Posted on 09/09/2008 7:12:49 AM PDT by forkinsocket
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Blacks are scarce here at the Republican National Convention.
Of the more than 2,300 Republican delegates who gathered this week, just 36 -- or 1.5% -- were black, the lowest portion in 40 years, according to a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank that focuses on black issues.
That is substantially below the figure in 2004, when a record-setting 6.8% of Republican delegates were black.
The number of black Republican candidates running for federal office also has fallen sharply, to about seven from a high of 24 in 1996, according to the study. On an organizational level, just one of the more than 160 members of the Republican National Committee is black, the joint center says.
Officials and delegates here said the figures seem accurate. The Republican National Committee said 13% of registered delegates have identified themselves as belonging to an ethnic minority group, which would include Asians, Hispanics and others, along with blacks. About 24% of the delegates to the Democratic convention last week were black, a record, according to the study. The Democrats have policies to ensure that their delegates reflect the "diversity" of the party, a Democratic representative said.
"It's embarrassing," said Michael Steele, a Republican who is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and is African-American. "It's been a failure in strategy and a failure in communication. The party wasn't doing what it was supposed to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
How did I know that this report was done by another organization promoting inclusiveness by segregating itself from diverse opinions? ‘severely rolling my eyes’
http://www.jointcenter.org/index.php/about_the_joint_center
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s premier research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses exclusively on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. For over three decades, our research and information programs have informed and influenced public opinion and national policy to benefit not only African Americans, but every American.
The Joint Center’s current research and analyses address critical issues in three key areas: political participation; economic advancement; and health policy. In conducting research and policy analysis and in disseminating our products, we seek to build partnerships and coalitions with Black Elected and Appointed Officials at every level of government and with like-minded organizations in order to broaden and strengthen the impact of our work.
Joint Center Mission
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies informs and illuminates the nation’s major public policy debates through research, analysis, and information dissemination in order to: improve the socioeconomic status of black Americans and other minorities; expand their effective participation in the political and public policy arenas; and promote communications and relationships across racial and ethnic lines to strengthen the nation’s pluralistic society.
Republicans need to reach out and embrace all the people who think American is a great country. And we need to squash anything that could taint the Republican brand as racist.
And your point is????????
“”It’s embarrassing,” said Michael Steele, a Republican who is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and is African-American. “It’s been a failure in strategy and a failure in communication. The party wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do.””
Put a sock in it, Steele, McCain, Bush, etc could have not pandered more to the ‘hispanic community’.
There’s a black man running on the dem ticket and no one can figure out why more blacks were at the DNC....doh!
In other news Harley falters in outreach to people that want motorcross bikes.
“Not to me. The problem is not with us, but with them. They are being tribal. They have been balkanized. They are far more subject to to the identity politics of these times than we ever dreamed of being (in fact, most of us can’t even fathom the attraction of it).
I shudder to think of myself so bound up in identity politics as to be unable to move along truly philosophical lines. Philosophy is uplifting, invigorating, exciting, new every morning. Tribalism is ancient, boring, moribund and stultifying. Who needs it? “
You nailed it.
Well, with 90-odd percent of blacks already locked in for Obama...there not much of a margin to play with.
Remember that being a liberal means always having to say that you’re sorry.
The blacks will overwhelming vote for the brutha. No surprise, no problem. So, I’m sure they’ll understand when the voting booth curtains are drawn, Whitey will vote white. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
I love Michael Steele but he is just dead wrong on this.
Blacks should be embarrassed at their herd mentality of following the demonRATS for 50 years with no improvement in the ghettos.
Thanks, that is exactly what I was thinking.
The Republicans’ Hispanic Delusion Amnesty is not just wrong in principle, it’s bad politics.
“Outreach” = racism,
because you’re treating groups differently (no “outreach” to other groups)
based on their skin color or ethnicity.
NO “OUTREACH” - treat all people as individuals, and treat them EXACTLY THE SAME before the law and in government policy.
Well said. You have the gift of precision in your expression of the fundamental.
That's what happens when conservatives hang around with Washington/media types. They want to be loved and wanted by them, but mostly, they fear being ridiculed and marginalized by them.
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