SAN FRANCISCO, California, June 8, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Democratic chairman Howard Dean’s latest controversial remarks have stirred up a hornet’s nest, with many critics in both parties wondering whether Dean’s tendency to grab unfavorable headlines is further polarizing an already split country.
Responding to a question about his party’s outreach to minorities, Dean responded by criticizing the Republicans saying “The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They’re a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same and they all look the same. It’s pretty much a white, Christian party.”
Stats show that in the 2004 election Bush received 44% of the Hispanic vote, 44% of the Asian vote and 25% of the Jewish vote, contradicting Dean’s sweeping assertion that the party is a “white, Christian party.” Further, a quick glance at the members of Bush’s cabinet would serve to disprove Dean’s stereotype; his cabinet is stocked with minorities, including blacks, Asians and Hispanics.
The Associated Press reports that when asked about Dean’s remarks GOP Party Chairman Ken Mehlman quipped that “a lot of folks who attended my Bar Mitzvah would be surprised” he heads a Christian party. “We gotta get ourselves beyond this point where when we disagree about politics, we call the other guy names,” said Mehlman.
At one point in his response Dean further criticized the GOP for alienating working-class citizens by having them wait in line for hours to vote, saying “Republicans, I guess, can do that because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.” Later Dean tried to backpedal, saying that he had meant only to include the Republican leadership, and not all Republicans.
Either way, Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized Dean for the unnecessary harshness of his comments. Democratic senator Joe Biden distanced himself from the comments, saying that Dean “doesn’t speak for me with that kind of rhetoric and I don’t think he speaks for the majority of Democrats.” Former senator John Edwards said that “the chairman of the DNC is not the spokesman for the Democratic Party…He’s only a voice. I don’t agree with it.”
Others have also been quick to point out the grievous flaw in Dean’s tactics. If the Republican party has proven anything in the last number of years it is that the American Christian vote is extraordinarily influential. “We need a Democratic National Committee that is convincing white Republican Christians that they should be voting for us—not vilifying them,’’ said Wade Randlett, a key Democratic party fund-raiser.
JJ