There are times when the political observer in me feels sorry for the Republican Party.
Several of its most prominent members “get it” when it comes to the growing Latino population. The
GOP’s leaders admit that unless they can take a good-sized chunk of that portion of the electorate, they’re going to lose national elections.
YET WHEN IT comes to reaching out to Latinos, they’re handcuffed. Because the fact is that a portion of the Republican Party faithful are aligned with the GOP because THEY LIKE the idea of being in the party that is hostile to “those damned foreigners.”
And because that portion is among the most loyal of the overall Republican base, they can’t just be ignored.
There are times I wonder if the Republicans will ever win a national election of significance again. That is, until I look at some of the numbskulls who are among Democratic Party leadership and realize that the jackass probably has a right to be offended that it became the symbol of that particular party.
Take a couple of actions in Washington earlier this week.
THE HOUSE OF Representatives voted along partisan lines to support the stimulus package meant by President Barack Obama to give the U.S. economy a jolt from its doldrums of recent months.
Despite Obama’s efforts to gain GOP support, no Republican congressmembers voted to support the $825 billion plan.
And some of those members of Congress made it clear they see the stimulus package as part of a plot to legitimize people who are in this country without a current visa.
They literally are creating the image of those dreaded illegal aliens cashing larger government checks and pocketing just enough to live in dreadful conditions – while wiring the bulk of the bucks back to relatives in Mexico or some other Latin American country.
SUCH RHETORIC GETS praise from people such as radio nitwit Rush Limbaugh (whom Obama himself blamed earlier this week for getting the GOP members of Congress aligned against him).
But it makes people of any sense realize that the Republican Party seems determined to be irrelevant to the growing Latino population, even those whose Catholic-influenced social beliefs would appear to be a natural for the GOP.
The reason so many Latinos are willing to regard immigration activity as significant is because we realize some of these people can’t (or don’t want to) tell the difference between someone of a Latin American ethnic background who was born in the United States, and one who was born elsewhere but obtained a visa, or one who realized the visa was never going to come because of government bureaucratic messes and took advantage of their homeland’s proximity to the United States.
We see the hostile treatment given to one as a blow to all of us, and we’re more likely to side with someone who doesn’t perceive our existence as a problem for this country to overcome.
SO 88 PERCENT of Latinos consider immigration an important issue (or so says the Pew Hispanic Center)? I’m only surprised it wasn’t closer to 100 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., comes off as the “voice of reason” when he told reporter-types in Washington, “it is about time the Republicans got a different piece of reading material and get off this illegal immigrant stuff. This bill has nothing to do with anything illegal as far as immigration.”
It will be curious to see if any Republicans were to listen.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is now saying he wishes he could have reached out to the Latino voters more. He got only 31 percent of that voter bloc because his presidential campaign last year was obsessed with gaining the support of the Republican base, many of whom were wary of him for previously supporting immigration reforms that did not emphasize deportation to their satisfaction.
WHEN HE SIDED with those people, many Latinos wrote him off – even though he once was the leading Republican supporter for a measure by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., to impose significant reforms in the federal immigration laws.
The Hill newspaper, which covers Congress for political geeks who want to believe that nothing else matters, reported that McCain is telling Republicans privately that they have to change their attitude toward Latinos if they want to remain relevant in the 21st Century – where the Latino population is expected to reach about one-third of the United States by the year 2050.
It definitely appears as though Latino populations in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico helped sway those states from choosing Republican Electoral College members to picking Democratic ones.
That, in and of itself, is enough to get Obama the Electoral College victory over McCain. And it could be what keeps the one-time Party of Lincoln (which prefers these days to think of itself as the Party of Reagan) in the minority for some time to come.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Those people who see the economic stimulus package as a way to put (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/29/limbaughs-talk-crack-gop-whip-stimulus/) federal cash into the hands of non-citizens remind me of those people who used to think that Tinky-Winky (of the Teletubbies) was gay.
Can John McCain persuade his political colleagues to lighten up on their rhetoric that makes (http://thehill.com/leading-the-new/a-familiar-mccain-back-on-old-stomping-ground-2009-01-07_2.html) many Latinos feel uncomfortable at the thought of associating with Republicans?
Several of its most prominent members “get it” when it comes to the growing Latino population. The
GOP’s leaders admit that unless they can take a good-sized chunk of that portion of the electorate, they’re going to lose national elections.YET WHEN IT comes to reaching out to Latinos, they’re handcuffed. Because the fact is that a portion of the Republican Party faithful are aligned with the GOP because THEY LIKE the idea of being in the party that is hostile to “those damned foreigners.”
And because that portion is among the most loyal of the overall Republican base, they can’t just be ignored.
There are times I wonder if the Republicans will ever win a national election of significance again. That is, until I look at some of the numbskulls who are among Democratic Party leadership and realize that the jackass probably has a right to be offended that it became the symbol of that particular party.
Take a couple of actions in Washington earlier this week.
THE HOUSE OF Representatives voted along partisan lines to support the stimulus package meant by President Barack Obama to give the U.S. economy a jolt from its doldrums of recent months.
Despite Obama’s efforts to gain GOP support, no Republican congressmembers voted to support the $825 billion plan.
And some of those members of Congress made it clear they see the stimulus package as part of a plot to legitimize people who are in this country without a current visa.
They literally are creating the image of those dreaded illegal aliens cashing larger government checks and pocketing just enough to live in dreadful conditions – while wiring the bulk of the bucks back to relatives in Mexico or some other Latin American country.
SUCH RHETORIC GETS praise from people such as radio nitwit Rush Limbaugh (whom Obama himself blamed earlier this week for getting the GOP members of Congress aligned against him).
But it makes people of any sense realize that the Republican Party seems determined to be irrelevant to the growing Latino population, even those whose Catholic-influenced social beliefs would appear to be a natural for the GOP.
The reason so many Latinos are willing to regard immigration activity as significant is because we realize some of these people can’t (or don’t want to) tell the difference between someone of a Latin American ethnic background who was born in the United States, and one who was born elsewhere but obtained a visa, or one who realized the visa was never going to come because of government bureaucratic messes and took advantage of their homeland’s proximity to the United States.
We see the hostile treatment given to one as a blow to all of us, and we’re more likely to side with someone who doesn’t perceive our existence as a problem for this country to overcome.
SO 88 PERCENT of Latinos consider immigration an important issue (or so says the Pew Hispanic Center)? I’m only surprised it wasn’t closer to 100 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., comes off as the “voice of reason” when he told reporter-types in Washington, “it is about time the Republicans got a different piece of reading material and get off this illegal immigrant stuff. This bill has nothing to do with anything illegal as far as immigration.”
It will be curious to see if any Republicans were to listen.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is now saying he wishes he could have reached out to the Latino voters more. He got only 31 percent of that voter bloc because his presidential campaign last year was obsessed with gaining the support of the Republican base, many of whom were wary of him for previously supporting immigration reforms that did not emphasize deportation to their satisfaction.
WHEN HE SIDED with those people, many Latinos wrote him off – even though he once was the leading Republican supporter for a measure by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., to impose significant reforms in the federal immigration laws.
The Hill newspaper, which covers Congress for political geeks who want to believe that nothing else matters, reported that McCain is telling Republicans privately that they have to change their attitude toward Latinos if they want to remain relevant in the 21st Century – where the Latino population is expected to reach about one-third of the United States by the year 2050.
It definitely appears as though Latino populations in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico helped sway those states from choosing Republican Electoral College members to picking Democratic ones.
That, in and of itself, is enough to get Obama the Electoral College victory over McCain. And it could be what keeps the one-time Party of Lincoln (which prefers these days to think of itself as the Party of Reagan) in the minority for some time to come.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Those people who see the economic stimulus package as a way to put (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/29/limbaughs-talk-crack-gop-whip-stimulus/) federal cash into the hands of non-citizens remind me of those people who used to think that Tinky-Winky (of the Teletubbies) was gay.
Can John McCain persuade his political colleagues to lighten up on their rhetoric that makes (http://thehill.com/leading-the-new/a-familiar-mccain-back-on-old-stomping-ground-2009-01-07_2.html) many Latinos feel uncomfortable at the thought of associating with Republicans?
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