Has anyone else noticed anything about all the pictures from this convention?

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being republican.

Yeah, where's Keyes?

Go through all Citizen's pictures - an occasional black entertainer in the video, but everywhere else, just about everyone is white. And I'm saying 'just about' out of an abundance of caution - I don't see actually any person of color in any picture.

Unbearable Whiteness? Nice.

Yeah, the reps don't let anyone whose skin is even questionably dark in. Better watch the tanning.

"The Unbearable Whiteness of Being republican."

MSNBC's stream is good, it's what I watch. No commercials, no pundits, and you can make it fullscreen.

I honestly can't wait to see her speech. I know she's gonna wow me.

I think that is somewhat a ridiculous statement to make that ALL Republicans are white. While I agree that a lot of the people in the Republican party are white, there are a good amount of African-Americans who are Rep and they have been shown during the coverage on CNN and NBC. Additionally, I find those statements interesting in the context that every single friend or colleague that I have who are African-American are NOT voting for Barack as they feel he is "radical" (not in reference to democratic viewpoints but truly radical) and untrustworthy, and have told me that he doesn't explain anything, just talks about change but not how. I'm sure I'm going to receive a bombardment but that's my two cents.

I'll see your two cents and raise you a dollar!

Icterp, no one said that all republicans are white.
I said everyone in the pictures posted here from the Republican Convention is white.

Simply an observation. People can make of it what they will; obviously, you did.

I for one don't believe that every member of the Republican party is white. My father is black and he has voted Republican in the last 4 elections. He is voting for Obama this year (He was leaning towards Obama before but the addition of Palin has seemed to push him even further towards Barack.) When I read that comment though (The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Republican), I almost chocked on the chicken I was eating, I laughed so hard. Stephly nearly killed me!

I laughed too -- I chocked on my watermelon.

Oh, golly. No one said all Republicans are white, just an observation of those pictures!

Icterp, that is so strange that every African American you know is not voting for Obama. Polling shows he is expected to get over 90% of that group's vote, I just heard that today on NPR. Do you live in a conservative area?

Dream, honestly?

Honestly -- I'm eating seedless watermelon -- my company had a picnic today. We have a ton of it left.

Torgelson- Actually I'm from a notably democratic state, Maryland and those of who I referred to are of all ages from a college freshman to those in their 50's.

I apologize if I took it as people saying everyone in the Republican party as being white, perhaps I missed the purpose of the statement "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Republican" since I didn't find it amusing.

Not everyone in the republican party is white. It's not like that, but you do have to admit since Nixon's Southern strategy and Willie Horton, it's fair to recognize that the republican's have played on white fears. You have to admit that much.

Raci

Raci

I wasn't trying to be funny. I thought I was making a good point. Why are you laughing at me!!!

Organic, I am not familiar with Nixon's southern strategy so therefore I cannot comment on it. I wikipedia-d Willie Horton and in my personal opinion, I would not see an ad/issue like that as racist. I personally think the purpose of the ad was to call out the action of allowing a PERSON, not an african-american, who committed such a crime out from behind bars. I'm sure people will see that as an "idealistic" statement but that is honestly how I would view it. The man committed a crime and was released, he just happened to be black.

I believe the article also states that Al Gore was the first to bring up the issue, so does that mean he is praying on white fears as well?

Rac, don't you know identity theft is illegal?

Rac, sorry for saying "Organic", just saw the picture and typed it, doing hw and commenting is not the best idea.

icterp, I was around during the Willie Horton ad (my first presidential vote - for Bush, actually) and there was no mistaking what that ad was saying. There were thousands of prisoners in that program and they selected a black man. You can say it wasn't calculated, but I believe it was.

As for the Southern strategy, it was the republican's way of preying on white Southerner's racism in electing Nixon. Prior to that the South wasn't all red.

Icterp are you a Terp. I'm in MD and I only know one Black republican that is thinking of voting for McCain. Palin may have killed that thought for him. What part of MD are you from?

"I was around during the Willie Horton ad (my first presidential vote - for Bush, actually) and there was no mistaking what that ad was saying. There were thousands of prisoners in that program and they selected a black man. You can say it wasn't calculated, but I believe it was.

As for the Southern strategy, it was the republican's way of preying on white Southerner's racism in electing Nixon. Prior to that the South wasn't all red."

I wish there was an emotican that gave applause. Great post.

Steph you brought up a good point. The republican party does not seem that diverse. I know there are republicans of every race. But they don't seem to represented in the party. At the democratic convention you saw old and young hippies, the straight laced types, white, black, latino, asian, and native american faces. It was a rainbow of people. I remember smiling when I saw a guy with feather boa. There seems to be place for everyone. The republican party seems like an exclusive and rigid club.

Raci: Since I have never seen the ad nor was I around in that period (I'm 22, actually 23 tomorrow) I'm not going to say that you're wrong. I can only say what I know (which is very little) and that is my opinion but I'm sure it was different being in the period and actually seeing it.

liliblu: I am from about 30 min North of Baltimore, Har. Co. I graduated in '07 from Univ of Maryland and I currently am in my second year of law school in Pittsburgh, where in MD are you from?

Icterp, first of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And second of all, you can say I'm wrong, I can say you're wrong, in the end, Bush and Nixon didn't invent racism, they exploited it. As long as we continue to mistrust each other, politicians will continue to exploit that. We are ALL Willie Horton! Or we'll all the people who killed Kennedy. Or something. The point is, we're the problem.

I love all of you as I would my children.

Correction: "Or we're all the people who killed Kennedy."

Sidenote, Huckabee's speech is pretty great.

Icterp, Fellow University of MD grad. Go Terps! We need a turtle emotican. I'm from the Fort Wash/Accokeek area of PG County.

Is it your Birthday? If it is then HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!: g i f t :

I spent many happy years in PG County, just at the SE DC border.

The convention certainly doesn't portray a racially diverse party and in 2008 that's not a good thing, IMO.

Steph it's a small world.

My mother read an article that stated Palin hired a city administrator during her term as mayor. I lot of the work of running Wasilla was done by this adminsitrator. I'll have to check my email to see where the info came from.

I believe this is the same information but a different source.

About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla
A suburban Anchorage homemaker and activist — who once did battle with the Alaska governor when Palin was mayor — recounts what she knows of Palin's history.

By Anne Kilkenny

Editor's note: The writer is a homemaker and education advocate in Wasilla, Alaska. Late last week, Anne Kilkenny penned an e-mail for her friends about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom she personally knows, that has since circulated across comment forums and blogs nationwide. Here is her e-mail in its entirety, posted with her permission.
http://www.crosscut.com/politics-government/17341

Thanks liliblu. Wow, that was a very informative and scary illumination about Palin. I can see why they picked her. She fits right in with the republican party. Even if Obama can't backup some of his claims, at least he doesn't have a history like that. Somehow I can picture her on an episode of 'The FBI Files'.

I'm watching Palin's speech. I knew better but did it any way. If I could reach through the tv I would slap her. If people really believe half the bs coming out of this liars mouth, this country will forever remain divided.

The problem a lot of republicans have with Obama is that he does know who he is. He doesn't let situations or comments control him. McCain and Palin both pimp their personal stories but criticize Obama's. Palin claims that she and McCain are reformers. But she lobbyied for ear marks and McCain's staff is loaded with lobbyists. I don't know how sh got through that speech with a straight face.

"He doesn't let situations or comments control him"

But as Palin pointed out, he lets the crowd he's talking to change his words completely.

"WASILLA, ALASKA - For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.

Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.

Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,5932587.s...

Her is Palin the "reformer":
"Wasilla had received few if any earmarks before Palin became mayor. She actively sought federal funds -- a campaign that began to pay off only after she hired a lobbyist with close ties to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who long controlled federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He made funneling money to Alaska his hallmark.

Steven Silver was a former chief of staff for Stevens. After he was hired, Wasilla obtained funding for several projects in 2002, including an additional $600,000 in transportation funding."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,5932587.s...

I thought both she and Giuliani seemed smug and savage in their speeches. I was way turned off.

I particularly liked [sarcasm] the parts of the testimonial
[Referenced in comment 38] that states:

"..During her six years as mayor, she increased general government expenditures by more than 33 percent. During those same six years, the amount of taxes collected by the city increased by 38 percent.."

"..She inherited a city [Wasilla] with zero debt but left it with indebtedness of more than $22 million."

"She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them."

"While Sarah was mayor of Wasilla, she tried to fire our highly respected city librarian because the librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed." [unsuccessfully]

She sounds like a female (nightmare) version of Bush...except she appears to have the ability to speak in public while having her brain work at the same time.

"The republican party seems like an exclusive and rigid club." I don't get this. I use to be a democrat and they still accepted me. I mean some could say I was damaged goods but I didn't get black balled or anything. I feel quite welcomed actually. And the people in the club are so nice.

Oh! And did I mention that I'm a little on the dark side? Not neccessarily latino but I could pass. And they let me join anyway!! I love America!