The Real Baltimore

 

Kim Klacik is a Republican running for Congress in Baltimore, and she has a few things to say. Warning: pearl clutchers should have pearls handy before watching this campaign ad:

While Nancy makes selfie-videos of her $30 a pint designer ice cream, Kim Klacik is shaking up her old home town. Sometimes the revolution that arises is not the one the elites were staging. A race worth following. Donate here.

As you were.

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  1. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    What an impressive woman! I hope more black Republicans will speak out–hey, Kanye!

    • #31
  2. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Jules PA (View Comment):

    I think Larry Elder and his team are going to need to update their Uncle Tom Documentary to include a Klacik chapter.

    At first I didn’t like the look, but I’m not black, and I don’t live in Baltimore. I did not go to a failing school. Even though my early life is not a paragon of white privilege, I always had hope that I could do and be.

    Klacik is the voice that the downtrodden need to hear. She is the face they need to see. She has a story that will resonate.

    Klacik will connect with the voters who want OUT of the destruction they’ve been handed. Those who are not interested will ignore. She may not win this year, but she has started the right “conversation.”

    I think her video has an outreach beyond Baltimore, and may inspire others like herself, in other ruined cities to step up.

     

    She may not be a congress person out of Baltimore but I can definitely see a senator out of Maryland

    • #32
  3. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    While it is true that Democrats have created ruins in cities, what is the actual plan or policy to reverse this?  Rome was not built in a day but more importantly,  a lot of it never got rebuilt after the last sacking. 

    I used to spend a lot of time in Baltimore.  I have a daughter who lives in the city now.  The town was once fiercely proud of being full of regular working people, unlike the allegedly snobby Washington DC suburban types.  The best man at my wedding was the 12th child of a man who cleaned bilges on large ships in the harbor because it paid better than factory work because almost nobody else could stand the smell.

    There are plaques listing war dead in or outside of old Catholic churches whose last names mark the ethnic waves in the neighborhoods. And many of those parish neighborhoods are now in complete decay. There are busted up rowhouses with the old white marble steps that are filthy or damaged. When I was a young man visiting friends, Baltimore housewives would have died of shame (or forced husbands and kids to get to cleaning) rather than let that precious white marble look unkempt.

    Like so many other cities, the apparent improvement plan was to kick out the middle class so only the upper-middle class and above and the very poor get to stay.  Young college grad singles could stay but must leave when they form families.  The inner harbor and Camden Yards are lovely but at what price?  A rich minority and a poor easily conned voting majority accepting lies and crumbs…

    • #33
  4. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):

    I think Larry Elder and his team are going to need to update their Uncle Tom Documentary to include a Klacik chapter.

    At first I didn’t like the look, but I’m not black, and I don’t live in Baltimore. I did not go to a failing school. Even though my early life is not a paragon of white privilege, I always had hope that I could do and be.

    Klacik is the voice that the downtrodden need to hear. She is the face they need to see. She has a story that will resonate.

    Klacik will connect with the voters who want OUT of the destruction they’ve been handed. Those who are not interested will ignore. She may not win this year, but she has started the right “conversation.”

    I think her video has an outreach beyond Baltimore, and may inspire others like herself, in other ruined cities to step up.

     

    She may not be a congress person out of Baltimore but I can definitely see a senator out of Maryland

    Wishful thinking.  Some recent history: The Maryland Democratic Party openly backed Cardin instead of Mfume for the US Senate seat that opened in 2006.  Cardin is a backbench zombie with very good fund-raising connections.  Mfume was head of the NAACP, a veteran of Sunday TV news panel shows and a player in the black caucus–a man with admittedly high-end political credentials even if you hate his politics.  The party leadership was terrified that white voters would opt for the GOP black guy (former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele) instead of the black guy with the radical-sounding name.  So they muscled Cardin to a 3-pt win in the primary.

    You would think black voters would be angry at the openly racist intentions behind the party’s backing Cardin. Wrong.  They voted 90% for the Democrat against the black Republican.  The Democrats are probably right to take them for granted. 

    • #34
  5. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    You would think black voters would be angry at the openly racist intentions behind the party’s backing Cardin. Wrong. They voted 90% for the Democrat against the black Republican. The Democrats are probably right to take them for granted. 

    That’ll remain true right up until it isn’t. Lots of things have changed in 2020. It’s not impossible that DJT can carry enough of the black vote to win in November. If he does, then it’s not out of the question for PDT v2.0 and J. Kushner to engineer a reverse Lyndon.

    • #35
  6. Chris O. Coolidge
    Chris O.
    @ChrisO

    The presentation is a bit of flash and style. She knows what she’s doing there. She’ll pull votes to the whole ticket with the message, if it’s visible enough. What other message is there for a man who lost 3 sons? They don’t care. Get rid of the people who led the city to ruin.

    • #36
  7. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    Currently 4.4 million views.  Up 10% in 3 hours.

    This ad changes everything and you’re watching it happen in real time.  S’pretty cool.

    And the folks who created the ad are probably available for other Republicans running for office.  Good business for them!

    • #37
  8. GLDIII Temporarily Essential Reagan
    GLDIII Temporarily Essential
    @GLDIII

    Arahant (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):
    One hour ago. Now it’s 4 million views. This is seriously viral.

    I wonder how many are voters in her district.

    Md has ~6M residents, and 10 districts, so there is your answer. My district is adjacent to where she is running, but to say we are severely Gerrymander would be doing injustice to the word “severely “.  

    Sadly I recognize a few of the streets she was walking, (mostly off South MLK Blvd which splits Baltimore from the inner harbor along the west side of the Jone Falls tributary). The last few years I won’t even venture more than a block or two north of the harbor, and only during the daylight hours.

    The unruly have become gratuitously brazen since Freddy’s self inflicted mortem.

    • #38
  9. TreeRat Inactive
    TreeRat
    @RichardFinlay

    Makes me wish I could mail-in a ballot for her from Ohio.

    If I/she were democrats, I bet I could.

    • #39
  10. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Instugator (View Comment):

    My heart breaks for the guy who lost three sons.

    I cannot imagine.

    Great ad.

    Where is black lives matter for that guy? 

     

    • #40
  11. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    I love everything about the video and it reminds me of Trump in the best possible sense. Trump is loud and flashy and direct to the point of being rude. There is something about that deal that works for low-information voters, poor and working folks and racial minorities. Like Trump, she has used the internet to get a ridiculous amount of free media coverage. That spreads the message and the message is essentially good. 

    I’m the kind of guy that would prefer a black and white documentary about how Booker T. Washington would approve of Milton Friedman style economic policies and how capitalism properly understood has always helped poor and minority groups since going back to Adam Smith. In essence, I am a nerd and a mild wonk and about 1% of the voting public. 

    With reluctance I have come to appreciate Trump’s ability to communicate to people who don’t obsessively follow politics and I realize that I underestimated his media savvy. As long as Kim’s policy are free market and anticrime enough to let Americans thrive, she has my full support. Flashy dress and all. 

    • #41
  12. Tocqueville Inactive
    Tocqueville
    @Tocqueville

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Good commercial overall. The one thing I would say is that having a pretty girl in a red dress and high heels talking about “walking the streets of Baltimore” might not deliver the message she intends.

    Agreed.

    She needed something analogous to the way guys in political ads would invariably appear in rolled-up shirtsleeves, no jacket (or slung over the shoulder), and a slightly loosened the tie to show they were working on the issues or something or just approachable though still with the gravitas the suit brings.

    That’s kind of a Dem thing isn’t it? That Freedom Riders look. Been there done that.

    • #42
  13. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    I wonder if I am looking into the future here. Seattle will start to become Baltimore. Maybe after sixty years some multiracial lady in a tight dress will point to the decaying of the once great city and contemplate being a Republican to repair it. I am developing greater sympathy for the people of Baltimore as I see Seattle’s future. 

    • #43
  14. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    She gets a campaign donation.

    • #44
  15. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Unsk (View Comment):

    Simply great infomercial!

    “The one thing I would say is that having a pretty girl in a red dress and high heels talking about “walking the streets of Baltimore” might not deliver the message she intends.”

    I strongly disagree. By wearing a nicely looking dress, she is essentially subliminally saying to black people ” I did this and you can too!”. By wearing that outfit it’s a message of hope.

    She is going after black people who want to aspire to better lives, and showing them how it is done, and that it is possible. That is a powerful message. Black can do much better and can be fully integrated into society. That is her message.

    She will definitely raise money from white Republicans across the country. It will be a very good sign if she can raise money at the grass roots level in her district and other black neighborhoods in Baltimore.

    • #45
  16. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):

    Simply great infomercial!

    “The one thing I would say is that having a pretty girl in a red dress and high heels talking about “walking the streets of Baltimore” might not deliver the message she intends.”

    I strongly disagree. By wearing a nicely looking dress, she is essentially subliminally saying to black people ” I did this and you can too!”. By wearing that outfit it’s a message of hope.

    She is going after black people who want to aspire to better lives, and showing them how it is done, and that it is possible. That is a powerful message. Black can do much better and can be fully integrated into society. That is her message.

    She will definitely raise money from white Republicans across the country. It will be a very good sign if she can raise money at the grass roots level in her district and other black neighborhoods in Baltimore.

    Good point leftcoast. What really matters is the grass roots stuff in her neighborhood. I’m cautiously optimistic. 

    • #46
  17. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    • #47
  18. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    namlliT noD (ViewnamlliT noD (View Comment

    . . .
    She’s breaking new ground here. I can’t think of a time a Republican ever noticed the simple truth that the inner city areas are a disaster, and thought to mention it. I can’t think of a time a Republican ever seriously attempted to run for office in an inner city area.

    I hope you’re kidding. President Trump raised the problem of the disaster that is Baltimore about one year ago, and was castigates for it in the media, and by the Congressman representing the disaster zone – the deceased Elijah Cummings (rest in peace, and good riddance).

    • #48
  19. Stina Member
    Stina
    @CM

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Sorry, but my first thought was that “Kim” used to be (and really still is) a man.

    She is a wife and a mother. I find no indication of anything more complicated than that. And watching her move in that video, those hips are all natural – not a speck of cereal.

    I’m only looking at the “still frame.” Those arms, that face at that angle…

    Black women that are in shape and not obese get pretty built arms rather easily.

     

    • #49
  20. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    oh my god I’m in love

    • #50
  21. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    I left Baltimore in 2004.  My last night in town, with closing on my house the next morning, a kid was shot in the park across the street, where the local high school team was playing the School Commissioner’s old high school team.  Even before that it was spooky: black SUVs cruising the streets; young black-clad hooded adults crowding the night streets for blocks around.  I’ve never regretted moving out.

    • #51
  22. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    The Post Millennial: Black Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik speaks out after viral video

    Klacik blames the corruption inherent in politics for the reason why Baltimore’s black leaders have continued to cry racism while not addresses the needs of the city or its citizens.

    As a Republican who is not beholden to the Democrat party system, Klacik said she is not afraid to “open the books” and look at where the money that has been funneled into Baltimore has gone. She wants to find out what happened to it, and why it hasn’t improved things for her district. Klacik said she would open a “Pandora’s Box, and that is the last thing they want.”

     

    • #52
  23. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    I am willing to bet that Kim got more people to watch her two minute video than the DNC got to watch 10 minutes of the DNC convention.

    • #53
  24. Stina Member
    Stina
    @CM

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    While it is true that Democrats have created ruins in cities, what is the actual plan or policy to reverse this? Rome was not built in a day but more importantly, a lot of it never got rebuilt after the last sacking.

    I used to spend a lot of time in Baltimore. I have a daughter who lives in the city now. The town was once fiercely proud of being full of regular working people, unlike the allegedly snobby Washington DC suburban types. The best man at my wedding was the 12th child of a man who cleaned bilges on large ships in the harbor because it paid better than factory work because almost nobody else could stand the smell.

    There are plaques listing war dead in or outside of old Catholic churches whose last names mark the ethnic waves in the neighborhoods. And many of those parish neighborhoods are now in complete decay. There are busted up rowhouses with the old white marble steps that are filthy or damaged. When I was a young man visiting friends, Baltimore housewives would have died of shame (or forced husbands and kids to get to cleaning) rather than let that precious white marble look unkempt.

    Like so many other cities, the apparent improvement plan was to kick out the middle class so only the upper-middle class and above and the very poor get to stay. Young college grad singles could stay but must leave when they form families. The inner harbor and Camden Yards are lovely but at what price? A rich minority and a poor easily conned voting majority accepting lies and crumbs…

    Drop minor ticketing unless it helps nab a major criminal. If property crimes and murder/assault are high, then you really need to lay off the broken window policies. The fines become burdensome and pointless when property you scrimp and save for is a night away from vandalism.

    Overhaul regulations and remove the ones that are the most hindrance to legal business or commerce creation. Re-evaluate licensing requirements or institute a x month fee-less licensing holiday.

    Ease city permit costs for setting up commerce stands and make it easier/more affordable for periodic farmers/crafters markets. Lift bans on inter-city edible gardens.

    Host, through public libraries, commerce and business and gardening seminars or whatever else the community needs basic help in.

    I would reevaluate local schooling and minimum wage after commerce skids were greased.

    A lot of this came from that Sonny woman from Trump’s roundtable. There’s tons of ideas that can be used.

    • #54
  25. GLDIII Temporarily Essential Reagan
    GLDIII Temporarily Essential
    @GLDIII

    TreeRat (View Comment):

    Makes me wish I could mail-in a ballot for her from Ohio.

    If I/she were democrats, I bet I could.

    If you were dead you could vote for the democrat.

    • #55
  26. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    She is running against Kwasei Mfume for Cummings’ seat. He is well-known and well-funded and the district was carefully gerrymandered to insure an urban Democratic majority was the controlling demographic. Uphill for her.

    OldB,

    If she gets anywhere close to the SOB it will be a miracle. How sweet it would be if she busts his chops.

    Regards,

    Jim 

    • #56
  27. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    Boom… 5 million views.  Up 20%, from 4 million, over the last 6 hours.

    Seriously viral.

    It’s a killer message done just right.

    [Edit: I clearly hit the button too soon…]

    And the president retweets.  This thing is going orbital.

     

    • #57
  28. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    A few unexpected episodes of truth telling are needed right now. The Left’s lying has reached such a level over the last four years that the Democrat politicians and most of the media apparently really have no capacity to tell the difference between facts and fantasy. Perhaps trying to describe it as a lack of capacity is wrong, it looks as if they have no interest in facts or truth. This is a long-standing approach used by communists and it looks as if we are in it here for the long term.

    It is crucial to get Joe Biden talking in interviews because he is not capable of consistency when the story is false.

    • #58
  29. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Boom… 5 million views. Up 20%, from 4 million, over the last 6 hours.

    Seriously viral.

    It’s a killer message done just right.

    [Edit: I clearly hit the button too soon…]

    And the president retweets. This thing is going orbital.

    Don,

    Do Black lives matter? I’ve been waiting for somebody to pick up on the meme from those cheap Marxist frauds. Of course, they matter but the lying Democrats and the insane Marxists will only bring more misery to the black community.

    Screw’em and vote for this Republican chick and vote for yourself this time.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #59
  30. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Good commercial overall. The one thing I would say is that having a pretty girl in a red dress and high heels talking about “walking the streets of Baltimore” might not deliver the message she intends.

    Maybe. Or maybe it will help point up to girls in general that they dare not walk the streets of Baltimore in with or without dresses and heels. 

    • #60
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