June 28, 2020

"Thirty-five percent of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign operation are people of color and just over half are women..."

"... according to figures released Saturday under public prodding, after months in which his campaign declined to make that information public. At least 60 percent of the staff is white, a number in line with the percentage of the United States population identifying as such, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Five percent of the staff opted not to specify a race. When it comes to senior officials — which the campaign said includes nonstaff  'senior consultants who spend the majority of their time on the campaign' — 36 percent are people of color and 58 percent are women. Biden’s campaign provided the data hours after he was pressed on his campaign’s diversity during a virtual presidential town hall hosted by Asian Pacific Islander American Vote. The Washington Post and other news outlets had previously requested information on the campaign’s diversity, which it had refused to provide. The numbers prompted tepid reactions from some Democrats. 'That’s not terrible,' said Aimee Allison, the founder of She the People, a group that promotes women of color in politics. But she added that it did not fully reflect the party’s base."

WaPo reports.

I was going to say: Why did they balk at providing their numbers if the numbers were that good? But then I saw that Aimee Allison remark. Apparently 58% women is not good enough, because women make up more — maybe a lot more — of the Democratic Party's "base."

This is one more example of the never enough phenomenon. I need to make a "never enough" tag. Once you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands. You take down the Confederate General statue, and before long the demand will be to take down the Lincoln statue, and to take down all statues.

72 comments:

Spiros said...

I think the violence and racism of the Antifa and BLM movements will shift the political terrain dramatically to the Right. Even if Biden wins, he will have to govern as a center Right politician. I also think Biden will gradually purge his campaign of Antifa and BLM agitators in the next few months.

Johnathan Birks said...

Only 58 percent? C'mon man! I thought you like me!

Sebastian said...

"the never enough phenomenon"

William Voegeli, Never Enough. Available through the Althouse portal.

Gk1 said...

This is great news for the trump campaign when you hear your competition no longer uses the best and brightest money can buy to try to defeat you. Any organization that doesn't run on merit and results as its standard for success is doomed. And I used to think of the republicans at "the stupid party"

Gordy said...

That's a refreshing change from Obama's "all white" campaign staff in Chicago

n.n said...

we, the colored people, newly emancipated and rejoicing in our blood-bought freedom
- "ORATION IN MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN"

The semantics change, the concepts mutate, the names change, the statues are toppled, the buildings are renamed, the population is planned, there is progress and they call it good.

Race and sex... diversity (i.e. color judgments). The conventional forward-looking platform that denies individual dignity. One step forward, two steps backward.

Lyle Smith said...

You're not wrong Ann. This is why Yale has to change its name now. Elihu Yale was a slave trader just as much as Nathan Bedford Forrest was. Arguably, without the likes of Elihu Yale there would have never been someone like Nathan Bedford Forrest in the first place.

Dave Begley said...

One of China Joe’s top press people is Symone Sanders. She’s from Omaha and a Creighton grad. Also Black. Maybe you’ve seen her on TV. She wrote a book. I read one third of it.

In it she describes how she was in a mentoring program with two female federal judges. She also claimed to have sat in one deposition in the federal courthouse.

She named one of her mentors: Judge Patricia Lamberty. My office was across the hall from hers at one time. She was a state judge; not a federal judge. And one could not mistake the state courthouse for the federal courthouse. And, of course, depositions never happen in the courthouse.

This Black woman is either a liar or a complete dope. Sorry to say she is a Creighton grad. She fits right in with Biden.

Kay said...

Maybe it’s kind of like the dog catching the car analogy. The dog wouldn’t know what to do if it ever caught the car.

mezzrow said...

You take down the Confederate General statue, and before long the demand will be to take down the Lincoln statue, and to take down all statues.

Then, when all the statues are gone, you begin to see the scaffolds erected next to where they stood.

TreeJoe said...

They balked at providing the numbers because they needed to figure out the right way to cook the information. Who to include, who to exclude, etc.

Statistics are an amazing thing. So easy to manipulate to drive a desired result. Do we include only full time paid staffers? Volunteers? Part-time staffers? Who do we exclude?

They haven't been balking to provide these numbers for no reason. They do it for the same reason any politician ever fails to provide an immediate response - because they needed time to come up with the response that fits their narrative.

Freeman Hunt said...

"One you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands."

Don't capitulate. If something makes sense, do it because it makes sense, not to please anyone. Then when people demand something that doesn't make sense, you say, "No."

Wince said...

This is one more example of the never enough phenomenon.

"Never enough... FOR ME!!!"

Freeman Hunt said...

A friend who lives elsewhere said the opinion there is that we should have put down our riots immediately, done nothing so as not to reward rioting, then quietly fixed the actual problems two years later to keep them from coming back up.

chuck said...

I also think Biden will gradually purge his campaign

I'm not convinced Biden is running his campaign.

Yancey Ward said...

Use Occam's Razor- they balked long enough to hire some extra people of color and ovaries.

rcocean said...

All statues? Hear any demands to talk down the statues of Lenin, Marx, Henry Wallace, or FDR? I've haven't hear any. The Left FIGHTS for *their* statues.

Trump's DOJ has arrested Four Left-wing Vandals from Antifa that tried to pull down Andy Jackson's Statue. 3 of the 4 were white. None were "kids". I haven't heard on Republican Senator publicly praise the arrests. in fact, Mitt Romney after marching for black lives matter, hasn't said one bad word about Antifa.

gilbar said...

One you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands.

hmmm
denigrating the Christian Church? Check!
hatred of Israel and "The Jews"? Check!
forcing women to wear face coverings? Check!
destroying graven images? Check!
demanding 'contributions (Jizya) to BLM? Check!

what's next? what's next? what's next?
bans on pork?

rcocean said...

The Democrats are the "Women's Party" and they are also the "anti-American Party" and the "We want socialism" "We accept anything our leaders do" party. Are these linked?

gspencer said...

"You take down the Confederate General statue, and before long the demand will be to take down the Lincoln statue, and to take down all statues."

No, no, it's STATUTES I want taken down. Reduce the size of the federal beast.

Repeal
Repeal
Repeal

Mark said...

Notice that they are counting non-staff consultants who spend their time out in the field, i.e. not in the power structure.

Who are the real tokens here?

gilbar said...

This Black woman is either a liar or a complete dope. Sorry to say she is a Creighton grad.

she Does sound more like UN,O material
</snark

Carol said...

A friend who lives elsewhere said the opinion there is that we should have put down our riots immediately,

My spouse the Trump hater and lifelong college boy liberal turned in mid TDS rant and said we should turn the firehoses on the rioters. I told him about Bull Connors but his memory isn't that good. Or they didn't have TV in his little town yet so he was unaware of the optics.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Biden’s campaign provided the data hours after he was pressed on his campaign’s diversity during a virtual presidential town hall hosted by Asian Pacific Islander American Vote.

So what percentage of his campaign staff were Asian Pacific Islander Americans? Female Asian Pacific Islander Americans? Black Female Asian Pacific Islander Americans? Transgender Black Female Asian Pacific Islander Americans?

Did he not provide those numbers? What is he hiding?

Francisco D said...

Ann Althouse said ... I was going to say: Why did they balk at providing their numbers if the numbers were that good?

Why are the numbers "good"?

Automatic_Wing said...

I was going to say: Why did they balk at providing their numbers if the numbers were that good? But then I saw that Aimee Allison remark. Apparently 58% women is not good enough, because women make up more — maybe a lot more — of the Democratic Party's "base."

The other thing that's kind of conspicuous by its absence is the percentage of blacks. Because let's be honest, it is all about blacks right now.

If you just go by the "People Of Color" label, companies like Google and Microsoft are super diverse. Over 50% People Of Color, yay! But we all know that breaks down into lots of Asians and very few blacks, so everyone is unhappy and management tries to make things better by having struggle sessions for their white employees.

I suspect the Biden campaign POC breakdown is something like 20% Asian, 10% Hispanic, 5% black and 1% other.

Achilles said...

Freeman Hunt said...
"One you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands."

Don't capitulate. If something makes sense, do it because it makes sense, not to please anyone. Then when people demand something that doesn't make sense, you say, "No."

I was wondering when you were going to get around to defending your support of tearing down statues.

Just admit you were wrong.

You will feel better.

That goes for Ann as well.

Rory said...

"This is great news for the trump campaign when you hear your competition no longer uses the best and brightest money can buy to try to defeat you."

Who's in the campaign doesn't matter. It's who's raising money, watching money, spending money.

Rabel said...

"then quietly fixed the actual problems two years later to keep them from coming back up."

And your friend knows how to do this?

hombre said...

Let’s hear it for representative government!

Gk1 said...

"Who's in the campaign doesn't matter. It's who's raising money, watching money, spending money."

If that were true Hillary would have won in a walk last time right? HOW you spend the money is what matters. What difference does it make if Biden has more money if he's campaigning in Texas about gun confiscation and open immigration or pissing away resources in California and New York trying to boost turnout. Hiring stupid people and wasting money is not a key to success in any organization.

Freeman Hunt said...

"And your friend knows how to do this?"

That's not from the friend. That's what he's hearing where he lives. I don't know what they have in mind. I know what I would do, but that's irrelevant.

Their point is to separate the fixing from the rioting to avoid getting more rioting.

Richard Dolan said...

"...before long the demand will be to take down the Lincoln statue, and to take down all statues."

Just wait to see what replaces them. More loveliness from lefty loony-land. And once they're done with the statues, what's next? Music? Books? everything will have to bend to right-think.

The cultural revolutionaries are in full voice, with no one in lefty land even interested in standing up for the liberal tradition that they claim to revere.

hstad said...

Who gives a sh*t other then 'woke idiots'. What's the percentage of minorities in the NBA? Is anyone complaining?

MayBee said...

How would we even know who is on Biden's campaign staff, and what are they doing? Making sure his internet connection is strong?

Jupiter said...

Apparently 58% women is not good enough, because women make up more — maybe a lot more — of the Democratic Party's "base."


It's all been pretty much downhill since the 19th.

hstad said...


Blogger Richard Dolan said..."The cultural revolutionaries are in full voice...[action]"
6/28/20, 10:47 AM

Shades of Mao's Cultural Revolution, when Party control was paralyzed and the Intellectuals , Academics, Scientists, etc., [anyone educated] became the main targets of radical attacks. This was all B.S., on Mao's part, largely driven by his failed (57 - 60) 'Great Leap Forward' where some 40 million people died of starvation due Mao's policies.

raf said...

DANE GELD (Rudyard Kipling)

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.


It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

With encouraging the riots and the senile figurehead candidate, 2020 is the year the Democrats became, irretrievably, a Third World political party in a First World country. Who knows what that means at the polls this year, but Trump or no Trump, there’s a whole lot of wrecking and shaking down to come.

JaimeRoberto said...

That's a lot of hair to sniff.

Ann Althouse said...

""Never enough... FOR ME!!!""

Oh, do I hate that kind of music!

That might be the worst thing I've ever heard. Is it intentionally horrible within the story?

Lewis Wetzel said...

In order to stand up to the radicals in their midst, liberals would have to fall back on conservative principles. What were once liberal principles, like freedom of speech, freedom to question the establishment, even freedom of thought, are now considered by the radicals to be power positions: freedom of speech is not a universal value, it is a value of the ruling class because it allows them to maintain their power.
Liberals destroyed belief in universal truths and universal rights because they thought that these were values that helped conservatives. They never thought that their own positions were based on anything but reason. Liberals are now discovering that this is not true, they cannot answer the arguments of the radicals using liberal principles, because they gave them up long ago.

Francisco D said...

MayBee said...How would we even know who is on Biden's campaign staff, and what are they doing?

Who do you think are making the cue cards for Biden's scripted "interviews"?

That strategy might have worked if Biden was able to read the cards.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Liberals destroyed belief in universal truths and universal rights because they thought that these were values that helped conservatives.

I would say they didn't defend those truths - they abandoned them - and allowed them to be destroyed by the left more than they destroyed them themselves. Free speech was called "hate" speech by the left and instead of saying that even "hate" speech is protected and needs to be countered by more speech, liberals caved in to the left's demands that it be suppressed. And for the left "hate" speech is anything critical of BLM or their views. Hell, it's even a statue.

Liberals were afraid of being called racists. It's a powerful charge; for a liberal it's the greatest sin imaginable. So they gave in.

At one time this was limited to our campuses. But now it's emerging into the larger society.

Craig said...

So now we know that the Biden administration's top criteria when hiring will be gender and racial identity, NOT competence and creativity. Wonderful.

#DemocratsAreRacist

Tom T. said...

Now ask if he pays them the same.

Achilles said...

4 times as many Men commit suicide as women.

5 times as many men drop out of high school as women.

Almost 2 women get a college degree for every man.

10 times as many men die in work accidents.

20 times as many men are in jail as women.

Women live 6 to 8 years longer than men.

Our society is very much systemically sexist.

rcocean said...

Whenever a left-wing celebrity apologizes, I love going on their twitter feed, and writing "Apology NOT accepted. You racist".

It always gives me a chuckle, for some reason.

rcocean said...

There's a method to the SJW/Madness. By never accepting apologies and demanding more, they actually get more. Some people are wimps. With me, if you push, I push back twice as hard. But some people give in - for whatever reason. So the Left always pushes and is always on the offensive. 'Cause it works.

Conservative ideals said...

I was going to make the same point made at the end of the column - Biden’s numbers might be good from an sane SJW looking at diversity based on demographics based on the general population, but 2 issues: Democrats don’t skew along the general population, so the democrat candidate does not in fact represent democrats generally in his campaign, and 2: there’s no such thing as a sane SJW. Don’t try to reason with them any more than you would with a zombie horde, there is no winning with logic when SJW’s do not believe or understand logic.

actual items said...

Never enough...

Reminds of a rant Adam Carolla had on his show a while back.

I think he was complaining about the latest California restriction on smoking, something like parks or beaches. And how the tobacco proponents gave an inch time and again for years and years.

Then he compared it to the NRA, which gives no inches ever.

So compare the tobacco lobby to the gun lobby, and see which strategy was wiser.

Ken B said...

Churchill knew this.

MalaiseLongue said...

I remember Aimee Allison. In 2006, she primaried the sitting Oakland City Council representative in my district. Allison infested our neighborhood with her Berkeley-based young door-to-door storm troopers when she wasn't illegally parking her mammoth black SUV in front of her campaign headquarters on Grand Avenue. In addition, she ran such a dirty campaign, including juiced as well as outright false statistics, that even her "allies of color" in local media and politics (including the office of soon-to-be Mayor Ron Dellums*) felt the need to send a mild "tsk-tsk" in her direction.

* If you want to know what Demented Joe's presidency would look like, Ron Dellums blazed that trail years ago. Dellums was elected Mayor of Oakland in 2006 by Hurricane Katrina (2005).

MD Greene said...

I never initiate political conversations, but I will say this: A number of my girlfriends hate Trump -- hate him in a visceral and emotional way. They cannot have conversations on other topics without bringing this up and DWELLING on it, never mentioning reasons, just their revulsion. A couple of them used to lean right, I think, and now are all-out leftists, rather as converts repudiate their former religions. The ways these women look at it, they will vote against Trump even if the Democrats run a Benito Mussolini or a potted plant. Meanwhile, two of my immigrant friends, professional women from a poor country in South America and from a college-educated parents in China, mentioned a few years ago that they had voted for Trump; they may do so again, but they aren't inflamed and I don't ask. I don't understand the larger phenomenon, but I am convinced it is real.

Personally, I have fond memories of the days when people used to say, "I don't vote; it just encourages them."

n.n said...

Women live 6 to 8 years longer than men.

Our society is very much systemically sexist.


With cause... the natural order is women and children first. The moral order is men and women are equal and complementary, and our Posterity.

Gk1 said...

Hearing Biden is not basing campaign hiring decisions on competence, meritocracy or results reminds me of William Tecumseh Sherman while marching through Georgia to the sea, being informed that Confederate General Hood was rounding up an army to lure Sherman into Alabama. "Hell, I'll give Hood rations to go up north to the Ohio river if he wants, my business is down south!" It wouldn't surprise me if Trump's merry pranksters are sending Greenpeace and BLM resumes to the DNC to help fill their ranks.

mandrewa said...

But it is not taking down all the statues. New statues are being put up. And if you don't bow down and kiss the feet of the correct statues you will be cancelled.

The message is submission. And the point is that you submit and obey the left.

God help you if you don't.

Howard said...

Blogger Achilles said...

4 times as many Men commit suicide as women.

5 times as many men drop out of high school as women.

Almost 2 women get a college degree for every man.

10 times as many men die in work accidents.

20 times as many men are in jail as women.

Women live 6 to 8 years longer than men.

Our society is very much systemically sexist.

6/28/20, 11:47 AM


All true. The man's man burden. Now run those same stats for Black men... 5-times worse for them than whites. Then your cuck followers will cluck cluck cluck it's their own damn fault! Lazy, low IQ, bad manners, no respect, etc. Slavery, Jim Crow, the War on Drugs and the manufactured crime and prison complex has nothing to do with it.

mikee said...

It isn't just "never enough." Fundamentally, Democrats objectify individual human beings into grouped units of skin color, sexual preference, etc.. This is an insane belief, that one or another arbitrary identifier, no matter how immaterial to politic ideology for the individuals involved, is enough to capture the entire group's loyalty for political purposes. The Dems objectify humans into objects, and deserve censure for this act of dehumanization.

The Aryans aren't around to comment on this phenomenon, but I bet Himmler would approve.

Michael K said...

Hearing Biden is not basing campaign hiring decisions on competence, meritocracy or results reminds me of William Tecumseh Sherman while marching through Georgia to the sea, being informed that Confederate General Hood was rounding up an army to lure Sherman into Alabama.

Hood wound up going to Tennessee to thrash Thomas. Thomas didn't move fast but when he did he kicked Hood's ass. Sherman's march was one of the great logistical feats of military history. I've just about finished Robert's biography of Napoleon. It's excellent, by the way. Napoleon could have used Sherman going into Russia in 1812.

cubanbob said...

If Joe the Puppet wins this how they will staff the government. Check off the boxes with the "appropriate" proportion of minority and aggrieved groups and all of them environmental and racial Bolsheviks. A welfare state with a universal basic income along with a green new deal, open borders, no police and no self-defense and only approved speech. What a wonderful future to look forward to. May God in his infinite mercy spare us from this Green/Red/Brown nightmare.

Greg the class traitor said...

Apparently 58% women is not good enough, because women make up more — maybe a lot more — of the Democratic Party's "base."

Dear men. If you vote a for a Democrat, ANY Democrat, you are voting for your own destruction

JAORE said...

more than half are women..... many over the age of 14.

Greg the class traitor said...

Freeman Hunt said...
"One you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands."

Don't capitulate. If something makes sense, do it because it makes sense, not to please anyone. Then when people demand something that doesn't make sense, you say, "No."


That's not how it works

Either you say: I never respond to threats", and refuse to give in to any demands, or you're a wimp who gives into threats, so you will always get more

Nichevo said...

Ann wrote this:



This is one more example of the never enough phenomenon. I need to make a "never enough" tag. Once you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands. You take down the Confederate General statue, and before long the demand will be to take down the Lincoln statue, and to take down all statues.


And I was going to lay down snake and nape. But Achilles preempted me:



Achilles said...
Freeman Hunt said...
"One you start capitulating to demands, you're opening the door to endless demands."

Don't capitulate. If something makes sense, do it because it makes sense, not to please anyone. Then when people demand something that doesn't make sense, you say, "No."

I was wondering when you were going to get around to defending your support of tearing down statues.

Just admit you were wrong.

You will feel better.

That goes for Ann as well.


BRAVO ZULU!
TARGET!!!

Freeman, unlike AA, I expect better of you.

DEEBEE said...

Thought POC were 38% of the pop.WTF is this racists problem

Bunkypotatohead said...

Biden needs to hire some competent white males.
Women and AA hires are not gonna get the job done.

Birkel said...

Freeman Hunt believes she has a logical answer for the illogical mob.

Freeman Hunt is stupid.

boatbuilder said...

"Take down the Joe Biden statue!"

boatbuilder said...

"Blogger Achilles said...
4 times as many Men commit suicide as women.

5 times as many men drop out of high school as women.

Almost 2 women get a college degree for every man.

10 times as many men die in work accidents.

20 times as many men are in jail as women.

Women live 6 to 8 years longer than men.

Our society is very much systemically sexist.

6/28/20, 11:47 AM"

Bingo, Achilles.

Well done.

If we can figure out who to blame for it we can perhaps get "justice" for the systemic harm we have endured ;^)

I will settle for replacing RBG (or, hell, any of the 5-yup-Roberts) with someone who is still actually alive and believes in the rule of law. Whether that person is female, of color, or has sexual orientation issues matters not a whit to me, unless it is the basis of their judicial philosophy. Someone who does not think that it is the job or purpose of "The Law" or of "Government" to wave a magic wand and "correct" everything that loud people are unhappy about.

Sam L. said...

I believe nothing in the WaPoo.

Joanne Jacobs said...

Why so slow to release the numbers? Maybe they were low on transgender Latinos or gender-neutral Afro-Asians. Or, maybe they needed to do a lot of hiring.