{"id":2135,"date":"2007-08-22T09:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-22T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/why-the-dems-beat-gop-on-diversity\/"},"modified":"2007-08-22T09:54:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-22T15:54:00","slug":"why-the-dems-beat-gop-on-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/why-the-dems-beat-gop-on-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Dems beat GOP on diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Whitney Cheshire<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The ethnic and gender \u201cDiversity Factor\u201d of presidential campaign \u201908: Should Republicans even try to defend ourselves, or just admit, \u201cOK, you got us?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I had a good laugh when I read this article<\/a> about diversity in the presidential campaign. It\u2019s a pretty sad-sack attempt to spin the Republican field of presidential candidates \u2013 in all of its male, Anglo, wonder \u2013 as being just as diverse as the Democratic field of hopefuls.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t laugh for long. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Why do the Democrats have a white woman, a white man, a Hispanic man and a black man filling out their top four spots in the presidential contest while the Republicans have, well, four white men? <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Please, please tell me why\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The standby response among Republicans appears to be \u201cWell, that\u2019s who wanted to run this year. Luck of the draw. Alan Keyes<\/a> ran in 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

More thoughtful explanations are those that go into specifics. Top notchers Condoleezza Rice<\/a> and Colin Powell<\/a> are too damaged by the Iraq War. Alberto Gonzales<\/a> is just damaged. Sen. Mel Martinez<\/a> is chairing the RNC. And then there\u2019s\u2026 umm\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the discussion trails off. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is, after all, a percentages game with a pyramiding effect. If you don\u2019t have the right proportion of women serving at the local level, you\u2019ll have less at the state and federal levels. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s not like the Democrats are completely overrun with excessive representation from minority groups in the highest offices. They\u2019re not. They\u2019re just doing much better than the Republicans are. And this year, they turned out a presidential campaign Class of 2008 of which they should be very, very, proud, at least when it comes to gender and ethnic diversity.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Conservatives don\u2019t like talking about race, gender<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But all of this begs the next question. Why aren\u2019t there more Republican minorities and women holding elected office? <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Deep breath, heavy sigh, my honest answer\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Conservatives don\u2019t like talking about race, and they don\u2019t like talking about gender. We\u2019re mostly comfortable talking about God, family and our Second-Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But environmental justice? Most Republicans don\u2019t even know what that means. And they\u2019re afraid if they hold the discussion, they\u2019re going to end up doing what Bill Richardson<\/a> did at a gay forum recently \u2013 screw up and insult someone. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a nutshell, we\u2019re afraid we\u2019re going to be called racist or sexist. For the most part, we assume we\u2019re not going to be a match on policy, so we don\u2019t even talk.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And we alienate huge constituencies because we\u2019re uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For all of you Republicans who are getting ready to send me nasty e-mails, consider this:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There are 43 black members of Congress, and all of them are Democrats. Of the 26 Hispanics in Congress, 20 are Democrats. Of the 81 women serving in Congress, 53 are Democrats.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There is hope for Republicans<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

OK \u2013 Do Republicans even care about this? I would say some could care less and others probably lose sleep over it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take George W. Bush<\/a>, for example. And Karl Rove<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Did anyone notice how many of those minorities-who-could-have-been-president I listed above were presidential appointees? Not only has President Bush appointed more women and minorities to the federal courts than any other president in history, he\u2019s also appointed more Hispanics to top positions in the federal government.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This president\u2019s policies, and that fact that he\u2019ll talk with minorities about minorities, resulted in big leaps of support from the Hispanic community in 2004. Nationwide, Bush increased his support among Hispanics by 9 percent. In the south, he saw a 29 percent increase, and right here in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, his vote take went up by 12 percent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Speaking of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no big secret that Rove understood the need to make the GOP more inclusive for minorities. That\u2019s apparent in Bush\u2019s appointments, and more recently in the RNC chairmanship of Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Closer to home, Rove\u2019s support in the early days of John Sanchez\u2019s<\/a> run for governor was notable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And like Florida<\/st1:state>, New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, thankfully, has the ability to elect conservative Hispanics to all levels of government. As I was reminded yesterday, state Rep. Nora Espinoza<\/a> from Roswell<\/st1:city>, who won a primary election against a better funded Anglo man in a predominantly Anglo district, would likely have been beaten had she run that same race in Texas<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And to his credit, state GOP Chairman Allen Weh<\/a> has offered unprecedented levels of support for Hispanic candidates during his tenure. And he should. Right now, there are only three Republican members of the state House of Representatives who can speak Spanish.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Focus on their issues<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the final catcher. You can\u2019t just walk out and get someone to run on your ticket without talking to them. And I don\u2019t mean showing up at candidate debates two months before an election. I mean real, grassroots work where party officials and conservative activists start talking about those issues identified by different constituencies as important.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The NAACP\u2019s Web site<\/a> lists obesity rates as one serious issue facing its constituency that it would like leaders to tackle. La Raza<\/a> talks about improving dropout rates among English learners. These are just two examples of where conservatives and liberals can work together for a common good.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Republican Party should never become \u201cbig tent\u201d by changing its values and philosophy. The party is strong because its values are strong. But like any business or public entity, if it wants to be a good neighbor in the community, it needs to look like a good neighbor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Republican Party is not a party of racists and sexists. But if we\u2019re not careful, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to look like.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Republicans, get comfortable. Start talking. Because Democrats, you got us on this one. Congratulations.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cheshire<\/st1:city>, AKA the Wednesday Morning Quarterback, is a media relations and campaign consultant in Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>. Her column runs every Wednesday. You can learn more about her by clicking here<\/a>. Contact her at wednesdaymorningqb@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Whitney Cheshire The ethnic and gender \u201cDiversity Factor\u201d of presidential campaign \u201908: Should Republicans even try to defend ourselves, or just admit, \u201cOK, you got us?\u201d I had a good laugh when I read this article about diversity in the presidential campaign. It\u2019s a pretty sad-sack attempt to spin the Republican field of presidential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheshire-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}