GOP spells Latino outreach J-E-B

[Geee]

Politico:


Alarmed by the GOP’s alienation of Hispanic voters, a group of operatives and former elected officials has launched a bid to wrestle the party’s image back from illegal immigration foes – and it’s led by a Republican named Bush.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has teamed up with former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who served in former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet, and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), a one-time supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, to restore the Republican Party’s standing with this fastest-growing segment of the electorate.


The newly formed Hispanic Leadership Network marks the first major outreach effort by the wing of the Republican Party that believes it must change its tone towards Hispanics to stand any shot of winning back the White House in 2012. It’s backed by Republicans connected to the Bushes and Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, a group whose big-tent philosophy has been usurped in recent years by the tough rhetoric of illegal immigration opponents.

“When Norm called me to tell me he was doing this, I almost broke into song, I was so happy,” said Ana Navarro, co-chair of McCain’s National Hispanic Advisory Council. “We all know it’s been a problem, but nobody has been leading any real concerted effort to address the problem.”

That problem is a Republican party that — despite the elevation this year of several Hispanic Republicans, including Sen.-elect Marco Rubio in Florida — has all but abandoned its institutional commitment to courting Hispanic voters. That came after the congressional debate on immigration took a sharp right turn in 2006, with congressional Republicans rejecting Bush’s path-to-citizenship approach and sparking massive protests in the Latino community.

[Guest areafiftyone]

Also another problem is that the new Hispanic voters (the younger hispanic voters - 18 - 40) in this country are NOT Republican - they lean Democrat. There are more younger hispanics in this country. Their parents and grandparents are more conservative Republican which is the small percentage of Hispanic voters we get in every presidential election. That is why the Democrats have a lock on the Hispanic voters. The younger hispanic voters tend to be much more liberal in their ways and don't want to follow the more conservative values that their parents and grandparents followed. They have gotten a taste of living without all the restrictions that their parents put on them and they like it (at least that is what they say). They are much more educated (have college degrees or are in college) and are more in tune with the Democrats. The Older Hispanic voters are dying off. Every Hispanic I talk to is a Democrat and all of them are younger voters (20-40). They don't think Republicans care about them. If Republicans want to win the Hispanic vote which is going to be (whether we like it or not) one of the biggest voting blocks in a couple of years - even bigger than the White male and female vote, we need to start letting them know that Republicans are in their corner and offer more than Democrats. It's not going to be easy because the credibility is lacking in the Republican party when it comes to the Latino vote.

[Stella]

I don't understand what the young Hispanics want. They should be considering themselves Americans first but because of all the pandering by politicians, they consider themselves Hispanics first. What exactly does GOP sensitivity mean? Hispanics are already encouraged never to speak or learn a word of English in big city high schools, which means they will never assimilate into society. All their relatives come over here and get free medical care in big city hospitals. Our debt ridden cities are going further into debt building more schools to educate a mainly illegal Hispanic student population.

 

Young Hispanic Americans are lurching towards being a permanent underclass unless they get a grip on it. Because of the way I grew up in poverty, I am not sympathetic to all this pandering. Without an inner drive to succeed and do well in school, the poverty cycle continues. There is nothing a Republican can do if the families don't care if their young teen children are pregnant and drop out of school. There is a definite epidemic of Hispanic teens who are pregnant and consider marriage or stability a negative.

 

The best thing the GOP can do for the good of this population who consider themselves Hispanic first, is to not treat them as being any different than any other immigrating group. Where is the Asian sensitivity, how about the Eskimo sensitivity. We have huge Russian and Polish immigrants in the Midwest but I don't hear them complaining about lack of sensitivity.

 

Pandering for votes only keeps minorities who are soon to become the majority down.