Dean: More Gay, Minority Leaders Needed

[136GreenRoad]

Here's a message St Howard can pass on to the Liberals when he preaches to them in a couple of weeks.

Dean: More Gay, Minority Leaders Needed

HOUSTON (AP) - Howard Dean said the Democratic Party needs to look beyond its dated goal of getting gays and minorities a place at the table and instead work toward getting them on the ballot.

"We've got to share power, not just responsibility, from now on," Dean told about 200 people Saturday at the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of gay public officials.

Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said little about issues such as same-sex marriage or civil rights, and instead addressed broader Democratic agendas such as raising the minimum wage.

Flush from big Democratic gains in last week's elections, Dean emphasized that the "new Democratic Party" reaches out to all citizens, even those less likely to vote for them.

The downfall of the "old Democratic Party," he said, had been its acceptance to represent half the nation.

"We've got to take the attitude: Everyone's our boss," Dean said.

He then outlined the issues he believes the party should focus on now that Democrats control Congress, including increasing college financial assistance and passing an energy independence bill.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061119/D8LG2VSG0.html

[B. Max]

Here's a message St Howard can pass on to the Liberals when he preaches to them in a couple of weeks.

Dean: More Gay, Minority Leaders Needed

HOUSTON (AP) - Howard Dean said the Democratic Party needs to look beyond its dated goal of getting gays and minorities a place at the table and instead work toward getting them on the ballot.

"We've got to share power, not just responsibility, from now on," Dean told about 200 people Saturday at the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of gay public officials.

Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said little about issues such as same-sex marriage or civil rights, and instead addressed broader Democratic agendas such as raising the minimum wage.

Flush from big Democratic gains in last week's elections, Dean emphasized that the "new Democratic Party" reaches out to all citizens, even those less likely to vote for them.

The downfall of the "old Democratic Party," he said, had been its acceptance to represent half the nation.

"We've got to take the attitude: Everyone's our boss," Dean said.

He then outlined the issues he believes the party should focus on now that Democrats control Congress, including increasing college financial assistance and passing an energy independence bill.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061119/D8LG2VSG0.html

Tom Foley's not doing anything these days, maybe they should put the tap on him.

[BHS]

Let's say 1% of the population is gay. There are 435 seats in the House, but let's round that up to 500 just to be sporting. For proportional representation 5 of those seats should be held by gay Gongressmen. We know that before Foley resigned there were at least two gay Republicans in the House. I have to believe that the Democrats have a better chance of attracting gay political types, and this manifests itself as more gay Congressmen. So without doing any research I'm guessing that before the last election the Dems had at least three gay reps in their ranks. So there's your proportional representation for gays right there. Mission accomplished! If Dean genuinely has a problem with diminished homosexual representation in the House, then what was his position regarding the Foley witchhunt? After all, Foley didn't do anything more serious that what Gerry Studds had done before him, so what's the problem? Hypocrisy? Is it less hypocritical for Dean to call his party gay-friendly after their recent behaviour? I call this a typical Democrat whitewash - as long as you mouth the right words it doesn't matter what your actions are.

[ft.niagara]

Let's say 1% of the population is gay.

I doubt that the gays of the world would agree to a 1 percent representation of their presence, they would argue a ten percent. Similar to left hand right hand ratio.

[Liam]

Let's say 1% of the population is gay. There are 435 seats in the House, but let's round that up to 500 just to be sporting. For proportional representation 5 of those seats should be held by gay Gongressmen. We know that before Foley resigned there were at least two gay Republicans in the House. I have to believe that the Democrats have a better chance of attracting gay political types, and this manifests itself as more gay Congressmen. So without doing any research I'm guessing that before the last election the Dems had at least three gay reps in their ranks. So there's your proportional representation for gays right there. Mission accomplished! If Dean genuinely has a problem with diminished homosexual representation in the House, then what was his position regarding the Foley witchhunt? After all, Foley didn't do anything more serious that what Gerry Studds had done before him, so what's the problem? Hypocrisy? Is it less hypocritical for Dean to call his party gay-friendly after their recent behaviour? I call this a typical Democrat whitewash - as long as you mouth the right words it doesn't matter what your actions are.

The Dems didn't need to engage in a Mark Foley witch hunt and they didn't -- the GOP was already stabbing one another in the back over it, so Dean's call isn't the whitewash you claim it is. Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the leading political lobbyist for gay issues and they issue a legislative report card on every congressman and senator each election cycle. HRC measures votes for things like domestic partner benefits, hate crime legislation, extension of retirement beneficiary rules, votes for/against certain judicial nominations, etc. The difference between the two major parties is extremely stark. GOP Members of Congress (even the known-to-be and/or suspected-to-be gay ones, e.g., Jim Kolbe, Mark Foley, David Dreier) almost uniformly score zeroes or in the lower end of the percentage scale. Of course there are one or two each time who score well by HRC's assessment. Democrats, on the other hand, rarely score below 50% and only a handful of the most conservative Democrats score in GOP territory. Admittedly, the one sore spot that most gay people have with the Dems is that they lack the courage to come out in support of equal marriage rights. On the whole, however, gay voters know which party is more supportive. more open, and more tolerant of gay folks.

Your accusation that Dems merely mouth the right words is absolutely baseless and is purely uninformed opining on your part.