Via Fox News:
The choir sang hallelujah as the congregation of 15,000 clapped and
sang along. Reverend James Meeks ratcheted up the intensity of his
speech. “Man looks at the outside,” he shouted rearing his head back.
“But God looks at your heart! Are you with me here?”
Judging by the response, Meeks had the faithful at Salem Baptist
Church hanging on his every word.“One hundred percent with Reverend
Meeks,” said parishioner Eugene Harris outside the mega-church on
Chicago’s fiercely Democratic South Side.
Meeks is careful not to preach politics from the pulpit. That doesn’t
mean he does not have a political side. This former state senator is
active as a leader in Chicago’s African-American community and also has
considerable political clout.
This gubernatorial election he is not throwing that clout behind the
Democrat, incumbent Governor Pat Quinn. Instead, Meeks is lining up
behind Bruce Rauner, the wealthy Republican businessman from Chicago’s
predominantly-white North Shore.
'The Democratic party just assume always that
97 percent of the African-American vote will go to the Democratic
party. If that assumption is true, they never have to work for our
vote...Our schools are still broken and getting worse. We’re
last in employment or business. Our neighborhoods are deplorable...And we still get the same promises from the Democratic party,
but we don’t get any deliverable. I think it’s time we should look at
another candidate.'
Chicago political analyst Thom Serafin says few Republicans have been
able to win statewide in Illinois without collecting 20 percent of the
city vote. To do that, a candidate must win a significant portion of the
African-American vote. Serafin believes Meeks can deliver. “He understands what it means to turn out the vote here in the city. He is well respected,” he said.
Serafin also believes Meeks can avoid a backlash for breaking ranks
with the big Democratic machine in Chicago, because he came up from the
street and proved his mettle, both in politics and at the pulpit.
“If you are going to challenge Reverend Meeks, you better
have both feet planted on the ground. There aren’t too many people that
are able to do that here in this city,” says Serafin.
Bonus:
Rev Meeks with his (once?) good friend, President Obama
Ouch.
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