Tuesday, August 31, 2004
The Joys of Republican Diversity
Don't have a link to a transcript because I was just watching this interview live on WABC-TV out of New York. For a little postcoital....er, I mean "postconventional" coverage they have on Christie Todd Whitman (R, former NJ Gov and head of EPA) and Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY.
Charlie Rangel, it happens, is black. So the interviewer is asking both of them about "Republican diversity." Christie puts a brave face on things by citing Education Secretary Rod Paige, the only person of negritude they could find to trot out to speak, Colin Powell having declined in favor of having root canal or something.
You can see Charlie has a zinger coming. He tells the guy that he has been roaming the convention floor since it started, and is always being asked for autographs by delegates who are thrilled to recognize a celebrity.
The only problem is, so far he's been presumed to be: (1) Jesse Jackson, (2) the aforementioned Rod Paige, (3) J. C. Watts (who, Charlie noted, took the entire Republican Black Caucus with him when he retired), (4) the director of the Harlem Boys Choir, and (5) Don King. I think there were more but he sort of let it fade out at that point.
I think maybe Lambert isn't the only person in America who doesn't own a TV. At least that's what I hope the problem is, because otherwise there's bit of a "they all look alike" problem in the dear ol' GOP.
Charlie Rangel, it happens, is black. So the interviewer is asking both of them about "Republican diversity." Christie puts a brave face on things by citing Education Secretary Rod Paige, the only person of negritude they could find to trot out to speak, Colin Powell having declined in favor of having root canal or something.
You can see Charlie has a zinger coming. He tells the guy that he has been roaming the convention floor since it started, and is always being asked for autographs by delegates who are thrilled to recognize a celebrity.
The only problem is, so far he's been presumed to be: (1) Jesse Jackson, (2) the aforementioned Rod Paige, (3) J. C. Watts (who, Charlie noted, took the entire Republican Black Caucus with him when he retired), (4) the director of the Harlem Boys Choir, and (5) Don King. I think there were more but he sort of let it fade out at that point.
I think maybe Lambert isn't the only person in America who doesn't own a TV. At least that's what I hope the problem is, because otherwise there's bit of a "they all look alike" problem in the dear ol' GOP.
