In a more diverse America, a mostly white RNC

[KingOfLostSouls]

Source: MSNBC

By Eli Saslow and Robert Barnes
updated 2 hours, 43 minutes ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings.

As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.

Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern — a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years.

more at link

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26539124/

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with palin's separatist background and aryan nation family history, this is a big point that needs to be emphasized

NO minority, woman, gay, lesbian, bisexual, jew, catholic, etc etc has ANY business voting republican


sorry palin, its still the same old "good old boys club," you're just in to shovel their crap.

[sunnybrook]

1. my friend said....

I was commenting to a friend, who happens to be black, about this last night and we were talking about what a hard job it must be to be the camera operator that has to scan the crowd for those few close ups of black faces that we saw. He said that among that crowd it was like a game of "Where's Waldo?" LOL

[Kind of Blue]

6. as an african-american woman

I've never understood why some blacks feel drawn to the
Republicans. I loved this line, "It's hard to look around
and not get frustrated," said Michael S. Steele, a black
Republican and former lieutenant governor of Maryland.
"You almost have to think, 'Wait. How did it come to
this?' " "...come to this?" Is he for real?
It's never been anything but that. Now he's some innocent who
is just finding out that his party is for division at its most
extreme? Inclusion? They don't even know the meaning of the
word. Who is Steele fooling, as we watch the constant erosion
of civil liberties, the drumbeat a few years ago not to
re-ratify the Civil Rights Act, the call for religious nut
jobs to abolish the Constitution and bring back the good old
days, Katrina? What turns my stomach about Steele's is not
only that he's a Republican but I think he suffers from some
form of self-hatred by actually running with a group that
obviously does not want him, continuously stabs he and
countless others, White, Black, Latinos, in the back and all
he can do is whine and ask HOW, not even WHY. He's a fool and
an absolute idiot if he can't come up with a better response
than that. If he ever comes to his senses and really wants to
analyze his party, I'll listen. But until then he needs to
shut it and stop pissing me off.

[ellie]

9. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Kind of Blue]

11. Thanks very much! :)

I'm sorry about the text. Still trying to figure my way around this huge and absolutely incredible site.

[calimary]

10. Um - well, I saw two!

Ridiculous, isn't it? And they think OUR side is out of touch? Screw that! WE are America's Party, because OUR party looks like and reflects America in the broadest, not narrowest, sense.

Welcome to DU! Glad you're here!

Hey, look, I'm white and that pissed me off. Things that make you go - WTF?

[NikolaC]

13. Amen!

:thumbsup: :hi: Welcome to DU.

[Javaman]

15. Welcome to DU! Great post!

I equate black republicans with the log cabin republicans. Two groups that constantly vote and support a party this against their own best interests.

[Frisbee]

2. The GOP is...

the party of racist, homophobes, hate-mongers and yes, SEXIST. Anybody who doesn't realize that is out of touch with reality.

[VWolf]

7. You forgot ... sexual deviants nt

[Frisbee]

16. It felt like something was missing...

that musta been it! Thanks!

[HopeHoops]

3. The GOP base has two components:

1) Rich white people, single issue is money - get all of the benefits
2) Poor white people, single issue is (pick one) - don't seem to be aware they are being screwed by their own party

Everyone else must suffer from a serious mental illness, because they aren't accepted and should know they don't belong.

I know this is a simplification, and actually it started as a joke, but it is becoming a "truth is stranger than fiction" situation. I've lost count of how many interviews I've seen of some Republican ranting about how Democrats caused him to lose his job so now he can only afford to shop at WalMart.

[girl gone mad]

5. It's like a pyramid scheme..

with the well-connected leadership at the top getting extremely wealthy off of the gullible followers on the bottom, just by sending the same chain letter about guns, god and abortion on American flag stationary.

Too bad the rest of us have to pay, too.

[regularguy]

8. That's about as good of an analogy of modern conservativism

as I've seen.
:thumbsup:

[WCGreen]

4. Not only that, most of the people in the Audience, the delegates,

seemed to be 40 or older...

[NikolaC]

12. I Feel Their Pain . . .

NOT! I still don't understand how any minority can stand up and say proudly that they are a Republican after everything that that party stands for and has done over the last several generations. I identified myself as a Republican when I was younger during the Reagan/Bush I years, then I grew up and became informed. Sadly, I found that the Republicans that I knew were bigoted, unhappy, hate filled people which made me move away from that ideology. By the time I was 21, I realized that that party doesn't give a damn about minorities, only about their votes and the ways that they could be used as props.

[Kind of Blue]

14. That's what galls me about Steele.

I live in California now but basically grew up in Maryland. I have to admit that I don't personally know Steele but we both attended Catholic high schools that put on yearly plays together. He at an all-boys, me at at all-girls and I would go to cheer my aspiring actress classmates or cheer the boys basketball team, on which Steele was a fine player. Years later, I was dismayed by his political affiliation and figured, well, politics is local and to be honest, I consistently voted for Connie Morella, the only Republican who I've ever voted for, whose office my family could call when in disputes with the government and we always got favorable results. So I couldn't castigate Steele for being a Republican. But a few years ago I saw him on Fox News as one of their analysts and then I knew he really lost his mind. I've always been proud to watch from afar how Maryland over all votes Democratic and so for the life of me I don't know how Steele could ask why his party has such few minorities.