THE GOP MINOTITY OUTREACH THAT WASN'T

EMPTY OUTREACH ROOM AT CPAC 14

CPAC attracts a certain type of crowd. No, not necessarily just the rich, though One Percenters are a bit over-represented at probably 50% of the audience. Not just gun nuts either, though Wayne LaPierre had no problem filling a large ballroom at the 2014 CPAC convention. No, the crowd CPAC attracts is overwhelmingly…white.

In the minutes prior to Wayne LaPierre’s brought a stirring round of applause upon saying “Freedom is having all the handguns, shotguns and rifles we want,” the ballroom in which he said it was oddly silent and empty. A few minutes before LaPierre took the stage to represent Blackwater and Beretta, those waiting in the room caught the tail end of one of the GOP’s most important panels.

The panel on minority outreach.

Tweeted by John Hudak, this is what the ballroom looked like during this discussion.

The empty room was, itself, the subject of some discussion during the panel, as political strategist Jason Roe suggested that Democrats draw larger minority crowds because they have more “goodies” to offer. Robert Woodson, another GOP strategist, responded.

“It’s not goodies. It bothers me that people assume that lower-income respond to gifts —food stamps or things that will be given to them. Nobody wants to be dependent so let’s assume that people want a hand up and not a hand down.”

Well said, Bob. But that’s not exactly the thing that should be bothering you here. What SHOULD be bothering you is that in a discussion about “minority outreach,” the subject of government handouts and “goodies” should come up AT ALL.

Woodson says it’s because they don’t have a “ground game” in minority areas.

And this is what lay at the echoing heart of the GOP’s empty room: It’s not an outright maliciousness toward minorities. It’s the frame of reference itself. As this panel shows, the GOP can’t even talk about minorities without characterizing them as “the other guys,” “the people who need a hand up,” “the disadvantaged ones.” For certain, minorities are at a disadvantage in the United States, but even on its best day the GOP cannot help itself from referring to said minorities as wards of a higher and wiser power. That higher and wiser power, of course, being people who aren’t minorities.

That’s true whether conservatives are talking about people of other genders or other races. Even at its most benevolent, the GOP cannot hide its desire to rule those outside of its own club, rather than to govern all clubs equally. And you can bet even the hardest core conservatives haven’t missed the message that that message is failing…nor did they miss the irony of the fact that the room only began filling up as the outreach panel ran over its time, and Wayne LaPierre fans came for early seats. Hudak:

“The GOP grassroots and activist groups are perfectly right to cheer the words of LaPierre. But they should be cheering the words of Ed Gillespie and Elroy Sailor even louder. The diversity panel is the path to the party being successful and making inroads into traditionally Democratic groups. If the GOP wants to see the Democratic Party struggle to elect a president, they should win 20% of the African American Vote or 50% of the Latino vote. Adding the votes of a few more gun rights supporters won’t make the difference in 2016 and 2020 and beyond.

If the attendance pictured above reflects the party’s future approach to diversity outreach, it is probably safe to say that for some the given future, the White House will be a solid hue of deep blue.”

Here’s the CSPAN video of the panel. Note in the beginning that the speaker is talking to a room that is virtually empty:


The Rest of the Story

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

AND THEY WONDER WHY THEY WILL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF THE OVAL OFFICE AGAIN

THE AMERICAN TALIBAN FAILS TO READ ITS OWN AUTOPSY

The Republican National Committee had what seemed like easy advice for the rest of the GOP after the 2012 election: Stop inflaming racism and expand the voter base beyond male, white America. After a disastrous few months since the RNC autopsy report, they tried again Thursday, with an event celebrating the “rising stars” of the Guns Over People.

But Teahadist leaders worry its already too late, as Politico reported on Friday, “influential GOPers told us the party is actually in a worse place than it was Nov. 7, the day after the disastrous election.” The American Taliban has repeatedly gotten in their own way of appealing to Hispanic, black, Asian, and gay Americans. Here are just a few examples:

1. Voted to deport DREAMers: With DREAMers standing in the room and booing, 221 House Republicans voted to defund the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which would effectively resume deportations. Meanwhile, comprehensive immigration reform has come to a grinding halt in the House, which has split on whether to include a path to citizenship.

2. Suppressed minority votes: Immediately after the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, Texas moved to enact a voter ID law and North Carolina rolled out a series of voter suppression bills. Texas has now joined a case to permanently undo Voting Rights Act protections. It doesn’t help matters that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia called the Voting Rights Act a perpetuation of “racial entitlement.”

3. Dismissive and racist language: Republicans haven’t figured out a way to keep Rep. Steve King (R-IA) quiet, since the congressman refuses to apologize for calling immigrants drug mules. But it’s not just Steve King. In private King insists his colleagues agree with him, while Rep. Don Young (R-AK) used the word “wetbacks” to describe Hispanics. Meanwhile, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) has made a case against multiculturalism, saying, “there’s only one race here, it’s the American race.”

4. Boycotting Spanish-language TV: Due to its invented controversy involving networks broadcasting Hillary Clinton documentaries, the RNC said it will boycott Spanish-language networks Telemundo and CNN Espanol for 2016 debates, too.

5. Insensitivity on Trayvon Martin: Texas Governor Rick Perry reacted to George Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict for the death of a black teen by insisting the justice system is “color blind.” Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) told African-Americans to “get over it.” King blamed Obama for Zimmerman even having to stand trial for Martin’s death. And Florida Governor Rick Scott has refused to even open debate on the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law.

6. Tea Party condescendingly talks race: Even as he attempted to broaden the Republican party’s appeal to black voters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) condescendingly discussed the history of civil rights and discrimination during his April speech at Howard University. Paul, who once admitted he opposes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, recently explained he doesn’t “think there is any particular evidence” of black voters being prevented from voting.

7. Relied on racist author’s Heritage study to fight immigration reform That former Heritage author Jason Richwine earned his Ph.D for a racist dissertation linking race and IQ has not stopped Republicans from heralding Heritage’s discredited findings on immigration.

8. Pursued rabidly anti-LGBT agenda: Gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has stood by his position of viewing LGBT people as “soulless” and “self-destructive.” The RNC also unanimously passed anti-LGBT resolutions without any debate in April. Neither shows Republicans are serious about showing LGBT Americans “we care about them too,” like the RNC stated.

9. Ignored uninsured voters: Latinos have among the lowest rates of health coverage in the U.S., and also back Obamacare 2 to 1. The GOP has ignored this issue, and haven’t offered any alternatives for the uninsured, even as many of them threaten to shut down the government to block Obamacare.

10. Still arguing for self-deportation: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, invited by Republicans to testify on immigration, is still arguing for self-deportation. Even RNC chairman Reince Priebus slammed this approach as“horrific.”

NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

MITTENS BLAMES MONORITIES FOR HIS LOSS

MITTENS BLAMES NON-WHITES FOR HIS POTUS FAILINGS

Yesterday, Faux News Sunday broadcast former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney first post-campaign interview. In it, he blamed his loss on his poor performance among minorities, who he claimed were seduced by the President’s promise to provide them with affordable health care:

ROMNEY: We did very well with the majority population, but not with minority populations, and that was a failing, that was a real mistake.

CHRIS WALLACE: Why do you think that was?

ROMNEY: Well, I think the Obamacare attractiveness and feature was something we underestimated, particularly among lower incomes. And, uh, just didn’t do as good a job in connecting with that audience as we should have.

During the course of the interview, Mittend agreed with Wallace that his “47 percent” comment — his claim that 47 percent of the country will vote for Obama because they are “dependent upon government” and “believe that they are victims” — hurt his campaign by leaving the impression that he did not like many voters. Nevertheless, this explanation of his loss is reminiscent of the explanation he gave his donors for his defeat shortly after the election — Obama won because of “the gifts” he gave to African-Americans, Latinos and young voters.

Ultimately, if teapublicans want to appeal voters who turned their backs on the GOP last November, maybe teapublicans should consider doing something that will actually make those voters’ lives better instead of working to slash Medicare, Medicaid, and education in order to pay for tax cuts for the very rich.


NFTOS
STAFF

BOTTOM LINE

IF MINORITIES VOTE "BINDERS FULL O' WOMEN" LOSES

If Minorities Vote, Romney Can't Win: Gaming Out the Popular Vote Possibilities.

Let NFTOS be more specific: If turnout and support is as high among minorities as polls indicate, and if President Obama gets at least as much support from white voters as Democratic House candidates did in the horrid 2010 midterm elections, then Romney cannot win the popular vote.

But you can play with the numbers yourself to predict Obama's margin, with your own assumptions.

It just takes three simple steps!

1. Pick the level of minority support you think Obama will get
Scenario 1 - 2008 levels (this is about what general polls show)
Scenario 2 - better than 2008 (this is what minority-specific polls show, see below)
Scenario 3 - 2004 levels (what Republicans are hoping for, or at least something close)
(Update: for example, in 2008, exit polls showed Obama winning the Hispanic vote by a 36 point margin, and in 2004 they showed Kerry winning the Hispanic vote by a 9 point margin.)

2. Pick your racial demographics
In 2008, the electorate was 74% white, according to exit polls. Since 1992, the electorate has been ~3.2 points less white each cycle, which would put us at 71% white this year. But Gallup says that won't happen this year, and 2012 will be the same as 2008. Meanwhile, Conventional Wisdom says minorities are bummed and won't turn out this year. Minority voters themselves say otherwise when asked.

3. Pick your level of white support
In 2008, Obama had 43% support from white voters. In 2010, House Democrats had 38%. In 1984, Mondale had 35%. Polls are currently showing around 38-41% (splitting undecideds and leaving 1.5% other.) At least one pollster is known to have overestimated white support for Democrats in 2010, however.

If Obama can do just one point better among whites than Democrats did in 2010 - 39% - (which would occur even if preferences among whites stay the same as 2010, because of greater turnout from young voters) then Obama cannot lose the popular vote as long as he maintains support among minorities at 2008 levels (Scenario 1) - and especially if he increases it (Scenario 2). It wouldn't even matter if turnout bucks history and yields an electorate 1% more white than the previous electorate. So the main question is - was 2010 a recent low point for white support for Democrats, or will it go lower? Details and explanations below the fold.

NFTOS readers, get out and vote, its only 48 hours until we decide whether to move this country forward, or take it back pre 1950's. You can vote and write the menu or you can sit back and be the menu, its you call!

NFTOS

Editor-In-chief

Roger West