Since our loss in 2004, many white liberals have tried to whitewash how badly Kerry did among people of color, particularly Latinos. They'll try to say that the MSM lied about the data, that Bush didn't really break 40% or some other crap that just makes it harder for us minority activists to get heard. the fact is, the Democratic Party and the Kerry campaign have long been screwing up their outreach to people of color, taken us for granted, while the GOP has been making aggressive, and effective stances. Don't believe my word? check out this no-holds barred critique of the Kerry camp's Latino outreach from a bunch of Dem latino insiders who were disgusted enough to make this public.
http://www.coronadoproject.com/index.cgi?rm=show&p=memo
Have any of the liberal bloggers picked up on this memo? I have not seen it mentioned anywhere, save for a mention in Newsweek (which also said Kerry invited the Latinos to his house to say sorry...thanks but no thanks for that).
Since the 2004 election, analysts and pundits have engaged in a narrow discussion of the importance of rural and religious voters without explicitly acknowledging that voters of color are a part of these populations; additionally, they have minimized the more historically significant fact -- Latinos responded in shocking numbers to the Republican message.
white liberals can snicker all they want at the GOP's outreach strategies and feel all self-righteous about how much more enlightened they are compared to the racists in the GOP, but those of us in the minoroity grassroots are deeply concerned by this development, and the DNC's head-in-its-ass approach to how they have utterly failed people of color. they have no one to blame but themselves. i hope white liberal activists will also take stock of the situation, and start to address the problem, instead of simply saying Kerry did fine among blacks and Latinos and so what's the big deal?
Dems have attempted to segregate theeir minority outreach instead of actually making us feel a part of the table. Newsweek highlights how all the Latino GOP operatives were given a place at the table and in every single high level meeting with Rove. meanwhile, our Dem latino operatives could barely get funding for ethnic media ads. And unbelievably, the DNC/Kerry camp never did polling to specifically target blacks and latinos. they just assumed our votes would be there. treating minority outreach as an afterthought instead of making it a central part of your strategy means you get what you deserve. Clinton overwhelmingly won the votes of Latinos and blacks because he WORKED for it. had high level folks at every position. since then, Dems have assumed they could coast off his legacy. i hope this memo has spurred discussion on how we can head of the GOP's inroads into our community.