicators suggesting that their votes – for elected officials from Capitol Hill to local board members – now carry an additional gravitas. Therefore, we as Americans must educate, engage, and inspire ourselves and our fellow Americans towards a higher sense of civic involvement and responsibility to ensure that our nation can rebound, advance, and succeed as one big team throughout our diversity. Collectively, if any legal protections that bolster equal access to the American Dream are eroded in the courts, it is imperative that we as a citizenship outside of the courts act as the buttress sustaining equality in America without fail.

 

“May God guide us towards these goals of upholding justice and equality in America in light of these decisions and may He bless the United States of America.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Political commentator and community advocate Lenny McAllister is the “Working Man’s Conservative” currently working to make his hometown of Chicago and our proud nation better by working together as #OneBigTeam.

For more information, go to http://www.LennyMcAllister.com or call 773-492-0509

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LISTEN: Steiner, Spence, McAllister Talk NSA and Snowden

Are Edward Snowden’s accusations grounds for treason or merely political embarrassment? Is he a hero or a traitor? Has the NSA gone too far? The panel talks about this on the June 10 edition of The Marc Steiner Show.

 

CHICAGO / BALTIMORE (June 10, 2013) – (Courtesy WEAA Baltimore) Our scholar-in-residence Lester Spence, associate professor of political science and Africana Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, is our co-host as we take a look at the NSA’s (National Security Agency) surveillance program which includes spying on Americans’ phone documents. Our panelists will include:

 

• Charles “Sam” Faddis, former CIA operations officer and author of Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion of Homeland Security;
• Heidi Boghosian, author of  Spying OnDemocracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, Public Resistence and Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild;
• Lenny McAllister, conservative media personality, public speaker, and writer.

Listen to this debate segment on “The Marc Steiner Show” by clicking HERE.

Watch Lenny’s previous appearances

WATCH: Dunston, McAllister Talk US “Massive Surveillance” Issue on Sun News Network

“This latest controversy is likely to mar the Obama presidency legacy…especially since he railed against this type of government action as a senator…in 2006 and 2007…”

TORONTO (June 9, 2013) – (Courtesy Sun News Network) Republican Strategist Lenny McAllister joins Brian Dunstan with the latest on invasive national security programs.

 

Originally aired on June 9, 2013

 

Click HERE to watch the show on Sun News Network or click the picture above.

 

Watch more of Lenny’s previous appearances

 

WATCH: McAllister Talks “Black Tea” With Hill, HuffPost Live

“Black Tea Party Member Says Malcolm X Was First Black Tea Partyer”
Catch the Wednesday segment on HuffPost Live hosted by Dr. Marc Lamont Hill with Katrina Pierson, Kevin J. Dotson, Lenny McAllister, and Niger Innis.

NEW YORK CITY (June 5, 2013) – (Courtesy HuffPost Live) A new documentary features the stories of African Americans who have chosen to affiliate with the Tea Party. What influences race, identity, membership and the nuances of political choice in the twenty-first century’s “post-racial” America?

Originally aired on June 5, 2013

 

Hosted by: Marc Lamont Hill

Guests:

Kevin J. Dotson @kevin_j_dotson (New York , NY) Director of ‘Black Tea: The New Civil Right’

Lenny McAllister @Lennymcallister (New York , NY) Republican Strategist and Author

Katrina Pierson @KatrinaPierson (Dallas, TX) Conservative Republican

Niger Innis @3568NI (Washington, DC) National Spokesman for Congress of Racial Equality; Chief Strategist for TheTeaParty.Net

Click HERE to watch the show on HuffPost Live or click the picture above.

 

Watch more of Lenny’s previous appearances

 

Ending Gun Violence with Actual Corrective Measures, not Corroding Gun Rights

“There is no courage necessary in forcing the law-abiding to follow yet another law; however, there is a need for true political courage and leadership to tackle the issue of American urban gun violence and bring back the generationally-disillusioned from the throes of destruction…It is much more difficult – yet much more necessary – to create new conditions that take illegal guns away from those that have little else to put their hands around.” (Lenny McAllister, Rose Dialogue Series Speaker (June 5 2013, Bronx, NY)

(This post may also be found on Global Grind as well.)

 

To end the problem of everyday gun violence throughout America, the primary focus should be on business growth, not bullets

 

Sadly, each one of us has felt the sting of gun violence.

 

Some of us experience this pain through the national connection we bear, watching the pain of Newtown tug at our national heartstrings in a new and horrible way, compounding the pain of Aurora, CO and Arizona with the grim reality that the Connecticut tragedy robbed America of  young, innocent children.

 

Some of us experience this pain at the wrong end of a gun by becoming the victim of a crime- like my father did almost two decades ago before spending a food-less year full of surgeries on the path to recovery afterwards. Sometimes, pain comes through cruel carelessness in a random moment – like the loss of my young cousin Chelsea in an accidental shooting. In these situations, too many families and loved ones are left to scramble in attempts to save lives, make sense of the tragedies, and make the most of the unimaginable.

 

Some of us understand the costly role that gaps in mental health awareness and activism have had on the nation regarding gun violence over recent years. There are clear ways that we can avoid some of the devastation that we have collectively experienced through the application of current laws as well as specific laws designed to keep access to guns out of the reach of those struggling with mental health challenges.

 

Many of us, however, fail to grasp the reality that faces us in stopping the everyday gun violence that impacts so many lives, from the streets of New York City to here in Chicago and beyond:

 

The best way to control gun violence is not by controlling legal guns – it is by actively and successfully encouraging economic growth in areas most impacted by illegal guns and subsequent violence in America. The best way to keep people from pursuing using guns illegally to perpetrate the violence that we endure nationally is to establish more pathways to better pursuits: jobs, careers, and stability.

 

Too often, addressing gun violence involves some legislation or proposal that requests more from law-abiding, weapons-trained, middle class Americans. In exchange, we wrongly believe that this will have an impact on the underclass accessing and using guns illegally as a result of their hopeless realities that are increasingly forged by failing (or closing) schools, high rates of unemployment, and limited access to health care services. This line of logic – backwards in nature and notably inept when considering that many of the current gun laws on the books have been both ineffective and unenforced – merely scores our improper focus on dealing with weapons without dealing with the people behind them.

 

Give more people a job, a career, and a stable life to hold onto and they will not have enough hands to grab illegal guns for urban violence through America.

 

The time, attention, and debate over gun control must not be about controlling the accessibility of guns by law-abiding Americans. It must be about controlling gun violence. Because urban gun violence in America primarily exists to fill the community void left by years of urban neglect and political mismanagement, the effort to control gun violence must involve remedies that address the actual problems that prompt gun violence – a reality spurred by illegal gun ownership.

 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to involve the business community of Chicago in an attempt to stem potential summer violence is a potential great first step. However, efforts like these must be forged with active business mentoring opportunities, apprenticeships, internships, and jobs that provide paths from entry-level positions to career openings. Those that overwhelmingly engage in gun violence throughout America – most often chronicled through the prison industrial complex – do not need more laws that they will skirt without options for a better life. These Americans do not need more pep talks about “just say no” or “just work hard and past ills don’t matter” to help them get over the temptation of pursuing illegal means to alleviate family pain or social ills – they need better life options, both during the formidable years of their youth as well as during times of shortcomings. These Americans need more legislation that will make having a growth of blue-collar, grey-collar, and green-collar jobs in American urban areas a viable and practical solution starting in 2013. These Americans need GOP-driven tax policies that cut taxes for many to successfully encourage small businesses and the privileged to invest more in under-utilized human capital throughout the nation. These Americans need more Democratic-driven programs to yield community and family stability for 90 years, not merely 90 days during the summer.

 

As we have learned from the War on Drugs, the aggressive tactics of former Mayor Giuliani in the 1990s throughout New York City, even the best of police tactics to lock up gang members and others using illegal guns to terrorize merely produce openings for the next generation to fill the criminal void if that space is not sealed with stable stepping stones, not empty hopes and actions. There is no courage necessary in forcing the law-abiding to follow yet another law; however, there is a need for true political courage and leadership to tackle the issue of American urban gun violence and bring back the generationally-disillusioned from the throes of destruction. It’s easy to take guns away from the law-abiding through additional laws. It is much more difficult – yet much more necessary – to create new conditions that take illegal guns away from those that have little else to put their hands around. Until we get our hands around this concept, we will continue to go around and around on the gun debate – even while the murder rates in places such as Chicago continue to hit dizzying levels of our shared pain.

 

Lenny McAllister is the “Working Man’s Conservative” featured at the Rosedale Dialogue Series debate/discussion, “Gun Control or Out of Control” opposite Global Grind editor-in-chief Michael Skolnik June 5^th at the Riverdale Y in the Bronx starting at 6pm. Lenny is a noted media personality, public speaker, writer, author, and rising leader that has “… a mission to make positive changes to the status quo within politics, societal matters, and other issues that hamper our American way of life …” Featured as one of the “40 Under 40 to Watch in 2012” by the historic newspaper The Chicago Defender, he has been featured in several publications, including Essence, Chicago Crusader, and Charlotte Magazine. “The McAllister Minute,” a regular feature of the American Urban Radio Network, runs on more than 300 stations nationwide. 

A New Month: New Steps of Action or Accentuating the Status Quo?

“As Americans we believe in second chances and we believe in the right to vote,” stated Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP. “We commend Governor McDonnell for his courageous leadership to restore the right to vote for hundreds of thousands of Virginians…Anyone who has made a mistake, done their time and paid their debt to society should be able to join their neighbors at the voting booth.”

With a groundbreaking move by the Gov. Bob McDonnell that was publicly commended by the NAACP and other Black leaders last week, can the GOP finally seize any momentum to reel in Black voters?

 

Since the unnerving election losses of November 2012, Republicans have been looking for win-win situations that will allow them to approach, engage, and win over Black voters to reverse a years-long trend of losing the Black vote at a 10-to-1 clip to Democrats at all election levels. With each new initiative – from the roll-out of Michael Steele’s “Say It Loud” program that aided big GOP wins during the 2010 midterm election to efforts by various Black Republican organizations to heighten conservative principles – there has usually been an accompanying incident to hamper any move to gain ground with the Black vote.

 

Last Wednesday’s decision by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is one that can move the needle in the opposite direction, perhaps serving as a bridge for Black voters and the GOP to finally begin walking towards common ground.

 

McDonnell’s announcement that he will, on an individualized basis, reinstate the voting rights of Virginia’s non-violent ex-felons upon completion of all terms of their sentences was greeted with complimentary praise by the NAACP and other Black leaders nationally alike.  Due to the imbalanced nature of the prison population in Virginia (as well as other states) being skewed towards impacting the Black community more than others, this change in suffrage is a noteworthy step in the right direction that should be mirrored around the nation.

 

If the Republican Party is paying attention and is genuine about gaining ground on the minority voting blocs in time for the 2014 midterms, the 2016 presidential election, and beyond, this is an opportunity that they must jump on immediately. There are several significant reasons why the RNC, its operatives, and politicians should move forward with using this move by McDonnell as a stepping stone to reverse the media perception and political reality that the GOP will remain a non-option for Black voters.

 

For starters, the instant potential creation of thousands of Black voters that have been disengaged with the current political minutia during their period of incarceration creates an opportunity to engage new voters that have been let down (in many regards) by the status quo of politics – a status quo that overwhelmingly has African-Americans living under Democratic elected officials. With a genuine effort to embrace, mentor, and develop a new segment of second-chance Americans with policies that will make their transitions successful as small businessmen or rehabilitated re-hires, the GOP can make the case that Republicans are willing to create environments where “bootstrap pulling” efforts by these individuals works. These efforts – which would include making it easier for small businessmen and workers to gain access to local work and necessary capital as viable blue-collar entities – would provide more promise and opportunity to a different future than the current trend of recidivism and government assistance that often awaits those coming back into society.

 

As well, actively looking for ways to appropriately partner with legacy African-American organizations removes the casted label that Republicans are in opposition to organizations such as the NAACP, the Urban League, and others along with their national leaders.  As long as this perception remains, it is also perceived that the GOP not only stands against these organizations, but that it also stands against the Black constituents that they regularly interact with.

 

Too often, the Republican Party (and many Blacks within the conservative movement as well) consider such partnerships a waste of time, feeling as though the best move is to start from square one with the Black community in the process of establishing trust-based relationships. Aside from the oft-occurring references to the “Democratic Plantation” and other insulting slave analogies, the belief that it is easier to compete from scratch in the midst of Republican missteps against years of trust is a mindset that can be reversed, leveraging the McDonnell move in Virginia as an example of common ground initiatives that both Republicans and Black civil rights-focused Americans can embrace.  For example, between four of the most-renowned Black equal rights organizations through the nation (the NAACP, the Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and the National Action Network), African-Americans have built up a particular trust level over the combined 271 years of activism that these organizations have offered. To constantly compete 100% against this mountain of established political capital – regardless of their past errors or flawed positions – only serves as an ingredient for a recipe of on-going failures to re-engage the Black vote. Using conservative perspectives to partner with legacy Black organizations on key policy shifts from ex-felon suffrage to urban employment initiatives provide the GOP the best opportunity to remove the “boogeyman” label that it carries within the Black voting base while providing policy grounds to make it viable as a voting option.

 

Despite the common perceptions on race and politics in the Era of Obama, there are opportunities that allow for future oft-occurring partnership between Black America and the Republican Party to make sense. Governor McDonnell and the move to allow those that paid their debts to society to be fully empowered as citizens is but one example that, with some innovative open-mindedness and political savvy, the Republican Party can heal their past with Black voters and leverage present opportunities where the Black community needs partners – all while creating better results at the ballot box in the future.

 

Lenny McAllister is the “Working Man’s Conservative” that is a talented media personality, public speaker, writer, author, and rising leader that has “… a mission to make positive changes to the status quo within politics, societal matters, and other issues that hamper our American way of life …” Lenny has been featured at Tea Party rallies and other conservative events from Springfield, IL to Boston, MA, Phoenix, AZ, and points in between.  Featured as one of the “40 Under 40 to Watch in 2012” by the historic newspaper The Chicago Defender, he has been featured in several publications, including Essence, Chicago Crusader, and Charlotte Magazine. “The McAllister Minute,” a regular feature of the American Urban Radio Network, runs on more than 300 stations nationwide.

 

LISTEN: Goff, Martin, and McAllister Discuss Bachman and GOP on “Tell Me More”

“If you remember, (Bachman) really got Rick Perry into trouble (during the GOP Primary debates). She’s the one that said when you flip 999 upside down, the devil’s in the details. She did a good job of doing that, but when she was the quote-unquote ‘frontrunner’ for a very brief period of time, she did not handle that role very well…with the controversies that have come up and the fact that she barely won in 2012, she was going to have her own devil-in-the-details time… trying to win in 2014…this is a good time for her to (go into the) sunset…”

 

CHICAGO (May 31, 2013) – (Courtesy National Public Radio) Tea Party favorite Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has announced she’s won’t run for re-election. But what does the news mean for the Tea Party movement, and the rest of the GOP? Host Michel Martin discusses this and other political news with Republican strategist Lenny McAllister and The Root’s Keli Goff.

 

 

 

Listen to this debate segment on NPR’s “Tell Me More” by clicking HERE or by clicking on the picture above.

 

 

 

Watch Lenny’s previous appearances

 

 

 

LISTEN: McAllister, Others Debate Obama Controversies, Latest News on Marc Steiner Show

Catch Lenny McAllister on this week’s roundtable on the latest in news and politics on “The Marc Steiner Show” (stationed out of Baltimore on WEAA)

CHICAGO / BALTIMORE (May 31, 2013) – (Courtesy WEAA Baltimore)  It’s time for our weekly news round-up on the latest headlines including the controversy surrounding the George Zimmerman trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Washington Redskins name, US Attorney General Eric Holder. We are joined by:

 

• Shedd Johnson, News Director at WVAS in Montgomery, Alabama,
• Edward Wyckoff Williams, author, columnist, and regular contributor to The Root,
• Jordan Bloom, Associate Editor of The American Conservative, and
• Lenny McAllister, conservative media personality, public speaker, and writer.

 

Listen to this debate segment on “The Marc Steiner Show” by clicking HERE or by clicking on the picture above.

WATCH: Esposito, McAllister, Reisberg Talk Illinois Politics on WYCC

Can Illinois’ elected officials move their constituents past their current woes? This week’s panelists tackle that issue on “In The Loop” (photo by Theresa Campagna)

CHICAGO (May 30, 2013) – (Courtesy WYCC Chicago) Addressing the need for a serious and intelligent forum for discussing current events, WYCC PBS Chicago launched In the Loop, a new half-hour weekly public affairs show hosted by two of the country’s most respected journalists: Barbara Pinto and Chris Bury. For this week’s live broadcast and the after-show (found exclusively online), the panelists include:

 

• Darren Reisbrg, Executive Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago (http://politics.uchicago.edu)
• Joan Esposito, award-winning journalist and leader of J2 Strategic Communications (www.J2SC.com)
• Lenny  McAllister, former congressional candidate and nationally-renowned Republican strategist (www.LennyMcAllister.com)

 

Click HERE to watch the after-show on the WYCC website or click on the picture above. Click HERE to catch the May 30^th live broadcast archived online.

 

Watch more of Lenny’s previous appearances