Howard Dean: Tea Party 'Has Trouble With Diversity'

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Wednesday that the Tea Party's rise to political potency has been driven by the movement's older, white members who are both fearful of and resistant to growing diversity in the United States, a trend defined most visibly by the election of the first black president.

The Hotline reported on Dean's comments, made Wednesday at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters:

"I think it's the last gasp of the 55-year-old generation ... a group of older folks who've seen their lives change dramatically,'' he said. "The country is not the same ... and all of a sudden it's here for them and they don't know what to do. ... Every morning when they see the president they are reminded that things are totally different than they were when they were born and I think that has a lot to do with it."

"Economic uncertainty fuels this but this is the last gasp of the generation that has trouble with diversity,'' Dean added. "The tea party is almost entirely over 55 and white, and the country has changed dramatically as a result of what happened in 2008 and it's not going back. Every day that goes on, the demographic change continues, and that's what a lot of this is about."

Dean has made a string of similar statements during the past year. He's upset some conservatives, who say he's implied that the Tea Party is motivated primarily by racism.

"People see that the country is being run by different people who are not like them," Dean told Yale students last year of the rise of the Tea Party, before reiterating that racism was only prevalent in a small fringe of the movement.

In September, Politico reported reported on a similar Dean statement regarding the conservative faction.

"I don't think they are all racists," explained Dean, who clashed with Democratic party leaders -- including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- over his "50 State Strategy" geared at tapping grass-roots Democratic activists in deep-red Republican districts. But "if you look at the tea party, they are all people of my complexion and my age. ... there are a lot of people who are my age and my color who can't get their arms around the idea that this country is going to look like California in 40 years in that there's not going to be a [white] majority. ... That is a very hard pill to swallow if you are an American who is my age. That is a swirling issue that nobody wants to talk about."

During a November talk at Vanderbilt University, Dean attributed the Tea Party's momentum to "discomfort with the demographic shift going on in this country," a factor that he said would ensure that the movement wouldn't appeal to younger, more tolerant members.

Comments

[libertyhonorUSA]

01:19 PM on 01/20/2011

Now you got to watch out for Generation X we are next and we are get tired of getting walked over by all this. Dean this must be your last gasp too.

[Ohioliberal]

11:44 AM on 01/09/2011

Howard, come to think about it, the Klan had the same discomfort with the issues of diversity

[publiuswarmac9999]

08:55 PM on 01/08/2011

Mr. Dean:  Your party has considerable problems with intellectual diversity.  The problems are so substantial that state legislatures are actually looking into abuses by professors who are so wedded to socialism that the punish students who aren't.

[blindhog]

02:19 PM on 01/08/2011

Howard, you are right, however, unless both parties start addressing the illegal immigration issue, the jobless issue, the attempted destruction of unions, like teacher, teamster, police and fire, AFL-CIO unions, there WILL be parties like this.

THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THE USA WHO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS COUNTRY CANNOT BE GREAT WITHOUT THE MIDDLECLASS.

Unfortunately some members of the TEA PARTY haven't advanced from the 1860s as far as equality goes. They don't seem to understand that there are great United States citizens, descendents of the slave trade, whether African or Chinese, who love this country, whose ancestors, no less than the English, Irish, Scandanavian, German, Polish who helped build this country.

[JDZSB]

11:03 AM on 01/07/2011

I guess Dean has not looked at the average age of Congress, which fits the age group he claims are Tea Partiers, or the average age of the new members of Congress that was recently elected which is lower then his view of the Tea Partiers. This just another example of how off the mark Howard has been, over and over again. The GOP loves him.

[Hurlock]

08:29 PM on 01/07/2011

I think you missed the point.

[Vanessa Lawshee]

08:54 PM on 01/07/2011

I agree. Some people will always have on blinders regarding change....

[leonel]

01:52 AM on 01/07/2011

There is enough fat in the federal budget to satisfy the goals of progressives for new programs and to cut taxes to satisfy conservatives. But instead they both follow the rhetoric of the mass media and focus on controversy, fault-finding, ideology-navel meditations, and whatever is self-centered, selfish and impulsive.

But this is human nature and will be put to the test because the gravy train is over. There is no way for phony debates to continue. There will have to be compromises and cutting out all the waste. Both parties are at fault, but it is very difficult to actually understand because there is no authentic news reporting on the budget deficit.

To get to the point, how many people know how many billions need to be cut each year and what are the most likely places to cut? Everybody plays the blame game instead of saying, "we need to cut or raise an additional X billion dollars."

The public is fed up and they elected close to a hundred angry conservatives to come to DC and raise hell. And they will keep changing election results until reality sets it.

So conservatives are simplistic and progressives are naive. Together they will be forced to start making sense.

[Tim Janssen]

11:59 PM on 01/06/2011

More fundamentally, Da Tea Partiers have trouble with multisyllabic words!

[JPMac]

04:43 PM on 01/06/2011

Race Bait Inc. has a new white face!!!

[eroy22312]

05:18 PM on 01/06/2011

Your mother perhaps?

[JPMac]

04:42 PM on 01/06/2011

Liberal play book page 2: When you have nothing else play the race card!!!

Funny how conservatives had no trouble with Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Micheal Steele I see no need to continue.

The problem is Obama is the most far left President whos ideas are akin to European Socialist countries...what he said to Joe the Plumber remember......spread the wealth around!!!

[NickDearth]

10:20 AM on 01/07/2011

JPMac play book page 1: When you have nothing else to say accuse others of playing the race card!!!

[Ron Diaz]

03:49 PM on 01/06/2011

The bottom line is the tea party represents a bunch of people that are angry that we have a black president. When I voted for Obama I voted for common sense thats all I was asking for not a president that goes to war with a country that had nothing to do with 911 or gives 11 tax cuts to the top 1% of the population the first year alone that did not need it when we had balanced budget. Tries not to start a new nuclear arms rise along the borders of Poland pissing of Russia. I can sit back and know I have a president that has a common sense approach to issues.
The tea party members today are more proof that education has nothing to do with intelligen ce.

[JPMac]

04:42 PM on 01/06/2011

Liberal play book page 2: When you have nothing else play the race card!!!

Funny how conservati­ves had no trouble with Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Micheal Steele I see no need to continue.

The problem is Obama is the most far left President whos ideas are akin to European Socialist countries.­..what he said to Joe the Plumber remember..­....spread the wealth around!!!

[Dean Robichaux]

03:15 PM on 01/06/2011

This guy plays the race card as much as Sharpton and Jackson....DESPICABLE!!

[bellsshells]

03:21 PM on 01/06/2011

The race card will disappear when racism does.

[kooldalai]

03:30 PM on 01/06/2011

Fanned. Nuf said.

[chas]

04:02 PM on 01/06/2011

I honestly believe racism has partly become a chicken/egg situation. Lots of whites, as acknowledged by the Bamster, are uncomfortable with the militant victimhood of blacks who seek to make everything about race. The resulting resentment can breed new racism where there was none.

[Michelle Black]

03:51 PM on 01/06/2011

Everyone I have ever heard complain about Jackson is a bigot. Please

[rladlof]

03:08 PM on 01/06/2011

The Economic Royalist Party, also, has a real issue with literacy.

[chas]

02:51 PM on 01/06/2011

The modern left has trouble with diversity of thought. That's why they resort to calling blacks "uncle Toms" and such if they are anything but lockstep liberal.

[kooldalai]

03:31 PM on 01/06/2011

Not true.

[chas]

04:01 PM on 01/06/2011

here's just one example that took about 10 seconds to find. http://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2010/07/08/caught-on-tape-racist-naacp-leader-says-kenneth-gladney-not-black-enough-to-protect-hes-an-uncle-tom-video/

[shoshannadailey]

02:41 PM on 01/06/2011

WELCOME TO TEATOPIA/c (couldn't resist)

Wecome to our freedom-loving community. We have no: social
security, medicare, worker's compensation, OHSA, EPA etc. We do, however, want
to offer a few words of advice.

1. We do recommend that you and your family wear masks when you go outdoors and
get a water filter if you can. The air and the water are quite toxic.

2. You and your children will likely work 16 plus hours a day. Remember, if
you are sick, injured on the job or laid off, this is your responsibility.
You are also in charge of any education your children may receive and will have
to schedule this around their work hours.

3. Speaking of children. If you are expecting, there are a number of midwives
in the area who might help you -- they do of course charge. Hospital care is
much too expensive for most people. We would suggest this alternative as the
infant mortality rate has risen dramatically.

4. If you have any elderly relatives who can no longer work, again this is your
concern. Since the life expectancy rate has dropped by decades, this may not be
such a significant burden.

Again, welcome to Teatopia. One last word. Even though we no longer have any
legal restrictions, other areas do. Do not attempt to immigrate illegally to
Mexico or China. We know they have better working conditions. But, if you try
this, you will be arrested and returned.


Have a wonderful time here.

[vu jade]

02:36 PM on 01/06/2011

There you go again...the racism card.

When in doubt, after the mid-term A$$whooping, time to pull the race card again.

[kooldalai]

03:33 PM on 01/06/2011

See bellsshells: "the race card will disappear when racism does"