NPR: GOP Candidates Urged to Attend Minority Forums

GOP Candidates Urged to Attend Minority Forums

Senior GOP officials are starting to get worried. They are concerned about the apparent reluctance of many of the GOP presidential contenders to appear at forums sponsored by prominent minority groups. For instance, take what Jack Kemp told The Washington Post.

"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?"

Senior GOP officials have been trying to get the four leading candidates (Sen. John McCain, former Sen. Fred Thompson, ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani) to reconsider after they said they could not attend a debate at Morgan State University organized by PBS host Tavis Smiley. Sen. Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Tom Tancredo will attend. Organizers plan to have empty podiums for the other candidates on stage in "a testament to their absentia," says a Smiley spokesman.

(GOP candidates aren't the only ones, by the way, taking heat when it comes to minorities. The Rev. Jesse Jackson reportedly said this week that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is "acting like he's white" for not speaking out more about the case of six young black men in Jena, La. Jackson endorsed Obama's candidacy in March.)

One candid reason for the GOP candidates' absence from the Morgan State event comes from an adviser to one of them, who told the Post anonymously: "Why would [the candidates] go into a crowd where they're probably going to be booed?"

3:16 PM ET | 09-19-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

These candidates want to rule the world, but won't appear at minority-sponsored debates for fear of being booed? A good leader is interested in the opinions and concerns of all. To run or turn a deaf ear is to show the moral fortitude great leadership demands.

Sent by Tony | 8:34 PM ET | 09-19-2007

Republican candidates don't attend minority sponsored appearances because they know deep inside they know the blacks and minorities will not vote for them based on both their party and their individual lack of support for minority causes.

Sent by Mario Miranda | 6:05 AM ET | 09-20-2007

I wonder if these candidates would make the same excuse and refuse to participate in a Jewish Forum? I don't think so! This issue is not about Tavis Smiley, it is the disrespect being shown to African Americans. But this is not new for Guliani. Let's remember that he refused to meet with African American elected and appointed officials after he was elected in NYC. The other candidates are simply showing that they are all of the same ilk.

Sent by Megan McLaughlin | 1:37 PM ET | 09-20-2007

You have to be ignorant not to grasp what these veteran politicians know. In their political understanding, McCain, Thompson, Romney and Giuliani, recognize that those who populate such institutions are generally conditioned to not consider differing viewpoints They have nothing to gain. This function would be wasting their time.

Morgan proudly proclaims itself to be an 'affirative action' institution. Its website boldly demonstrates racial preference bigotry by representing itself as oriented toward a particular racial group.

I am reasonably certain that these candidates would forego a similar opportunity at Bob Jones University.

If you condemn bigotry, condemn bigotry.

Think about it.

Sent by Jaco | 10:09 AM ET | 09-25-2007

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