The Whiteness of the Republican Party

I noticed the camera zeroed in on what seemed like the only black delegate at the republican convention last night. NPR reported that fewer than 2% of the republican delegates are black.

Yahoo: The Republican National Convention showcased a Native American color guard, a black preacher and video footage of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, all part of its effort to present the GOP as a picture of diversity. What it hasn't offered is many minorities speaking from the podium in prime time, or sitting among the delegates.

The convention has a decidedly homogenous look to it, coming hard on the heels of a Democratic gathering where minorities were prominent on the podium and in the crowds, and the spotlight focused squarely on Barack Obama's historic racial breakthrough.

Not that Republicans have been deliberately denying broad exposure to prominent party members from minority groups — there just aren't that many.

Turns out there were only 36 black delegates: 

Swamp: The 36 black delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul is the lowest total in 40 years for a Republican National Convention. These delegates represent 1.5 percent of the total number of delegates, substantially below the record setting 6.7 percent in 2004. The 36 black delegates in 2008 represent an 78.4 percent decline over the 167 black delegates at the 2004 convention. There are 36 black alternates to the Republican Convention in 2008, down substantially from 124 in 2004 (71.0 percent decline), and 76 alternates in 2000. The following salient facts are worth special attention:

I guess Howard Dean was right.
I'd like to see a story on why. In my effort to find one, I found a wingnut view from TownHall, a favorite conservative mag:

But, Democrats don’t see it that way – and don’t kid yourself, part of the reason why Democrats are so rabidly pro-abortion is because they believe it helps lower the number of black Americans.

Huh?