By Kenneth J. Cooper
Sarah Palin joked she was a pit bull with lipstick. She sure came off that way in speech accepting the vice presidential nomination at the Republican convention.
She began by talking about her family life. It was warm and affecting stuff, yes. She mentioned her infant son, Trig, who has Down syndrome, and vowed to be an advocate for children with special needs. Being a loving mother, daughter and wife, though, doesn't qualify anyone to be vice president.
Before Alaska's governor laid out her own experience in political office, she attacked Barack Obama on his credentials and consistency. Palin disparaged his job, right out of college, as a community organizer, contrasting it unfavorably to her role much later in her life as a mayor.
"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she said.
Some African Americans, particularly those who came of age during the civil rights movement, may take exception to her comment. In their younger years, they may have done that kind of organizing and felt responsible for improving people's lives without the power or resources of a government.
No national holiday honors a mayor, from a small town or a big city, but one does honor a community organizer. His name was Martin Luther King Jr. Anyone who studies the intensity of his facial expressions can see he felt burdened by responsibilities.
Usually, it is a mistake for politicians to introduce themselves to the public by attacking their opponents. It's particularly risky at a time like this election year, when negative politics has turned off many voters. Will Palin and running mate John McCain pay a noticeable price in the polls?
Besides Palin, women did not have as prominent roles in the Republican convention as they did at the Democratic convention. They made up about a third of Republican delegates, compared with more than half of Democratic delegates.
Women who addressed the Republican convention included Dr. Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, and Renee Amoore, a black businesswoman from Pennsylvania.
Rios made an important contribution in talking about health disparities, normally not a big topic of conversation in Republican circles.
"Twice as many Hispanics have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites," she noted. "The incidence of HIV/AIDS among Hispanic women is five times that of whites. African Americans face higher rates of mortality for heart disease and cancer."
Rios listed a number of reasons that she said compound the disparities "poverty, language and cultural barriers, and limited access to health information" as well as delayed treatment in hospital emergency rooms, lower rates of childhood immunization and the cost of medical insurance.
Curiously, the leader of the national organization of Hispanic doctors left out one cause of health disparities, the "unequal treatment" that minorities receive from the health system. That racial-ethnic discrimination was documented five years ago in a report from the prestigious Institute of Medicine.
Amoore talked some about the health services provided by business, the Amoore Group near Philadelphia. But most of her speech was a rallying cry for McCain.
She ended this way: "I'm proud to be an African American woman. I'm proud to be a Republican, and I'm proud to be voting for John McCain."
Few seated in the convention hall could say the same. African-American delegates numbered 36, way down from 167 four years ago, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Sarah Palin joked she was a pit bull with lipstick. She sure came off that way in speech accepting the vice presidential nomination at the Republican convention.
She began by talking about her family life. It was warm and affecting stuff, yes. She mentioned her infant son, Trig, who has Down syndrome, and vowed to be an advocate for children with special needs. Being a loving mother, daughter and wife, though, doesn't qualify anyone to be vice president.
Before Alaska's governor laid out her own experience in political office, she attacked Barack Obama on his credentials and consistency. Palin disparaged his job, right out of college, as a community organizer, contrasting it unfavorably to her role much later in her life as a mayor.
"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she said.
Some African Americans, particularly those who came of age during the civil rights movement, may take exception to her comment. In their younger years, they may have done that kind of organizing and felt responsible for improving people's lives without the power or resources of a government.
No national holiday honors a mayor, from a small town or a big city, but one does honor a community organizer. His name was Martin Luther King Jr. Anyone who studies the intensity of his facial expressions can see he felt burdened by responsibilities.
Usually, it is a mistake for politicians to introduce themselves to the public by attacking their opponents. It's particularly risky at a time like this election year, when negative politics has turned off many voters. Will Palin and running mate John McCain pay a noticeable price in the polls?
Besides Palin, women did not have as prominent roles in the Republican convention as they did at the Democratic convention. They made up about a third of Republican delegates, compared with more than half of Democratic delegates.
Women who addressed the Republican convention included Dr. Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, and Renee Amoore, a black businesswoman from Pennsylvania.
Rios made an important contribution in talking about health disparities, normally not a big topic of conversation in Republican circles.
"Twice as many Hispanics have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites," she noted. "The incidence of HIV/AIDS among Hispanic women is five times that of whites. African Americans face higher rates of mortality for heart disease and cancer."
Rios listed a number of reasons that she said compound the disparities "poverty, language and cultural barriers, and limited access to health information" as well as delayed treatment in hospital emergency rooms, lower rates of childhood immunization and the cost of medical insurance.
Curiously, the leader of the national organization of Hispanic doctors left out one cause of health disparities, the "unequal treatment" that minorities receive from the health system. That racial-ethnic discrimination was documented five years ago in a report from the prestigious Institute of Medicine.
Amoore talked some about the health services provided by business, the Amoore Group near Philadelphia. But most of her speech was a rallying cry for McCain.
She ended this way: "I'm proud to be an African American woman. I'm proud to be a Republican, and I'm proud to be voting for John McCain."
Few seated in the convention hall could say the same. African-American delegates numbered 36, way down from 167 four years ago, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
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