Thomas Sowell: “Too many Republicans seem to think that the way to ‘reach out’ is to offer blacks and other minorities what the Democrats are offering them. Some have even suggested that the channels to use are organizations like the NAACP and black ‘leaders’ like Jesse Jackson – that is, people tied irrevocably to the Democrats. Voters who want what the Democrats offer can get it from the Democrats. Why should they vote for Republicans who act like make-believe Democrats? … [I]f Republicans can reduce the 90 percent of the black vote that goes to Democrats to 80 percent, that can be enough to swing a couple of close Congressional elections – as a start. Even to achieve that, however, will require targeting those particular segments of the black population that are not irrevocably committed to the Democrats. … But first Republicans have got to want to learn, and to be willing to do some thinking, in order to get their message across.”