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I Stand Corrected

I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to all of you who pointed out significant factual errors in the posting, "Is Giuliani 'White' Enough?", including:

The Republican Party has nominated a Catholic for national office--William Miller in 1964; the Republicans nominated Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas--who was nearly half Native American--for vice president in 1928; Earl Warren--nominated by the GOP for vice president in 1948--was the son of Norwegian and Swedish immigrants; John Kerry is not an Irish Catholic.

These are obvious errors, easily checked, and I apologize for my sloppiness.

The point of the piece was to poke a little fun at the whole "Is-Barack-Obama-Black-Enough?" discussion by turning it on its head a bit and pointing out that "whiteness," like "blackness" in America, is not a biological given but a social construct. I also sought to explore the challenge I believe Rudolph Giuliani's candidacy represents for today's Republican Party. As Ken Mehlman and many other GOP leaders have acknowledged, the Republicans must attract more non-white voters in an increasingly diverse America in order to be successful. One only has to look at election results to see the evidence of this challenge. And I wondered whether Giuliani's politics--a distinctly urban mixture of tough-mindedness, pragmatism, and palpable ease with "the roiling racial and social diversity of the big city"--presented a specific and fascinating challenge to today's GOP. It was an effort at provocation--marred badly by those factual errors.

I really do appreciate the "pushback." I'm learning a great deal from all of you. And I thank you.

Keep 'em coming.

February 19, 2007 in Correction | Permalink | User Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)