If you didn’t read the Arizona Daily Star yesterday (and who would blame you?), you might have missed this exchange of words between CD2 candidates Ron Barber and Martha McSally — in particular, this bit from Barber:

“The Democratic side of the House is a rainbow of colors and ethnicities and religious beliefs,” he said. “Quite frankly, on the other side, it’s essentially a bunch of white guys.”

The irony there is that his opponent, McSally, is a woman.

Of course, this quote gave area conservatives (such as conservative talk-show host Jon Justice) a case of the howling fantods.

But honestly, Barber isn’t incorrect. Let’s look at the figures, using the Congressional Research Service’s “Membership of the 112th Congress: A Profile,”published August 1, as a guide:

As a whole, Congress has 456 Caucasian members; 43 African-Americans; 12 Asian-Americans; 31 Hispanics/Latinos; and one Native American (with a few multi-ethnic members being counted multiple ethnic groups). Of those ethnic minorities, 75 are Democrats, while 13 are Republicans.

As far as gender representation is concerned, 93 women serve in the U.S. Congress. Of those women, 74 are Democrats, 29 are Republicans.

Of the 287 Republicans in Congress, there are 29 women, and 13 ethnic minorities. And of the 241 Democrats, there are 74 women and 75 are ethnic minorities.

So, while both parties tend to lean toward white males of the Baby Boomer generation, it’s safe to say that Ron Barber isn’t wrong when he says that the Republican party in Congress is “essentially a bunch of white guys.”

It’s a dumb way to put it, yeah — but he’s still not wrong.

This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2012.

6 replies on “Ron Barber Said Something Dumb — But He Wasn’t Incorrect”

  1. Sort of like Mitt Romney saying that he wasn’t going to waste his resources trying to convince the 47% of the population that are financially dependent on the federal government to vote for him.

    “It’s a dumb way to put it, yeah — but he’s still not wrong.”

  2. I couldn’t get past the fact that the Star article used the word “principals” twice when they meant to use “principles.” They must not be able to afford copyediting.

  3. C Note, I just figured they were sending all Congress back to school.

    Also duel-edged, the first part of what you said (it’s wise to target persuadable moderates first) makes sense, but the second (47% of the country is entirely dependent on the government) does not.

    Unless you describe veterans, people in nursing homes, students, and people with mortgages and/or children as Unamerican Moochers. Which I guess you might.

  4. Not dumb, true. Most of Congress, both parties, is a rich white guy’s club. One way to make the women more representative would be to vote for McSally. I guess this is what you meant as dumb. Of course the question is, would McSally represent the interests of women or the status quo? If you believe as I do that she would not necessarily be concerned with representing the average American woman’s best interests then it is not so dumb. Just having boobs and a vagina doesn’t make you a woman’s advocate.

  6. So True. The Tea Party is a racist group. Just read the book written by Shirley Sherrold. Her problems were created by the Tea Party.
    And of course they love to tell us lies, hoping we will vote for them. Really Sally, the truth doesn’t hurt.

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