Howard Dean: "[Republicans] all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."
Grover Norquist, on the 2003 Texas Redistricting: "The GOP can live with urban liberals, such as [California Rep. Maxine] Waters; it's moderates such as [Texas Democratic Rep. Charlie] Stenholm who are its main target...it is exactly the Stenholms of the world who will disappear, the moderate Democrats. They will go so that no Texan need grow up thinking that being a Democrat is acceptable behavior."
Grover Norquist, on the future of the Democratic Party: "[Black Democratic Congresswoman] Sheila Jackson-Lee will be the spokesman for the Democratic Party, and ought to be. She accurately reflects what the Democratic Party is about."
Kevin Drum: "Texas-style conservatism has already put George Bush, Tom DeLay, and Karl Rove in charge of the country, and it is very much the future of the Republican party."
For comparison to the figures that follow, Texas demographics look something like:
Anglo 55%
Hispanic 31%
Black 11%
Other 3%
2004 Results of the 2003 Texas Congressional Redistricting (That is, Texas' new Congressional Delegation):
Democrats: 11 seats
Republicans: 21 seats
Democrats, Ethnicity:
Anglo 27%
Hispanic 45%
Black 27%
Republicans, Ethnicity:
Anglo 95%
Hispanic 5%
Black 0%
Democrats, Religion
Baptist 9%
Catholic 36%
Methodist 36%
Seventh Day Adventist 9%
none listed 9%
Republicans, Religion
Baptist 23%
Catholic 9%
Christian/Protestant 10%
Christian Scientist 5%
Church of Christ 5%
Episcopalian 10%
Methodist 28%
Nazarene 5%
Presbyterian 5%
Democrats, Gender:
Male 82%
Female 18%
Republicans, Gender:
Male 95%
Female 5%
So the Texas [GOP - jel] Congressional delegation, specifically engineered by Tom DeLay, is 95% White, 95% male, and 100% Christian. I dunno about you, but the way I see it, if the Texas Republican Party is to be representative of the national GOP, then the party of Lincoln looks a lot like a White Christian party to me.
And if our old pal Grover Norquist wants the Texas Democratic Party to be less White and more Black and Latino, he's succeeding.
But he might want to consider: Which of the two parties looks more like the diversity that is America?