# Biden-\[Blank\] 2016! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 27, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026 "2015-08-27T04:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/21 "2015-09-02T14:24:44Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Dems have Bob Menendez. Republicans have Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Dems have one Asian governor. Republicans have Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal. Such small numbers (and counting Cruz as “Hispanic”) tell us almost nothing. What about Congress, and state legislatures? Who has more Hispanic and Asian office-holders. > [@](#): > > VP isn’t about pizazz, it’s about picking someone who won’t damage the ticket and can be a credible President. An old candidate picking an unready candidate will look bad. There are plenty of young and interesting candidates who are also governors or Senators. > > And why shouldn’t there be a black guy on the ticket? Cory Booker is a star. No reason to bypass him for a less qualified prospect. Don’t think it won’t be noticed. Who says Booker definitely won’t be picked? Not that not picking him is a slight, or would necessarily be seen as a slight, any more than it would to Gillibrand or the many other possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/22 "2015-09-02T14:30:53Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Such small numbers (and counting Cruz as “Hispanic”) tell us almost nothing. What about Congress, and state legislatures? Who has more Hispanic and Asian office-holders. Doesn’t matter. Recruiting and electing minorities in majority-minority districts is not only easy, it’s patronizing. Democrats should run more minorities state-wide. At least as many as Republicans. > [@](#): > > Who says Booker definitely won’t be picked? Not that not picking him is a slight, or would necessarily be seen as a slight, any more than it would to Gillibrand or the many other possibilities. It would be if you reached so hard to find a Latino that you were willing to go for one with less experience than any previous VP in memory. That would imply a firm decision to pick a Latino, which means that women and African-Americans need not apply. Unless that pick was Richardson, who is obviously well qualified. But Castro is simply not. And the history of poorly qualified VPs is very bad. Would Castro stand up well in the national spotlight or would his greenness be exposed? That’s not something you can vet in advance. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/23 "2015-09-02T14:34:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Doesn’t matter. Recruiting and electing minorities in majority-minority districts is not only easy, it’s patronizing. Democrats should run more minorities state-wide. At least as many as Republicans. They do, unless you’re not counting certain minorities. Further, the present Senate and governor counts tell us nothing (except “there should be more minority Senators and governors”) about how the parties feel since the numbers are so tiny. Other elections might tell us more – do you have data on those? > [@](#): > > It would be if you reached so hard to find a Latino that you were willing to go for one with less experience than any previous VP in memory. That would imply a firm decision to pick a Latino, which means that women and African-Americans need not apply. Unless that pick was Richardson, who is obviously well qualified. But Castro is simply not. And the history of poorly qualified VPs is very bad. Would Castro stand up well in the national spotlight or would his greenness be exposed? That’s not something you can vet in advance. You just said that Democrats should run more Hispanic and Asian candidates… but then you’d criticize them for doing so at VP? Seems like the only consistency is **adaher** finds ways to criticize the Democratic party. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/24 "2015-09-02T14:45:26Z")
Well then why don’t we just elect Ben Carson? After all, shouldn’t we elevate minorities? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/25 "2015-09-02T14:54:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well then why don’t we just elect Ben Carson? After all, shouldn’t we elevate minorities? I’m all for it. Republicans, nominate Carson! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/26 "2015-09-02T15:00:28Z")
Careful what you wish for.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/27 "2015-09-02T15:08:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well then why don’t we just elect Ben Carson? After all, shouldn’t we elevate minorities? If you want to nominate a black guy, why nominate someone who’s only 3/4 crazy? All the way with Alan Keyes! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/28 "2015-09-02T23:30:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well then why don’t we just elect Ben Carson? After all, shouldn’t we elevate minorities? That’s a very GOP way of misunderstanding what Affirmative Action is for. Ben Carson will not be President because he’s not particularly Presidential material. He’s a surgeon, not an economist, an activist, a legal scholar, nor a historian; with that background, he should run for something like Senate first–as Al Franken did. If you want someone to cut line and vault into the White House, you’d probably do better to pick some random union boss or history professor than someone whose professional qualifications amount to “really steady hands.” Honestly, he doesn’t belong on that stage. And if he’s the _only_ dark-skinned black man you can find to stand there and parrot the current GOP line, _you have no prospects among black voters anyway._ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/29 "2015-09-03T00:44:00Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Such small numbers (and counting Cruz as “Hispanic”) tell us almost nothing. How does Cruz not count as Hispanic? His father was Cuban and his paternal grandfather was born in Spain. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/30 "2015-09-03T01:33:35Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > How does Cruz not count as Hispanic? His father was Cuban and his paternal grandfather was born in Spain. My understanding is that people from Spain are not “Hispanic” in American culture (rather, they’re generally considered “white”). In any case, I try to defer to the individual, and it’s my understanding that Ted Cruz does not personally identify himself as Hispanic. If I’m wrong about this, then I take back my skepticism. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/31 "2015-09-03T01:38:22Z")
Certainly, he’s not particularly involved in Hispanic culture. In practice, you’d probably do a lot more to appeal to Hispanic voters with an Irish or Italian Catholic candidate, than with a Hispanic-descended Southern Baptist. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026/32 "2015-09-03T03:37:08Z")
I don’t think Cruz is going to appeal to the Hispanic electorate, for the most part, no. But saying that Cruz isn’t Hispanic or Latino seems like a kind of bigotry. It’s saying “He doesn’t fit these stereotypes of what Hispanic should be, so, regardless of his heritage, he’s not “really” Hispanic.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-blank-2016/729026.md?page=1)