McCain Courts Minorities, but the Verdict Is Out

Even as John McCain repeatedly has vowed to make the Republican Party more inclusive, he has offended some minority groups and gays by what he has said--or in some cases, not said--during his upstart presidential campaign.

It’s a group of voters McCain can ill afford to affront. While minorities make up only a small percentage of Republican voters, McCain needs every vote he can get in the March 7 primaries, especially in California and New York, two diverse, delegate-rich states where only GOP votes will count. In two of four contested primaries, McCain has failed to attract significant percentages of Republicans.

Given his record, minority activists and political experts are increasingly wondering whether McCain’s mouth may be too maverick for his goal of building a new, so-called McCain majority in which Republicans join the Democrats and independents that have already flocked to his message.

“McCain has to be aware of how sensitive issues like these are, if he’s really courting Democrats, independents and minorities,” said Jaime Regalado, head of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, a nonpartisan think tank. “You have to be very, very concerned with what you’re saying and doing.”

Besides use of the word “gook,” which the Vietnam veteran apologized for, saying he meant it only to refer to his North Vietnamese captors, McCain angered some gays earlier this year when he said he could sometimes tell gay people by their mannerisms. And his contradictory statements on the Confederate flag’s symbolism, first condemning it, then saying he misspoke in doing so, has upset some African Americans.

McCain also caught heat when he once referred to the retirement community Leisure World as “Seizure World.” And an off-color joke about Chelsea Clinton created such an uproar that McCain apologized to the Clintons.

On Sunday, McCain defended his use of humor on ABC-TV’s “This Week.”

“President McCain will use humor wherever he can. Sometimes it will be poorly done and sometimes it will get President McCain in trouble. Humor has been a very important part of my life and it will continue to be,” McCain said.

McCain’s statements stand in marked contrast to his record in working for minority causes. He fought for gaming rights on Native American reservations in his state. He helped make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a holiday in Arizona, though he at first opposed the effort. And he took 55% of the Latino vote in Arizona, albeit against a weak opponent.

The NAACP gave him a score of 40 out of 100 for his legislative accomplishments during the 105th Congress. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian political organization, awarded him 100 on the same scale, though the group has subsequently criticized McCain for saying he would support Proposition 22, which, if passed, would recognize only marriage between a man and a woman in California.

Several Latino groups have recognized his outreach, with the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda placing McCain in the top third of Republicans in voting for Latino issues.

McCain strongly defends his record in working with minorities, especially Latinos and Native Americans, the two largest minority groups in Arizona. Most recently, he points to the Michigan primary, where he won overwhelmingly the small percentage of black Republican voters.

He rarely backs down on his comments. Though he apologized for using the word “gooks,” he later said he did so only “because I don’t want to feel the fire,” not because he had made a “misstep.” And after his comments on gays caused a minor stir, he refused to answer further questions.

As for his conflicting statements on the flag, McCain said simply: “I have to live with the consequences of my actions.”

McCain also acknowledged that he will continue to create controversy. His off-the-cuff comments usually come during his daylong, freewheeling conversations with reporters on his campaign bus. But those same conversations, he believes, allow him to get out his message of reform without spending huge amounts of money on television advertising.

McCain’s comments may hurt him most in California, where ethnic and race issues have dominated past elections and ballot initiatives.

Tony Lam, a Vietnamese American and Westminster city councilman, said he can sympathize with McCain over the suffering endured at the hands of his tormentors.

But, Lam said, McCain must realize that his use of the word still offends many Vietnamese, who see it as a racial slur.

Lam, a Republican, said he was undecided in the race until McCain used the slur. Now, he said he’s leaning toward George W. Bush.

McCain plans to visit Little Saigon in Westminster on Wednesday, but his staff says the trip to Orange County, which has the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam, is unrelated to the controversy.

“McCain has to understand, it’s not appropriate for a man of his caliber to use a word that has very negative connotations,” Lam said. “Sen. McCain has to show he really cares for all walks of life.”

McCain has also acknowledged the importance of courting California’s Latinos, many of whom fled the GOP after the divisive Proposition 187 fight backed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

The battle for Latinos is made tougher by McCain’s chief opponent: Texas Gov. Bush, who not only has a roughhewn command of Spanish, but also won a substantial percentage of the Latino vote during his last gubernatorial run.

Another problem, should McCain continue to win, will come in the general election, political experts said.

“The Democrats are going to go back and pull all that stuff out,” said Frank Gilliam, a UCLA political science professor. “The extent to which the Republicans, either candidate, are able to achieve inclusiveness will be put to test in the general election.”

Thea McCuien decided not to wait until November to test McCain’s claim of inclusiveness. The 14-year-old African American crowded into a hotel ballroom and asked McCain what he would do to end racism.

The straight-talking candidate stumbled for a moment. He praised the military for weeding out racism, preached about enforcing antidiscrimination laws and rejected affirmative action quotas. Then, apparently realizing the shortcomings of his answer, he said, “We have a long way to go.”

Thea left disappointed.

“He seemed like he ignored” my question, Thea said. “He should have taken a stand.”