GOP Avoids Hispanic and Black-oriented Debates

[Doug]

DOUG
"Racism? What racism? We just avoid brown people and black people!"
================

Key Republican leaders are encouraging the party's presidential candidates to rethink their decision to skip presidential debates focusing on issues important to minorities, fearing a backlash that could further erode the party's standing with black and Latino voters.

The leading contenders for the Republican nomination have indicated they will not attend the "All American Presidential Forum" organized by black talk show host Tavis Smiley, scheduled for Sept. 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore and airing on PBS. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) all cited scheduling conflicts in forgoing the debate. The top Democratic contenders attended a similar event in June at Howard University.

"We sound like we don't want immigration; we sound like we don't want black people to vote for us," said former congressman Jack Kemp (N.Y.), who was the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996. "What are we going to do -- meet in a country club in the suburbs one day? If we're going to be competitive with people of color, we've got to ask them for their vote."

Making matters worse, some Republicans believe, is that the decision to bypass the Morgan State forum comes after all top GOP candidates save McCain declined invitations this month to a debate on Univision, the most-watched Hispanic television network in the United States. The event was eventually postponed.

"For Republicans to consistently refuse to engage in front of an African American or Latino audience is an enormous error," said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), who has not yet ruled out a White House run himself. "I hope they will reverse their decision and change their schedules. I see no excuse -- this thing has been planned for months, these candidates have known about it for months. It's just fundamentally wrong. Any of them who give you that scheduling-conflict answer are disingenuous. That's baloney."

See here.

[Doug]

Reaction among black conservatives is divided over news this week that Republican presidential frontrunners had pulled out of a long-scheduled debate at a historically black college.

"Many people think that Republicans don't care about the black community," Don Scoggins, President of Republicans for Black Empowerment, told the Huffington Post. "I know that's not true, but it's hard to dispel when have we major candidates who say they have scheduling conflicts."

Other black conservatives were far more forgiving.

"I truly believe that Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain can't make it because of scheduling conflicts," said black conservative pundit La Shawn Barber on her blog Wednesday. "I'm hopelessly naïve, I guess."

See here.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Not that I want the Huckster winning the R primary, but this is a golden opportunity for the "2nd tier" to move up.

[LaWood]

I would love to see Huckabuck win the R primary. There's something so poetic about Hillary
dealing with two men from Hope.

Of course, she's already raised about 20x more $ than Huck,
so it would be a long shot at Best for Huck to do anymore than
be 2nd man to Giuliani.
.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Ooh - Hillary v. Huckabee - what a fragrant thought. However, she's got a better chance of winning against Guiliani. AR and the other southern states may not like Hillary, but they're bound to hate the New Yorker.