Thread: GOP rivals blast Obama on Hispanic-centric issues

GOP rivals blast Obama on Hispanic-centric issues

By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Updated 22m ago

MIAMI – A day after Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich fiercely attacked each other in the GOP presidential debate, they changed their focus Friday and trained their attacks on President Obama during a gathering here of Hispanic leaders.

When talking about his plan for dealing with Cuba, Romney said he wondered how anyone could expect Obama to stand up for the Cuban people when his administration remained largely silent during the Iranian uprisings in 2009.

"We watched across the world as Iran had over a million people take to the streets demonstrating for freedom. This country had nothing to say," Romney said. "Can you imagine Ronald Reagan having nothing to say in that situation? Even Bill Clinton would've said something."

Gingrich criticized Obama for meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and explained how Obama's restrictions on producing domestic energy — including his rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas — was harming the country's influence and security abroad.

"I have a very simple goal, which we'll meet by the end of my first term: to have no American president ever again bow to a Saudi king," Gingrich said, referring to the gesture Obama made to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during a meeting in 2009 that many interpreted as a bow.

The attacks on Obama during Friday's Hispanic Leadership Network conference were a sharp contrast to the heated presidential debate on Thursday in Jacksonville, and came just four days ahead of the crucial Florida primary.

Romney opened up a 9-point lead over Gingrich in a Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey released Friday, indicating the former House speaker had lost some of his momentum following his win in South Carolina.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, had 38% support from likely GOP voters, compared with 29% for Gingrich. Romney was leading by only 2 points in the Quinnipiac poll earlier in the week.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 14% support and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum had 12% in the poll Tuesday through Thursday.

'Pro-legal immigration party'

Other speakers at the conference spent time looking ahead to the 2012 election, worrying that the harsh tone Republicans have struck on immigration could come back to harm them with Hispanic voters.

Two young men in the audience provided a clear example of the problem facing the GOP, when they interrupted Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's speech by shouting and asking why he didn't support illegal immigrants. Rubio said he is not anti-immigrant, and understands the reason 11 million illegal immigrants have come to the United States.

Rubio, a Cuban American who was widely praised by all four presidential hopefuls during Thursday night's debate and is considered a candidate for vice president, said if he found himself in a country with no job opportunities, no education prospects for his children and struggling to find enough food, there would be "no fence high enough, no ocean wide enough" to keep him from coming to the United States.

He conceded that some in the Republican Party have used harsh, intolerable language aimed at illegal immigrants in the country, and that "sometimes we've been too slow in condemning that language for what it is."

But he insisted that he, and the party as a whole, is not anti-immigrant, just supportive of a system that combines enhanced border security, employment verification systems and a simplified process to let workers into the country and know when they're here.

"We should be the pro-legal immigration party," Rubio said. "A party that has a positive platform and agenda on how we can create a legal immigration system that works for immigrants and works for America."

Rival Republican approaches

Romney and Gingrich also fought back at the thought that they were against Hispanics. They spoke of the importance of fixing the nation's immigration system, but offered their differing views on how to deal with the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Romney wants to shut off jobs that are available to those illegal immigrants living in the country, forcing them to "self-deport" back to their countries. He would balance that with a simplified visa system that would allow guest workers and tourists to have easier access to the U.S.

Gingrich wants to create citizen boards that could grant legal status to some illegal immigrants who have been in the country for a long time, started families, established community ties and steered clear of legal problems. He also pushed for a guest worker program, and called for English to be made the official language of the government.

GOP rivals blast Obama on Hispanic-centric issues

Wow! I've never heard illegal voter fraud called this before. "Centric Issues" I'm sure getting sick of hearing "The Latino Vote" I could Fricken Puke! It's like our vote means nothing, just get that ever coveted latino vote! Guess we're all just chopped liver!