gop displays the usual tact and sensitivity

friday, the gop held a meeting to discuss minority outreach..............................

NBC’s Luke Russert reported Thursday:

Friday’s panel, according to the published names, indicate it will include two Latino women, three white men and a Latino moderator. Yet the panel is not without an issue in optics; the room where the discussion will take place is called the “Burwell Plantation” room at the Kingsmill Resort.

In fact, the room is named after the Burwell Family, a wealthy family that owned many slaves in 18th century Southern Virginia. Records pertaining to the families owning of slaves is well-documented by the city of Williamsburg on their website.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who heads Republicans’ campaign efforts, deflected a question regarding the irony of a panel trying to help the GOP woo minorities happening in a room named after a slave-owning family’s plantation.

“I don’t pick the rooms we meet in,” Walden said. “I know the Democrats have held their retreats here too and I assume you’ll go and figure out if they ever held meetings in that same room.”

Walden was also asked why the panel on appealing to minorities included three white men among six panelists, and he responded that he doesn’t “do this part of it.”


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  • i don't think so, quilty. erly had a sense of humor.
    rae121452 01/23/2013 07:17 PM
  • oh, they wanted to interview the hispanic panelists...but they hadn't finished bussing the tables, so walden wouldn't let them talk. i think your table is ready at cracker barrel, baybubba.............................
    rae121452 01/23/2013 05:22 AM
  • Did you leave a paragraph out of the big story?

    I missed comments from the rest of the board. including the three Latinos. Surely if they had done the research Rep. Walden Was
    Expected to do, their comments would have been quite news worthy!

    I do not, and will not, know the background of the owners, the employees, those who service and supply a business, the history of the ownership of the building and/or land, or the stupid name of everyplace I do business.

    Perhaps one day every "politically bad" business can be marked with a big Republican elephant on the doors and windows!

    Can’t use Stars, that’s what was used in Germany!
    baybubba 01/22/2013 11:45 PM
  • Hey Rae, give them a break at least they had 3 minorities. (All latino, I guess they don't consider asians, blacks, or gays a minority) but at least the acknowledged there is another race and gender besides rich white men. A huge step.
    jacker 01/22/2013 06:45 PM