In his blunt and inimitable style, former NBA player and current basketball analyst Charles Barkley blasted the Democratic party’s outreach to black voters on Michael Smerconish’s radio show on Wednesday.
Barkley, who hails from Alabama and has long supported Democratic politicians in Alabama, discussed his work in helping to elect Doug Jones (D) during his surprise special election victory over controversial GOP candidate Roy Moore. During the show, Barkley relayed that Jones came to him, asking for his help to mobilize the black vote in Alabama.
Barkley recalled that he told Jones, “Doug, I’m going to support you. I’m going to try to get every black person in Alabama to vote for you… [but] we need to start holding you Democrats accountable.” According to Barkley, Democrats have “been taking black people’s votes, and they only talk to black people every four years. All of these politicians only talk to black people every four years because they want their vote.”
Barkley did not have kinder words for the GOP, saying that in his opinion the Republicans don’t even talk to black voters. However, he noted, even though Democrats talk to black voters, “When they get elected, they do nothing in the four years in between.” – READ MORE