7.31.00
Diversity Uber Alles

7.27.00
There Will Always Be An O.J.

7.26.00
Tiger Burning Bright

7.24.00
Cheney: Back to the Future?

7.21.00
Tornado Warning

7.19.00
Earth-Tone Deaf

7.17.00
Hillary's Nightmare Weekend

7.14.00
GOP Jersey Turnpike Blues

7.12.00
Back In Black

7.10.00
Reality Bites

7.06.00
Clinton's No Jack Kennedy

7.03.00
My Independence Days

7/31/00 3:30 p.m.
Diversity Uber Alles
It's about inclusion.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

f there is one overriding message at the 2000 Republican National Convention — aside from the ubiquitous "with a purpose" tag that is attached to each night's official "theme" — it might be "inclusion uber alles."

There is no escaping it. Everywhere you go, you realize that George W. Bush may be bringing in many old war-horses from Poppy's administration, but this is most certainly not his father's Republican Party.

July 29: The New Majority Council — the chief party-outreach program — hosted a reception at the Independence Seaport Museum. The official watchword was diversity and it was achieved in a fairly engaging manner. It goes without saying that the ratio of people of color to people sans couleur was about 70-30. As an American-Indian quartet played, Uncle Sam on stilts welcomed attendees outside. The inside greeters included both Abraham Lincoln and Rocky. There's no way to make this up.

After a half-hour of liquid refreshment and quiet jazz, everyone was summoned to the concert hall for the official program. Someone not into the whole "outreach" message wouldn't get into this event, but — on its own terms — it worked quite well. A beautiful black choir opened the proceedings. They were from, believe it or not, Cheyney State University. Pronounced like the v.p. nominee.

Benjamin Franklin then came out to say a few words and offer sage advice.

He then introduced Renee Amoore. Amoore is an African-American businesswoman who also wears the hats of Vice Chair of the Pennsylvania State Party and director of the New Majority Council.

Amoore is good. She opened up with a call to the audience for a shout of "Yo, Philadelphia!" She gave some brief comments about what the NMC was all about and then introduced her boss, GOP State Chair Alan Novak, who in turn introduced Gov. Tom Ridge.

Ridge may not have made it as Bush's running mate, but — ideology aside — one could see why he might be considered. Yes, he is chief executive of a large state, but the man also gives a pretty good speech — especially to what could be considered traditionally Democratic constituencies. The man oozes blue-collar sincerity. He's an engaging politician. In his earnestness about the need for the party to be inclusive, he is reminiscent of Jack Kemp, but without the physical histrionics. Ridge urged his fellow Republicans to get into the neighborhoods of the groups which the Party hoped to attract because, "You can't get converts, if you don't get out of the church." That was something of an ironic statement, considering (as one conservative remarked later) that Ridge is not exactly welcome in his church because of his pro-choice stance.

After Ridge concluded, RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson and Co-Chairman Pat Harrison gave remarks on the diversity theme. Anyone who thinks that the "inclusion" theme all comes from George W., that's a mistake. Nicholson and Harrison have been talking about this almost since the day they were both elected in 1997 (full disclosure: this writer worked for the RNC as Coalitions Director in 1998 and 1999). Nicholson also spoke at the NAACP convention and addressed a reception this weekend for the American Urban Radio Network. Part of his stump speech is that he grew up poor in a home without indoor plumbing. He went to a one-room school through fifth grade and a two-room school through eighth. For her part, Harrison talks about being the first Brooklyn born-and-raised GOP co-chair. She underscores that America is a nation of "one history," but many heritages. Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell — former chairman of Steve Forbes's campaign — then shared his experiences as an African-American Republican.

It is safe to say that not all the people in the room were Republican; maybe only half were. But the message, as redundant as it becomes, goes both ways — we are an inclusive party, but we are Republican. Nicholson always uses the line, "Education is the civil-rights issue of the 21st century." It was impossible to avoid either message. One suspects that diversity is an integral part of the boomer zeitgeist.

Purists may be driven nuts with all this "inclusion" and "diversity" language, but purists be damned: Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated.

The other side of the Convention story, of course, is the parties. One theme that would recur this weekend is the sense that events sponsored by GOP offshoots and business groups were actually easier to attend, i.e., more "inclusive" than those organized by the media. Case in point: the official media party. Try getting in there! Often your best bet was to hope someone you knew was leaving and have him pass along his ticket. Admittedly, there were still a few thousand honored members of the fourth estate in attendance. Even so, it was not quite as good an event as the San Diego convention four years ago.

Of course, the party for Saturday was thrown by that great purveyor of sin, U.S. Tobacco. It was a wild and debauched affair, with much drunken revelry; one had to wonder if these were really Republicans (Generation X-type) partying down. Eyewitnesses insist that several different media types were there, which means that liberal journalists will have to explain what they were doing at a party sponsored by the tobacco industry, while conservatives will have to explain what they were doing jamming and slam dancing to hard rock like AC/DC and profane rap from Ol' Dirty B* (naughty word that Hillary Clinton denies using against a member of the Jewish faith). And, no, it wasn't just the staffers either. There was at least one governor there and one House committee chairman. Geez, this diversity thing is getting way out of control.

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