What's with that new crazy diatribe of his where he went off to say that the GOP is pretty much just the "Party of White Christians". It's no wonder the Democratic Party is rapidly shrinking as more and more people jump ship to the Libertarians and the Independents. With babbling rhetoric like that, he only pushes more people away from the party and alienates the rest. Besides, it's not even true, as I think something like 50% of Hispanics and 25% of Blacks are now Repubs.
Yeah, I think Howard Dean is just trying to fire things up. The Democrats will die out if they continue the way they are because they are weak and uninteresting. Howard Dean is just trying to stir things up a bit. Not that I like democrats, anyway. Choosing between Republicans and Democrats is like choosing between Hitler or Stalin.
He is talking about republican politicians, not citizens who identify themselves as republican. Politicians in the republican party are mostly white and christian. Something like over 80% of them.-Whats wrong with stating the truth? Are there things a person can't say even though they are true? Personally, I like Dean. He is the first Democrat I have seen in a while with a little fire under his belly. I think people like him will rejuvinate the pathetic, yellow-belly democratic party.
he's just telling the truth the democrats aren't losing support because of this, its because they're a bunch of fucking pussies. i can only think of one black rebublican congressman, i doubt there's much more, if any.
There are a few black repub congressmen, and several hispanic (fastest growing segment of the US) ones. Their numbers grow yearly. However, that's not the point. Dean wasn't really talking about race, he was talking about religion. In effect, he made the republicans the "christian" party, and the democrats the "non-christian' party. While urban intellectuals in LA and NY may not see any problem with this, as that is probably what they do believe, such as statement, coming from the leader of the DNC can have really negative consequences. Such as alienating vast swaths of democrats in the south and mid-west. Adding fuel to the fire that democrats are "godless". And further driving a wedge between the party and mainstream opinion and beliefs. Arguably, the democratic party is also the party of (rich) white christians (who lead it), the majority of the members are. The minorities and lower classes simply follow, like the rats to the pied piper of hameln. So what? I find it hard to believe that one of the MORE MODERATE governors of VT could make such elementary mistakes. He is a loose cannon, and will do great damage to the democratic party. Personally, I would like to see both "parties" crumble, and pave the way for a muli-party parliamentary system like Europe. Unfortunately, I fear the republican party will only prevail, and the facade of our "two-party" system will be revealed for what it is: tyrrany.
Actually...while not ALL Christians are white and Christian, the majority rules. Source: About.com Conservative Politics:US "Racially, white Americans are more Republican, 34 percent to 29 percent. Blacks are staunchly Democratic, 65 percent to 6 percent and Hispanics are slightly less Democratic, 40 percent to 20 percent." "Unfortunately for Democrats, white Catholics have been trending Republican in recent decades, and the survey I'm using to write this put white Catholics at 32 percent Democratic and 31 percent Republican. White Protestants are overwhelmingly Republican, 40 percent to 26 percent. Of those, evangelical Protestants are even more Republican compared with mainline Protestant denominations. Additionally, the more orthodox views and the greater frequency of church attendance white Christians have, the more likely they are to be Republican."
he's a "crazy attack dog" people can use him to solidify parts of base and say those aren't my words to avoid the damage, if they used this strategy properly it's an ingenius one (dean was the "unstable guy" they needed for it too) but they fucked up by letting him go over the line with the absurd overboard rhetoric, still though some people are responding positivly to it if the media hadn't made a thing out of it the strategy'd still be working....
There are two matters here. First the question of the truth of what was said and second the utility of what was said. What Dean said was generally true. The Republican Party is largely the party of white Christians. However it is not evident that making such a statement does much to help the liberal cause because it may alienate white Christians. If Dean had thought a little more carefully he could have made a statement along similar lines but that goes much more to the heart of an important matter. What he should have said is that today's Republican Party is the direct descendant of southern bigotry and religious intolerance. Dixiecrats turned Republican; and most Republicans today are in southern states. But it's not the past that's important it's the present and future. The critical point here is that in many respects current Republican attitudes and policies manifest the same basic immorality and bigotry of their heritage. They've just put the wolves in sheep's clothing. This is something important for everyone -- both liberals and conservatives -- to be aware of and watch out for in Republicans because it places in jeopardy our efforts to achieve a just society.
