So which party is committed to diversity again?

Nikki Haley, Republican Governor of South Carolina just named Tim Scott to replace Jim Demint in the Senate.  It just so happens that Tim is black.

It's  funny, Republicans are derided as the 'white' party and the party of 'racists' yet with the very notable exception of President Obama people of color are much better represented at the top of the Republican party than the Democrat party.

Let's review the bidding, Republicans have:

The only two asian governors - Bobby Jindal, LA, Nikki Haley, SC
The only two latino governors - Brian Sandoval, NV, Susanna Martinez, NM
Two of the three latino senators - Marco Rubio, FL, Ted Cruz, TX (Robert Menendez of NJ is the other)
The only black Supreme Court justice - Clarence Thomas
And now the only black senator - Tim Scott, SC

Of course almost all black and latino Congressmen are Democrats which provokes a thought:  Minority Democrats almost always have their own Congressional districts and demand that someone of 'their' race hold the seat.  The result is that most minority Democrats end up being relegated to their particular racial ghetto (again, President Obama is the sterling exception).  They don't need 'outsiders' to get elected and they focus on 'their' people's needs.  The result is that they don't build the relationships, coalitions and reputations necessary to succeed in statewide politics where you must reach across racial, cultural and geographic lines. There are exceptions such as Keith Ellison of MN but they are few and far between.

By contrast minorities in the Republican party almost always come up through the mainstream path.  There is no minority ghetto so to succeed, they must build relationships and alliances across all racial and cultural lines.  This is much better preparation for high office than the Democrat's racial ward heeler model.

Incidentally, this is the model that Barack Obama followed - he was State Senator to a mixed race district, was then elected US Senator of all of Illinois.  His one foray into the racial ghetto resulted in him being crushed by Bobby Rush.

 It seems to me that to the extent that minorities assimilate and no longer live in their own neighborhoods they become much less Democrat.  Thus it is in the Democrats' electoral interest to keep minorities isolated and focused on their racial or ethnic 'differences'.  We saw a lot of this sort of rhetoric in the last election - Dems 'waving the bloody shirt' to Latinos, Blacks, Feminists, Gays, etc.  They have to do that because a high level of group solidarity is necessary to get 95% of a racial group's vote - or 75% for that matter.  And nothing builds group solidarity like the fear of the 'other'.

In this case, what's good for the Dems is not good for the country.