The decision of the leading Republican Presidential contenders to skip Tavis Smiley’s “Covenant with Black America” debate at Morgan State last week offers up more than we could ever hope to know about how the Republicans feel their chances are in courting Black America to the GOP in 2008. In fact, the Republican Party couldn’t have picked a better time to “tell us how they really feel” about us.

For Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain simultaneously to reject an invitation of one of the nation’s leading opinion leaders, certainly Black America’s, in the fashion that they did (all of them claim to have conflicts) gave a clear signal of the Republican Party’s newest “Southern” strategy. Obviously, they (the leading Republicans) are not ready to date Blacks out in the open just yet, for fear that someone from the old neighborhood might see them. Obviously, there’s not even room to have a conversation with Black America, much less have a covenant with them. The Republican Party that likes to hold itself up as the “Party of Lincoln,” when convenient (which is a gross misrepresentation), just saw its inclusion tent cave in. Now we know where we stand — not in the “big tent.”

Like Nixon in 1968 and Reagan in 1980, each Republican frontrunner used Tavis’ forum as a symbolic moment to send a signal to the silent “element” in the party that they were with them. In this instance, however, the candidates are lobbying for the “heart” of the party, the so-called “true conservatives” (some like to refer to themselves as Reagan conservatives), and the candidates had to let them know that issues concerning Black America were not as critical to them as the "true conservative" issues (and we know what some of those issues are). If we didn’t know before, we do now.

For at least the last eight years, Republicans have claimed they had a “big tent” and could find a place for Blacks in the party. They even put some high profile blacks in the department store window to show off their so-called “commitment.” While the core of the party is made up of ideologues who know exactly what they stand for — no social welfare entitlements, no reinvestment in the urban core and no affirmative action to close the gap in historical race disparities created out of slavery and segregation, the party would put their more mean-spirited ideologues in the closet while they paraded out the more moderate elements, as few as there were. They had both Colin Powell and J.C. Watts (among others) out there selling that piece, wholesale. And yet, when it came time for Watts to move into one of the top three spots in the Republican Party’s leadership, he found out just how far they were willing to go. He retired from Congress. Colin Powell, still the most popular Republican on the scene, went on to become the nation’s first Black Secretary of State but has gone into hibernation following frequent brushes with the conservative element of the party. Condoleezza Rice has survived “the element” by simply becoming one of them. They know what we know not.

The Republicans have sold Black America a bill of goods just as they sold the nation a bill of goods on family values and the war on terror. If the Republicans throw one more bone out the closets of pedophilia, gay sex and prostitution buried in their “holier than thou” basement, I’ll just throw up. And we all know now that the war has been about oil and money all along. But the Republicans have been able to lie to the American people about who they are and what they stand for, as long as they hold the racial line. Baby Bush couldn’t have done all the dumb things he’s done and get re-elected — and not impeached — if the people didn’t think there was a redeeming value to his politics. The 21st century “redeemers,” like the 19th century “redeemers,” are simply doing what they can to return to the status quo.

And as for being the "Party of Lincoln" — just so you know, these Republicans were never of the party of Lincoln — they were of the Democratic Party, who until the mid-20th century was of the “Solid Southern," They would never be part of the Party of Lincoln for what he did to deconstruct slavery and they became known as “Dixiecrats.”

When President Truman took a stand on civil rights in 1948, they left the party for a minute and stood with Strom Thurman’s State’s Rights’ Party. This was the party of which Mississippi Senator, Trent Lott said, had “we” supported Thurman (as he did), “we wouldn’t have all these 'problems.'" The statement caused Lott to lose his Majority Leader post (but he’s back in the Republican Party leadership again). Anyway, the Dixiecrats left the Democratic Party for good in the 1968 Presidential election — for a new party of “opportunity” — the Republican party, after Southern President, Lyndon Johnson “betrayed the South” when he signed civil rights and voting rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. They hung with Nixon through disgrace and found new footage during Reagan’s era of new optimism (codification for new “colorblind” racism). Reagan started the second Redemption Period, one in which they supposedly don’t see color — and yet everything they do seems to turn up one color — white — without the benefit of mass inclusion. Republican debates look like Klan rallies without the sheets and hoods. No one speaks to any issue other than what their “base” wants to hear.

The Republican’s aren’t colorblind, they’re blinded by color. All they could see last week was that a black man called them out to address race and class issues. The ones who showed up had more to gain than to lose because they aren’t considered “serious” contenders for the Republican nomination anyway. Those who stayed away obviously felt they had more to lose in conservative support than they could gain in black support. Thus they opted to shut the door on black folks, showing white conservatives where their loyalties (and issues support) lay. Instead of responding to the call, they simply folded their “big tent” and stayed away. Now we know what the Republican Party’s “big tent” theory really is. Like family values, and war with dignity, it is just a bunch of hot air that has been let out of the hot air balloon. But now that we know,do we now default to the Democrats (which they figure we’re going to do anyway)? No, but it certainly lets Black America know its shrinking options. Democrat or third party — but not Republican.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad is a national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum and author of the upcoming book, Saving The Race: Empowerment Through Wisdom. His Website is AnthonySamad.com. Click here to contact Dr. Samad.

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