Why do the repubs beat us on what should be a strength of ours?

[Stinky The Clown]

Diversity.

They're the party the KKK and CofCC types cherish. There are plenty of blatant racists, homophobes, mysogynists and xenophobes in the ranks of elected and appointed officials.

But look at who they appoint.

The Bush cabinet is a near perfect picture of diversity.

Look at our leadership. Lotsa white guys. A woman or three, to be sure. But mostly white guys.

Look at our candidates. Same sorta people pallette.

Am I wrong to be sensitive about this?

[movonne]

1. DIEBOLD!!!!!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Whuuu?

This relates to the post ..... how?

[blm]

2. They don't let any one of them make independent decisions and they don't

listen to ANY advice from them.

Just read how Powell was even lied to about Iraq and the IWR - they used him to lie for them and they needed him to believe they were listening to him. They never were listening to him and he went out and convinced senators that he WAS influencing the policy.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Oh I understand that completely

I also think the various minority communities understand that completely.

My question was really more about why **we** don't seem to be forward leaning on real diversity.

[blm]

9. I disagree - the Clinton cabinet and alot of the support positions had

a great deal of minorities represented. And they were LISTENED to and given real power to make decisions.

People like Alexis Herman had more sway over her dept. than Elaine Chao does - Chao has to tow BushInc line and that is IT.

Same with EVERY dept of BushInc. Christie Whitman will tell you how much clout she had - - NADA.

[MrModerate]

4. Bush's cabinet *is* a picture of diversity . . .

It's just been Photoshopped. Most cabinet members have been selected precisely to ensure a photogenic mix. The real decision-making still rests with white guys. (I don't consider that Rice has much policy-setting authority, if for no reason than she's slavishly adoring of Schimpanski's every breath, which makes me doubt she comes up with much in the way of indpendent initiatives.)

Candidate-wise, there's a lot of diversity in the state and local offices -- roughly representing the ethnic mix of the populations who are the politicians in question's constituents.

Now if you want to make the case that 50-plus-year-old white guys are OVERREPRESENTED, well, I won't argue that one with you.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. I guess your final line is what I'm saying ........

That old white guys are overrepresented.

Why isn't our party ahead of where it was, say, twenty years ago? It may be statistically (I actually don't know), but it sure doesn't *feel* that way.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Look at their leadership vs ours

Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld in the White House
Frist & McConnell in the Senate
Hastert & Boner in the House. Boner replaced DeLay, another white man.

All white men. Rice is a "yes" woman who does Cheney's bidding, while Gonzalez does Bush's bidding.

Do any non-white men head major Congressional committees?

We have Pelosi in the House, with Conyers in line to head Judiciary if we pick up enough House seats.

I will admit, however, that I was disappointed by DU in 2004 when asked to name potential cabinets for Kerry, and it was dominated by white males.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Again, I'm not the least bit ashamed of our record in this area ......

.... but if perception is reality, I don't percieve us as having made a whole lot of progress.

[NewJeffCT]

10. That is true

Bush has shown a good ability to find incompetent people of both sexes and of just about any race. And, his cabinet is more diverse than Reagan's.

[blondeatlast]

11. We need to grab that meme and turn it around.

Diversity? Did that help in NOLA? It was 3 white men who let us down (I firmly believe that the onus fell on the Feds in that case).

Look at the cabinet; true, they are quite colorful, but who's actually representing? C'mon, Stinky, you can answer this... (tapping foot)...

I'm waiting...

See what I mean?

Not to mention we have it all over them in state and local races and the voter we need to grab onto and not let go isn't going to be terribly concerned about diversity this time. Even if they are, we have the "talent" to put out there, they just need some serious boot-camp media training.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'm not even sure this is a meme .......

..... I'm really just throwing the idea out there to see what gets stirred up.

Here in Maryland, JUST as an example, there was a justifiable fear that our horrible Repub Senate candidate, Steele, who is black, might out-appeal a white Dem in black areas. NOT because black people all vote the same or will only vote for a black, but more as a protest against a party machine that has, arguably, taken them for granted.

You know ... its the old thing about and elected official only calling when they need a vote. By this day and time, not only are there qualified minorities, in many cases, they're simply the BEST qualified. In my view - again using Maryland as just an example - old white guy Cardon (a good Dem to be sure) is the 'safe, establishment' candidate. But Kweisi Mfume is far and away the BEST candidate.

Then there's our party leadership. Check out this thread about Democratic House leadership ..... can we discuss the need for change?

I just think we need to walk the walk better.