Bob McDonnell has caught a bit of flack for stacking the audience at his State of the Union response with only Republican supporters. Politico reports that many Virginian Democrats didn’t get an invite until hours before the event. McDonnell’s office pointed out, however, that even many Republicans didn’t receive an invite until hours before the event as well, and that the invitations went out in waves.
His citizen backdrop suggests that invitations were extended in an order something like:
1.  Republican supporters who lend a certain “diversity”
2.  All other Republicans
3.  All Democrats.
Take a look:
"I got more diverse friends than a middle school text book"
To sum up, McDonnell’s beaming supporters seem to be comprised of:
- 41% females
- 47% minorities
- 18% white men
Now, all politicians do this to some degree. But the amount of dissonance between his hand-picked Republican supporter backdrop and the actual composition of Republican officials in Virginia is astounding.
Let’s take a look at the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus:
- 5% female
- 0% minorities
- 95% white men
The Virginia House Republican Caucus does not fare much better (as best I can tell):
- 8% female
- 0% minorities
- 92% white men
Next time, perhaps the Republicans will finally convince a couple of their background supporters to hold up signs that say “I’m a gay”.
Are you trying to suggest that the guests pictured here are not representative of the GOP? Sir, I am shocked and appalled.
I assume that many members of the GOP are closet homosexuals, so that’s probably why they don’t explicitly include them as guests at these events. He doesn’t need a sign because his whole demeanor clearly says “I pound butt”.