Sep 2nd, 2008 at 11:58 am
The Vanishing Black Delegate
Democratic conventions are very, very diverse. Republican conventions are very, very white. And getting whiter:
There are 36 black delegates at the Republican convention here — fewer than 2% of the total and a sharp drop-off from 2004, a think tank reports.
The GOP record was set with 6.7% black delegates in 2004.
One way in which McCain and Bush really do seem different is that McCain isn’t committed to the atmospherics of diversity in the way Bush was.
31 Responses to “The Vanishing Black Delegate”
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September 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Colin Powell is no longer willing to act as window-dressing.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Well, I’m sure Alan Keyes has some free time on his hands if he wanted to make a trip the mini-apple. Heck, McCain could nominate him & win back the black vote….or not.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Ahh but those 2% of the delegates will be on screen during 40% of the crowd shots from our fox news coverage.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I’ve come to believe that, at a minimum, the Republican party is always 25 years behind the world as we know it.
It explains most of their views, and certainly it explains their VP choice, though perhaps they rushed that one.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Many of those 2004 delegates are voting for Obama.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Considering that McCain will get less than 5% of the black vote why would anyone expect to see blacks at the Republican convnetion.
A better question is can any conservative party, either a faux one like the Republicans, or some future true conservative party, appeal to blacks or Hispanics. I believe the current answer is no. How can any party be opposed to quotas, affirmative action, or race based set asides and appeal to minorities?
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
One way in which McCain and Bush really do seem different is that McCain isn’t committed to the atmospherics of diversity in the way Bush was.
Do you really think McCain caused this somehow, Matt? How could that be? He can’t control who is interested in coming to the convention every four years, can he? And he doesn’t sit down and pick all the delegates– tick them off from a list– right?
I think what happened instead is less black people are interested in going than in 2004, or the Republicans are trying to show a whiter face, hoping it will work some kind of magic for them. As the commenter before me noted, since so few blacks are going to vote Republican, it’s hardly realistic that 6.7 % of delegates turned out to be black in 2004– even that number was probably the result of a concerted propaganda effort (that is, of the Republicans trying to get the party to not look racist by recruiting blacks to come to the convention) and not the natural result of black Republicans’ interest in attending the convention.
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Black folks are always ahead of the curve. African Americans were against the Iraq War way before the rest of America figured it out; Blacks were giving Prezdint Shrubby single-digit approval ratings a year before he tanked among the general population.
I’d be surprised if there are more than a couple hundren Black Republicans left anywhere after Bu$hco ran the party into the ground!
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Palin, anyone?
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
6, Two points: First, why assume that a conservative party has to oppose those things? Second, a principled opposition to those things (preferring class based AA or set asides) might get it done, I think. But as the tip of an iceberg of resentment for the whole civil rights movement? Of course not.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
mpowell,
How can any political party claim to be conservative while awarding government benefits on the basis of race? It would make them look like hypocrites (See the current Republican party) and would cause people to support higher taxes and bigger government just as long as their group wants the one being taxed (See the current Democratic Party).
Also, whether basing government benefits on race or class smacks of social engineering and can any conservative party truly support social engineering? When the Civil Rights laws were first based, the explicitedly forbid quotas. Yet, the government has always and still has race based quotas. How can any political party be conservatie and support quotas? The conservative party could have supported the original intent of the Civil Rights laws and made the government neutral on race but neither party seems to want to do that.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
As a Democrat, I love this. The browning of America does not bode well for the GOP. I’m probably in the minority (har har), but I want to see the Dems be much, much more overt in their attempts to paint the Republicans as the party of ossified, reactionary white supremacism.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
What I can’t figure out is why we see so many black conservatives on all political talk shows. Do the networks go looking for the token black conservative or does the RNC have a cabin full?
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
B.M.C.
If you are a prep school, ivy league university graduate around 25 who wants to run for office as a Democrat some day, the browning of America is probably not the best thing to happen. As the number of majority white districts decreases, the number of opportunities to run for office will also decrease.
Also, when the Republican party finally collapses, all of those former Republican voters will start voting in the Democratic Primary. That will also make it harder to white, upper class prep school Democrats (like most of the current party leadership) to stay in office.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
It wasn’t just the race thing–I was struck by how old the crowd was. I think the only people under 50 I saw were the McCain kids and the gal who did the pledge.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
“What I can’t figure out is why we see so many black conservatives on all political talk shows.”
Most TV blabshows feel the need to have some “color” on their shows. Most Blacks are not conservatives (at least not the GOP dunderhead type). Therefore, if you are a Black person who wants to be a TV pundit, you have much less competition to get on the air if you position yourself as a conservative.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Matt-
There was an incredible photo in the Post this morning-a random shot of some of the delegates-so white, so male, so much gray hair. Really amazing. Go to this link to see some of the Posts photos.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Fortunately, the Democratic party remains nice enough to allow white males with gray hair to hang around….
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
It seems more likely to me that the drop is due to the popularity of Obama (relative to Kerry) rather than the unpopularity of McCain (relative to Bush) among African-Americans (in terms of enthusiasm, not percentage support, which is similar).
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
As a Democrat, I love this. The browning of America does not bode well for the GOP. I’m probably in the minority (har har), but I want to see the Dems be much, much more overt in their attempts to paint the Republicans as the party of ossified, reactionary white supremacism.
As opposed to the Democrats, who are the anti-white party, consisting largely of self-hating whites and white-resenting minorities?
#7: I’m not sure what your point is. You seem to be arguing that the GOP party really has no control over the racial makeup of its convention, it’s based on how many black people actually want to go. Then you admit that the GOP has in previous years increased black participation by recruiting blacks to visit the convention.
It is very plausible that a lower black turnout this year may have been caused by McCain or other GOP higher-ups, through their deciding not to go on an all-out recruiting drive this year.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
superdestroyer:
“How can any political party claim to be conservative while awarding government benefits on the basis of race? It would make them look like hypocrites”
or, substituted:
“How can any political party claim to be conservative while awarding vice-presidential slots on the basis of gender?”
But THAT wouldn’t make them look like hypocrites.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Of course it makes them look like idiots along with quota delegates like Michael STeele. That is why the psuedo-conservatie Republican Party will not be around much longer.
However, it still does not contradict the proposition that no conservative party can appeal to non-whites. Everyone’s answer if for them to stop being conservative so that they can appeal to non-whites.
The only way that a conservative party can appeal to non-whites is for whites, on average, to be poorer than blacks or hispanics.
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