The idea that Clarence Thomas could be selected by Bush to be the next Supreme Court Chief Justice is an idea Republicans are floating to entice Black votes for Bush. Can it be that Republicans have not yet seen the error in their thinking about how to approach the Black voter? Or do they care?

To float the idea of a Chief Justice Clarence Thomas as enticement for Black votes is a flawed notion from the start. Clarence Thomas as a Justice on the US Supreme Court is already an insult to the Black community that was perpetrated by senior Bush, and now for the son to offer this idea adds insult to injury. Clarence Thomas would be a disaster for Black folk as Supreme Court Chief Justice, as he is already a disaster for Black folk as a US Supreme Justice.

Putting an undesirable into a position and keeping him there may persuade some Americans that such a person is right, good, and competent for that position, but that principle does not work on Black America, especially when that person is selected as a Black leader by whites over the objections of Black America. This truth is as old as slavery and as current as an out-of-state Alan Keyes going against an in-state Barack Obama.

First, the insult and harm that father Bush perpetrated on Black people is this: Clarence Thomas does not reflect the intelligence quotient of legal Black America. He is not even in the company of Black America's finest legal minds, even though father Bush pawned him off to the world as if this is the best Black legal mind he could find. That insult still offends every intellectual Black in this nation to be so lowered and misrepresented.

Second, the thought that one of our weakest would be placed on the US Supreme Court to go against white America's finest is inherently unfair and makes Thomas no more than he is, a second vote for Antonia Scalia and a political black proxy for Republicans.

Third, Thomas's appointment says to the world, "This the finest legal mind that Black America has to offer; you see how inferior they are." And that is a fraud upon and a misrepresentation of the Black community!

The floating of the idea that Clarence Thomas could be elevated to Chief Justice is a joke and an insult. It cannot be a serious effort to secure Black voters any more than Bush's avoiding the invitation to speak at the NAACP but , instead, he goes to the Urban League and Black Journalists to speak is a serious effort at getting Black voters to his side, other than the handful of Black Conservatives---and they are only a handful for sure.

Over the 10-years since his appointment, Clarence Thomas has not grown much, and that growth has not been favorable to Black America. Yes, he is asking more questions, but from no questions to a few questions on a few cases and still following Scalia, hat in hand, is not growth that represents progress. His learning curve is too limited--maybe in the next 25-years he will come around to clarity, but that is too long. As it stands, Black America has no voice on the US Supreme Court and will only be harmed and embarrassed even more by Thomas being elevated. Were Thomas legally stout of mind, he could make a difference, but he is not stout of mind, and, actually, he is out of his class on the US Supreme Court.

At hearing this Republican idea floated as a political ploy, this writer asks, "Who is advising this administration on matters of Black affairs?" And the answer has to be, "No one." Therefore, we will advise them.

The man who could have gotten the Black vote, the Bush Administration has politically killed--Colin Powell. He is so disgusted with the Republicans that he will not even go to the Republican Convention at the end of this month, and he will quit this administration at the end of this term.

The Republicans have much to learn, and they cannot learn it from such sad Black apologists as they now have. Those Blacks who are not apologists leave the party and remove themselves from politics entirely--JC Watts, Colin Powell, etc. It is almost impossible for clear thinking Blacks to function in the Republican Party.

For sure, the Republicans have killed their one Black goose that had the golden egg. And that is not Clarence Thomas, an old insult that humiliates Black America and says that this administration and Republicans do not want the Black vote. That goose is Colin Powell. []

Frank A. Jones