When former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean dismissed Republican Iowa Senator Joni Ernst as just a female “token,” MSNBC host Alex Wagner stepped in to point out that the Republicans have “a lot more diversity” when it comes to the 2016 presidential election.
DEAN: They do have these Hispanic stars, they have African-American stars, they have women stars. That was the politics of 40 years ago; you put up the token person and they give a great speech and you think that will bring some group to you.
Women voters, African-American voters, Hispanic voters are much more sophisticated today. They are not going to vote solely on the basis of gender and color. They actually listen to what people say. And what Joni Ernst and what she says is unappealing to most women in the country, particularly for… single women.
WAGNER: Governor, I would say– I’m not sure one can dismiss – look, I think there are a lot of ways to unpack what the various people of color in the Republican Party stand for beyond tokenism. It is, I think, dismaying to those of us on the Democratic side that if you look at the national contenders for office in 2016, the Republican Party has a lot more diversity than the Democratic side. I mean, not just in terms of color, but also in sheer number of candidates.