Run away from the scary brown people!

That's exactly what the Republican party seems to be doing, as evidenced by the reported refusal of all the major presidential candidates to appear at an upcoming nationally televised debate focusing on "minority issues".

No matter what one thinks of "racial politics", this seems like a bad strategy for a political party that wishes to remain relevant in a nation where the number of Hispanic, Asian, Indian, native-American, and African or African-American people in the population is increasing. Quoth Jack Kemp, the party's 1996 vice-presidential candidate: “What are we going to do, meet in a country club in the suburbs one day?”

Addendum: Discussion at DailyKos.