GOP Puts Up A Bigger Tent For Minority Challenge

[Purveyor]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The faces of the Republican Party's most ambitious members are changing.

Long criticized as the party of old white men, the GOP's next class of presidential contenders may include two Hispanic senators, an Indian-American governor, a female business leader and an African-American neurosurgeon. In a group that could exceed a dozen Republican White House prospects, all but a few are in their 40s or 50s, while one of the oldest white men is a fluent Spanish speaker whose wife is a native Mexican.

The diverse group is a point of pride for those Republicans who have long pushed for a welcoming "big tent" party.

"This is a diverse nation, and we need to be a diverse party," said Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and only Republican woman openly weighing a 2016 bid. "That doesn't mean we sacrifice our principles, but it means we need to look like and understand and empathize with the nation."

Republican strategists hope that a more diverse slate of candidates will help appeal to a growing minority population that has given Democrats a decided advantage in the last two presidential contests.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_BIG_TENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-28-15-10-48

[Shrike47]

1. At heart, they're all old, white men.

[tularetom]

2. The fact that Fiorina is actually considering a run in 2016

Shows that there is room in the republicans big tent for the terminally stupid.

[busterbrown]

3. Thanks for the reporting of obvious

Republican Bullshit.. Most of the morons you mention in your op ed, couldn’t give one piece of crap about any progressive strategy concerning Jobs, Immigration, Healthcare etc.. Even though they don’t fall under the tent of the typical white Republican, they are arm in arm with every right wing extremist piece of shit policy they continually push..

[blkmusclmachine]

4. May be nonwhite, but sane???

[Kalidurga]

5. I knew a woman who was married to a black man

she was a racist. It's kinda like that. The GOP might have brought some minorities into the fold, but it hasn't made them any less racist.

[rtracey]

6. its not the color

Its not the color of their skin, its the Bullshit in their brains.... Will it help the black community if Ben Carson gets elected. No, not because he is black, but because he is a right winged black man. He will enact the right wing guidelines, with its kill medicare, kill social security, kill ACA, help 1%, do give a shit about the 99%..... Herman Cain, Allen West, Ben Carson, etc.....all have the right wing agenda....Same with the Latino population.. Cruz, Rubio, etc.... does not care.....

[Sunlei]

7. BIG TENT rebrand try! Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive....

That name seems very familiar to me. I don't recall her as a 'big happy tent' type of "chief executive" back in those days.