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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivered a rather aggressive speech in South Carolina the other day, and argued, among other things, that the Republican Party is "a more diverse party than the Democratic Party is." He didn't appear to be kidding.
Similarly, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was asked over the weekend if he's concerned at all about the nation's increasing diversity, given that his party is "still seen and still is in reality largely white and largely male."
Priebus was unmoved. "I think we've had great successes when it comes to the Hispanic communities across America," he said.
Priebus didn't appear to be kidding, either.
To bolster the claim, the RNC chair pointed to the fact that Florida, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico have elected prominent Latino officials. But to say elections of Marco Rubio, Susana Martinez, and Puerto Rican officials in Puerto Rico are proof of a GOP having "great successes when it comes to the Hispanic communities across America" is a real stretch. (Polls show Latino voters moving away from Republicans in droves.)
The GOP's demographic troubles are getting worse, not better.
The Republican presidential primary campaign so far hasn't produced a nominee, but it has had one clear outcome -- worsening the GOP's image among the young, the better-educated and the non-white.
That finding, from the Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday, could be a serious handicap for the party in elections this fall and in years to come, said Pew's director, Andrew Kohut.
"The Republicans really are the party of white people, and especially older white people," Kohut told reporters as the poll was released.
Ron Brownstein also had a recent report documenting just how extraordinarily white the Republican electorate has become.
GOP officials don't have to like it, but they should try to avoid arguing that theirs is "a more diverse party than the Democratic Party is."
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I wonder how the Republican Party will fare when those "older white people" start realizing the Paul Ryan budget--endorsed by Mitt Romney--will effectively end Medicare.
There are lots of grumpy old folks, but I'm doubtful they all belong to the "screw you, we got ours" club...
Louder folks.
It's simple. They are just setting it up so that only those younger than 53 will get a different Medicare. A lot of their recent proposals have loopholes for anyone currently on or soon to be on Medicare.
Another point to mention though, is that it should be "older white men". White women are split much more evenly between the parties.
The problem they keep running into is that the scam only works on people as selfish as they are. Every time they try this, they find that most retired people are not eager to screw over their children, and no matter how often they say "but it won't affect *you*," Social Security and Medicare remain the third rail.
They are diverse: They cater to the wealthy, the superwealthy, and the uberwealthy.
They are diverse. They have old white men. They have old white women. They have older white men. They have older white women. And they have a wide diversity among the
white uninformed idiot Fox Noise Rush Limbaugh audienceslow information voters.It's a funny thing how right-wingers measure diversity.
For example, I get my news from a very large variety of sources. My right-wing mother gets hers from the local newspaper and Fox News. Because Fox isn't on my list as well, she views herself as having the more diverse list of news sources, 'reasoning' that she's got one more news source than I do. It's patent nonsense, but she focuses on one tiny blip and vastly overestimates it's importance.
So, Democrats don't have Marco Rubio, ergo Republicans are doing better with Latinos. Democrats don't have Allen West, ditto African-Americans. As long as they have their tokens, they can convince themselves that they're doing OK.
I look forward to the film footage of a Republican speaking in the Hispanic neighborhood and large Hispanic audiences, or, for that matter, any minority.
Priebus was unmoved. "I think we've had great successes when it comes to disenfranchising the Hispanic communities across America,"
Fixed that for him.
The comedian Pat Paulson once remarked that GOP stood for "Group of Old People". And, he said that back in 1968!
TIP:
http://gawker.com/5912187/louisiana-school-psychologist-young-black-thugs-who-wont-follow-the-law-need-to-be-put-down
Also
http://connect.nola.com/user/MTraina/index.html
All Activity by mark traina/civil right activist
Well, go figure!!! And this is news??? I thought everyone had figured out by now that the "new" Republican Party is the last hurrah of the angry old white man!!!
I am an angry old white man and I sure as hell ain't one of them!
Add me -- I'm old enough to get senior discounts most places.
And "angry" isn't quite the right word. "Coldly furious" is closer.
All Latinos apparently look alike to Republicans.
Cuban-Americans like Marco Rubio represent one of the smallest groups of Latinos in the U.S. They are politically unimportant outside of Florida and possibly New Jersey. Most Latino Americans are of Mexican and Central American origin, and the extent to which they identify with Miami Cuban emigres is decidedly limited.
(I'm not counting people in Puerto Rico, because Puerto Rico has no electoral votes and no voting members of Congress.)
In Texas, where I live, Tejanos (Texans of Hispanic heritage) have very little in common with Cubans and Cuban-Americans. Even their language is radically different.
In particular, immigration reform is one of the most important issues to most Latino Americans. Since Cuban immigrants have received highly favored treatment in U.S. immigration laws for over 50 years, they see immigration very differently.
Legally right and morally right are totally different concepts. At times the two concepts are combined into laws. At other times they are in total conflict. In America, the most blatant example of these being in conflict was the legal right of white people to own black people, slavery. There are many others, but for this article I will limit the discussion to those responsible for writing the laws impacting all of us.
At America’s inception, lawmakers had very different and divergent backgrounds and interests representing the wealthy, farmers, businessmen, and the commoners, many who fought and died for our country. At that point legal and moral were much less divergent; the sole exception was the issue of slavery. The two started on separate paths unnoticed; like the hour-hand on the clock. The movement was there, but could never be seen.
The current crop of lawmakers has a new dominant common denominator, many are millionaires, and all are financially secure. The ties to our Founding Fathers principles, purpose, and emotions are non-existent in a real sense. Their knowledge of them was gleaned from dispassionate history books. This is a normal human condition. Labor unions were also a victim to it. Workers were asked by corporations during negotiations to except benefit cuts. Many of the workers inherited the benefits when they got their jobs. Those that experienced the pain of that progress could never have relented, but I digress.
The Citizens United decision made what was illegal, legal. That was done without rewriting the laws, by a group of justices that supported the very rich! The laws for business are being written by wealthy lawmakers. They write laws that are morally bankrupt that make outrageous things legal. These laws create creep, like the hour-hand on the clock, from a democracy toward a plutocracy. If left unchecked, like the hour-hand the country will arrive at the new plutocratic time.
Lawmakers write laws that allow billionaires to pay a lower tax than a city worker thus saving millions legally. That city worker trying to reduce his tax would be prosecuted for income tax evasion. If the laws were being written by bank robbers; a heist would be an unauthorized mandatory withdrawal, a misdemeanor requiring him to pay a fine, but only if caught. Just like what happens to businesses that are caught breaking laws. The bank robber would not have to admit guilt either. Those that write the laws rule. They just don’t rule fairly.
Editors note: please ask news vine to stop blocking my ability to publish.
I'm an older white guy, but I'm a liberal, which is a completely different breed. I would say that about 95% of the people that I know are Conservative, Tparty types who get their info. from Fox, Rush, etc. They don't read, do internet research or even question the validity of the information they get from these sources. It is true. I am wrong. End of story. Cabbie is absolutely right about the Ryan bill but they are too lazy to check it out, so, we are pretty much screwed when it comes to convincing old people that almost everything in there is against their best interests and the real recovery of our economy.. They are scared, naive, brain washed, reluctant to change and totally convinced that they are right, and Obama is responsible for everything because all of their friends share their opinions and talking points because they are feeding from the same trough. I have tried to at least get many of them to check out some other sources of information, believe me. But, I would say that I have been about as successful as a corn dog booth at a vegetarian food fair. An approach that might work however, would be to get an old celeb to due infomercials about the horrors of the Ryan bill and connect Romney to it. Adds like they have on TV for reverse mortgages., etc. They might believe something like this.
Note to RRRRRReince, just like "all black people do not look alike" - "all Latinos are not the same"! While Cubans that have come into this country illegally are still courted and given status because of this nations attitude toward Fidel Castro, Latinos from other parts of the world aren't nearly given that status. As for being popular with Latino voters - well don't hold your breath. Then again do it and let's see what happens...
I'm an American of Latino descent and a recovering Tea Party/Rush Limbaugh/reflexive Republican. In my opinion it's absolutely true that if the GOP wants to be more than a permanent opposition party, and a minority one at that, it has to spread it's message to Blacks, Latinos, Gays and others beyond it's current monochromatic base. The problem of course is that it's message and the statements by too many in it's ranks repel minorities. As truedoubter points out, far too many Republicans get their information solely from the self contained conservative media world. They do not listen to or read any other viewpoints. Conservative talk radio is almost solely responsible for the GOP's extreme rightward tilt and the rest of the conservative media amplifies that message. Believe me, I know all too well how that works. For years Rush Limbaugh's opinion (as well as others on the right) was my political opinion. I had liberal friends and co workers but I dismissed their views because Rush dismissed their views. Then one day I decided to read/hear what liberals were saying in their own words instead of conservative media soundbites or quotes. It was a revelation to say the least. I didn't hear "communists" or "socialists" or "enemies of America". What I heard were thoughtful and intelligent people who were just as patriotic and American as I was led to believe that only conservatives could be. Needless to say I had a lot of catching up to do because after years of being asleep while awake I was on the wrong side of too many issues. Speaking only from my own experience I think that conservative media, particularly talk radio, appeals to people that are angry and afraid that the world is changing, people who have a very rigid sense of morality, the very religious and people who are, like I was in those years, searching for a quasi father figure and role model.
I am willing to indulge the Republican party with its delusion that they are more diverse than Dems. Who are we to stop Republicans from playing "lets pretend." They can have all the imaginary friends they desire.
I realize you leftist exist in an echo chamber, where they only words you hear are those generated by your own mouths... well, let me help you hear something new... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfop5TeDnZo&hd=1