Thread: Perry's Immigration Stance May Help Him Woo Hispanics

Perry's Immigration Stance May Help Him Woo Hispanics

Published September 28, 2011






Miami – Rick Perry is calling his Republican rivals "heartless" and using ethnically charged language to defend moderate parts of his immigration record. That strategy may endear the Texas governor to Hispanics and their allies even as it angers others the presidential candidate must woo to win the nomination to challenge President Barack Obama.

His in-your-face approach to addressing what many non-Hispanic conservatives consider a black mark on his record underscores the difficult politics at play for Perry. He's a border-state governor who for a decade has taken great care to avoid alienating the nation's fastest-growing minority group. Now he finds himself running for president in a Republican primary whose core supporters are staunchly opposed to illegal immigration, much like George W. Bush did when he ran for the White House.

At issue is a 2001 Texas law Perry supported that allows undocumented immigrant children to receive cheaper in-state tuition at Texas universities if they meet certain requirements and his insistence that a physical border fence is impractical as a way to control the flow of foreigners into the United States. Both issues became flashpoints this month in a series of debates as rivals tried to use Perry's policies to paint him as weak on illegal immigration.

Perry defended himself by using arguments that invoke race, national origin and what it means to be American -- issues that resonate strongly with Hispanics, a key voting demographic. He's used the same pitch since the law passed, and standing by it helps insulate him from charges he's backing away from his past positions. The arguments he makes also could easily resonate with moderate conservatives and with independents who aren't Hispanic.

"If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," Perry said last week in a debate as he countered attacks from Mitt Romney, his chief rival, and from Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

In the same situation a week earlier, Perry invoked race and ethnicity to defend the law that's become known as the Texas Dream Act, saying:

"The bottom line is, it doesn't make any difference what the sound of your last name is. That is the American way."

In both cases, many Hispanics likely found themselves nodding in agreement.

"Latinos see it as a race issue," said David Hinojosa, the southwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He said Hispanics view opposition to bills like the one Perry signed as anti-Latino stances. "It's very fair for him to portray it as a race issue, because at the end of the day that's what it is."

Or as Julio Rumbault, a media consultant based in Miami, put it: "The reality is that we have Garcias who are five generations in New Mexico and those that came over the border last week, and they are blending into the society and becoming part of our communities."

"Perry was saying something that makes sense in principle but also makes sense in reality," Rumbault said. "He was pointing to the American tenet of equality as a principle, and whether he meant to or not, he dealt with a reality. Garcias, whether they're five generations or just came over the border, they're here, and they deserve an opportunity for education."

Perry's position could help him attract the support of Democratic-leaning Hispanics in key general election swing states like Florida, Nevada and Colorado. Perry points to his appeal among Hispanics in private meetings with donors when they ask how the plain-spoken conservative is going to win the broad base of voters he'll need to beat Obama in 2012. He wouldn't need a majority of Hispanic voters to win -- just enough to chip away at the overwhelming majority Obama won in 2008.

First, however, Perry must get through the Republican primary and convince an angry party base not to reject him outright for immigration positions many view as heresy. Even though the issue takes a backseat nationally to the struggling economy, immigration consistently pops up in early voting Iowa and South Carolina as voters press Republican candidates on whether they're staunch enough against illegal immigration.
Comparatively, Romney and Bachmann both frequently castigate the

Texas bill as helping "illegal aliens." Romney allies note that he vetoed a similar in-state tuition bill when he served as governor of Massachusetts, and Bachmann often reminds voters that she backs the building of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

If the blowback from Perry's "have a heart" comment is any indication, he has his work cut out for him.

Bachmann used the phrase to slam Perry in an email to supporters, writing: "If you oppose illegal immigration and don't believe illegal immigrants should be given taxpayer subsidized tuition benefits ... according to Rick Perry you don't have a heart."

And a statement from the campaign arm of Americans for Legal Immigration said: "Rick Perry is finished." The group says it backs people who legally immigrate but opposes amnesty, visa expansion or guest worker programs "designed to reward illegal aliens or legalize their presence" in the United States.

Perry aides brush off the criticism.

They say Perry's talking about illegal immigration in the same way he always has and isn't catering to any one constituency or looking to provoke anyone by suggesting his rivals are heartless or invoking ethnicity. They say he is who he is and he says what he thinks. They say he's being consistent in how he talks about illegal immigration and his policies.

"He's always explained it that way," Perry's top strategist, David Carney, said. "And we have no strategy based on appealing to different groups or different people or primary voters."

The rationale aides provide speaks to a broader political imperative for Perry -- define himself as the straightest-talking, most authentic conservative in the race.

Even so, when it comes to federal immigration issues, Perry hasn't shied away from parroting the standard conservative line.

He opposes the federal version of the tuition law, which Hispanic groups have pushed hard for and which also includes a path to citizenship for students. And during the debate, his staff emailed a news release to reporters that sounded a lot like all the other Republican candidates: "Gov.

Perry opposes amnesty and the federal DREAM Act. Washington must first secure the border before we can have any rational discussion about immigration reform. Once that is accomplished, then we can have a conversation about how to address immigration."




http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09 ... s/#comment#ixzz1ZEdny3D6

Sad to see Fox News in full damage control behind Rick Perry.

W

Perry aides brush off the criticism.

Yeah! Brush this off.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Sad to see Fox News in full damage control behind Rick Perry.

W

===========================

Why is it that the average Conservative American is not able to see past the globalist propaganda disguised as American patriotism that got us into the bottomless pit we now find ourselves in?

This country goes in a tortuous election circle that continues to give us more and more of the same crippling effect. Namely the end of America.

Globalist prince Rupert Murdoch still believes he can pull off in 2012 what he did in 2000 when he duped the entire country into putting puppet George Bush at the helm for eight long and tortuous years. In fact, that whole slam-and-dunk propaganda victory was what elected 'The Dictator' Barack Obama as our current president.

Adding much pain to endless misery, Rupert Murdoch had his media outlets (Fox News, Wall Street Journal, etc.) plug quasi-compassionate conservatives on the air and in the print while he privately manipulated his globalist agendas, up to and including putting Barack Obama into office.

These globalists will outsource every last job they can and play every last lie in their manipulative political books until there is nothing left of the United States of America.

Following the money and following the power isn't enough. Following the brainwashing and following the twisted globalist lies is what finally seals it.

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http://link.brightcove.com/services/pla ... 1579802959


Perry says it's 'premature' to judge Rupert Murdoch in phone-hacking mess
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/ ... to-ju.html

News Corp. Ltd. of Australia gave $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association in two installments, in June and July of last year, when Perry was the GOP governors' group's national finance chairman.

Gov. Rick Perry says it's too early to judge whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.'s contributions to the Republican Governors Association should be returned in light of the phone-hacking scandal that is threatening both Murdoch's News Corp. empire and the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"I think that to judge Mr. Murdoch at this particular point in time is rather premature," Perry said at the Texas Capitol, when asked about contributions to the GOP governors' group of which he's been a top official in recent years.

Rupert Murdoch dines with Rick Perry (9/19/11)
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread ... Rick-Perry

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry and embattled media mogul Rupert Murdoch had dinner together in New York City Monday night, CBS News confirmed on Tuesday.

The duo ate at Manhattan's ritzy Post House steakhouse, a few blocks away from Murdoch's Fifth Avenue apartment, the New York Times reported...

…Speaking to reporters in July, Perry brushed off questions about the propriety of Murdoch's contributions to the Republican Governors Association, which Perry headed at the time, calling it "rather premature" to judge him.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...30-503544.html

The media is South Florida had Perry in big trouble on the weekend. It was in the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel. I even got an email from the Herald about it.
It is the Bilderbergs that want Perry in. As I mentioned on another post he was invited to their meeting several years back.

The article "Perry's Immigration Stance May Help Him Woo Hispanics" was written by Associated Press writer Laura Wides-Munoz. See links below. AP writer Laura Wides-Munoz is an avowed illegal immigration supporter. As VP of Floridians for Immigration Enforcement (FLIMEN) I now refuse to be interviewed by her because she can't write straight. I'm surprised at the Fox News connection.

www.flimen.org

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/2 ... 84854.html

http://www.newsday.com/news/perry-immig ... -1.3206520