NEW VIDEO: For GOP Presidential Contenders, American Dream Excludes Most Americans
October 9, 2007
As the leading Republican Presidential candidates prepare to address the conservative American Prosperity Foundation's "Defending the American Dream" summit, the Democratic National Committee today released a new web video highlighting the fact that the Republican Presidential candidates have excluded the vast majority of the American people from their vision of the American Dream. Throughout the year, Republican presidential candidates have consistently refused to address African American voters, Latinos, young people, the LGBT community, teachers, organized labor, and even College Republicans.
To view the DNC's new web video entitled "American Dream," click HERE.
Citing "scheduling conflicts," Republican candidates for president have dodged the National Urban League's Annual Conference, the National Council of La Raza's Annual Conference, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), the National Education Association (NEA), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and even the Young Republicans National Convention and the College Republican Convention. In each of these cases, no more than one or two of the 10 Republican candidates accepted invitations to address these organizations and their members. None of the top four candidates attended a PBS debate at a historically black college in Baltimore, not a single Republican candidate participated in the Logo forum on LGBT issues, and the refusal of all but one Republican candidate to participate in the proposed Univision debate on Latino issues forced the network to cancel it.
Even members of their own Party have begun to criticize the GOP candidates for their narrow focus on the campaign trail. J.C. Watts, a former GOP leader in the House, called their decision to skip minority forums "stupid," while former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called the so-called "scheduling conflicts" "baloney" and called the no-shows "fundamentally wrong." [ABC News, 9/25/07] Former Congressman and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp addressing the snubs asked, "What are we going to do -- meet in a country club in the suburbs one day?" [Washington Post, 9/19/07]
"By skipping so many opportunities to address the issues confronting America's families, workers and young people, while embracing President Bush's failed policies, the Republican presidential candidates are sending a message that their vision of the American Dream excludes about 99% of Americans," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "Hasn't America already had enough of a President who has consistently put politics ahead of country to pander to his base? America needs a president who will represent all of America, clearly these GOP hopefuls have decided that it's not smart politics for them to talk to all Americans."
For Republicans, American Dream Doesn't Include
Hispanics, African Americans, Teachers and Young People
Top Tier Candidates Snub Debate At HBCU. "Republican presidential candidates discussed the importance of reaching out to people of color during a minority-issues debate Thursday night and criticized the four leading GOP contenders for skipping it….The four no-shows -- former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- cited scheduling conflicts when saying they could not attend the debate at historically black Morgan State University." [Seattle Times, 9/28/07]
Republicans Rejected Univision Forum for Hispanic Audience. "The first-ever Spanish-language presidential debate on the Univision network is just one of many ways Democratic candidates are reaching out to Latinos - from radio ads in Spanish to bilingual Web sites...Significantly, the Republican Univision forum was cancelled after every candidate except John McCain cited scheduling conflicts." [ABC News, 9/9/07]
Only One Republican Candidate Addressed NAACP. Though all Republican candidates were invited months in advance to the NAACP annual convention this year, only Tom Tancredo accepted. Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee all cited scheduling conflicts. Giuliani spent the day in the same state and Romney had no public events scheduled that day. By contrast, all eight Democratic presidential candidates accepted invitations to speak. [Detroit Free Press, 7/10/07]
Only One Republican Addressed NALEO. "The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials invited all Republican presidential hopefuls to its annual convention at Disney World at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Only one showed up - Rep. Duncan Hunter, of California." [Austin American-Statesman blog, 6/29/07]
Only One Republican Candidate Addressed National Education Association. "Arkansas Republican [Mike Huckabee], the only GOP candidate for president who accepted the National Education Association's invitation to speak at its first presidential forum...The other GOP candidates, however, chose not to pitch to the 3.2 million-member NEA -- a foolish snub, union leaders said, given that the group's membership is about one-third Republican." [Boston Globe, 7/12/07]
Only One Republican Candidate Addressed College Republicans. The College Republicans held their 57th Biennial National Convention at the Sheraton in Arlington, VA. Brownback is the only candidate who appeared. [crnc.org]
Only Two Republican Candidates Addressed Young Republicans National Convention. Of the declared GOP Presidential contenders, only Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter addressed the 2007 Young Republicans National Convention in South Florida. [Sun-Sentinel, 7/5/07] Rudy Giuliani declined to address the convention despite campaigning throughout Florida the same day. [Campaigns & Elections, 7/3/07]
Top Republicans Skip NCLR and National Urban League Conferences, Cite "Scheduling Conflicts". According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with the exception of Huckabee and Hunter, all the "other Republicans have said they couldn't come because of scheduling conflicts" to the National Urban League Conference. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/25/07] "Republican presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain turned down invitations," to the NCLR's annual conference earlier in the week, also "citing scheduling conflicts. Organizers say that was a major miscalculation, particularly since the Republicans also stayed away from other important Latino conferences in recent weeks." [AFP, 7/23/07]
