While black delegates at this week's Republican National Convention are nearly double the number at the party's 2000 gathering, a leading analyst of black politics says the increase is a cynical political gesture. The GOP's black delegates "were picked for strategic reasons," David Bositis, senior research associate with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. The 167 black delegates at this week's Republican convention are nearly double the 85 black delegates who attended the party's gathering four years ago. But this increase has more to do with Republican efforts to court white moderates and independents, than to bring more blacks into the Republican fold, Bositis argues. "They [GOP] want to appear more moderate and diverse, when in fact it's a white party.The additional black delegates is aimed at swing voters, and virtually all swing voters are white. This is not aimed at blacks," he said. "The black delegates are little potted plants in the [Madison Square Garden] audience." [more
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