Presidential race 2016

[HairOfTheDog]

Ya know, I view them saying what they feel the black community wants to hear to get the votes, otherwise they don't give a fuck.....were they teabagging the black community before they figured out they needed their votes? Noooo

I think you're right that Sanders and Clinton are saying what they think the majority of the black population wants to hear, ron. They want to be elected, of course, so they want the votes that will them delegates. Around 80% of blacks are Democrats, and the U.S. population is about 13% black. Plus, in recent elections, blacks and other minorities have gone to the polls in record numbers, while white voter participation declined. The black vote is important to winning the Democratic nomination.

But, I think you're wrong that Sanders and Clinton haven't been focused on issues that affect the population for a very long time and are now just pandering or 'tea-bagging'. Sanders has been actively involved in the civil rights movement for many decades. He was also lamenting income inequality, praising truly universal health care, and preaching criminal justice reform before they entered into the national verbiage; all issues which greatly impact the black population. Clinton worked to help low-income black women and their children get governmental support early in her career (AND her husband played sax on Arsenio Hall in the 90s).

Aside from now pushing for more non-lethal police training (which I support, as do most people regardless of race or political affiliation), neither Sanders or Clinton is saying anything new that I can tell. They're just adjusting their campaign strategies to more directly target black voters because we're headed into primary states with larger black populations. It wouldn't have made much sense to focus their messages on black voters in almost all-white Iowa and New Hampshire. But, it makes all kinds of sense to do so going into South Carolina, Georgia...

That's how I see it anyhow.