Since when were blacks not real voters? Josh Marshall has a very important, albeit subtle, post on the continued commentary that, without the black vote, Dems would be a perma-minority party. As Marshall notes- this is undoubtedly true; but without any major constituency, a party would falter.

This vaguely reminds me of the line one often hears in TV commentary about Democrats and their 'dependence' on the African-American vote. It's only the African-American vote, the argument goes, that keeps the Democratic party from becoming a permanent minority party.

That's true of course. But what's the point exactly? Presumably if you scratch out all the votes of a major constituency of any political party that would put a bit of a dent in their electoral fortunes, right?

If you wanted to be a little nasty you might, with equal merit, note that the Republican party's goose would be cooked if we disenfranchised everyone who doesn't believe in evolution.

He goes on to quote at length a Bill Schneider commentary- that goes on and on about how elections would have been different if no blacks voted.
At the end, you get this uneasy sense...hmm...of I don't know what. Read Schneider's commentary, and you may see what I mean. Marshall says this: "nestled down deep in this argument is some sort of perhaps unconscious notion that the Dems are just hopelessly sucking wind among real voters and thus have to resort to padding their totals with blacks."