RUBEN NAVARRETTE: McCain and the Latino community

[JohnDoe2]

RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR. THE UNION-TRIBUNE

McCain and the Latino community

October 26, 2008

Recently, I was on a Latino-themed radio show defending John McCain. The defendant was accused of abandoning comprehensive immigration reform, turning his back on Latino supporters and associating with a bad crowd (read: Republicans). I didn't give an inch. I was the only person in the discussion who actually knew McCain – from my stint 10 years ago as a reporter at a newspaper in Arizona – and I could attest to the fact that the senator had always gone to bat for Latinos. At one point, another guest scolded me in frustration: “Look, it's not about John McCain. It's about the Republican Party!â€

[Populist]

McCain pledged that comprehensive immigration reform would be something he would tackle in the first 100 days of his presidency.

For any of the few remaining people who give any credence to Amnesty John's blather that he would "secure the border first" (before he pushes mass amnesty) the above statement proves once again that his supposed "straight talk" is anything but. There is no way the border could be truly secured by April/May 2009, especially with someone as thoroughly uncommitted to real border security as John McCain.

[Richard]

There is another reason why his standing is so low which is that the minority of Latinos who oppose amnesty is larger than the per cent that back McCain. However they recognize that with McCain so strong for an amnesty where they stand on amnesty is a wash and they might as well vote for Obama, vote for a third party candidate or claim to be undecided.

[NoBueno]

"Latino-themed, latino community, etc." Why is it that everything associated with these people has to be prefaced with the word "latino." Talk about creating divisiveness....

[Bowman]

[quote]
Still, McCain's following among Latinos is evaporating. A poll by Zogby International found that 21 percent of Latinos support McCain, compared with 70 percent for Democrat Barack Obama; the Pew Hispanic Center ranked it 23 percent McCain and 66 percent Obama.

I asked McCain what in the world is going on. He blamed part of it on “heavy negative advertisingâ€

[vortex]

NoBueno wrote:

"Latino-themed, latino community, etc." Why is it that everything associated with these people has to be prefaced with the word "latino." Talk about creating divisiveness....

What about all the other communities in this country, like Greco-Americans, Arab-Americans, Russo-Americans and Sino-Americans, along with Scandinavian-Americans and African-Americans?
Divisiveness is rampant, not only by ethnicity and race, but also by gender and religion and perhaps these days there is even a division between those that believe in weather forecasts being accurate and those not.

[Tom2]

Two points. First Navarrette's been masquerading as a journalist for years. Too bad he hasn't learned a thing and has no more experience than he had the day he began. He quit the Dallas Morning News and moved to San Diego to be closer to HIS people. In this short article, he uses the term "Latino" seventeen times. But from reading much of his drivel, I'd opine he doesn't yet know the difference between Latino, Hispanic, immigrant and illegal alien. With so much ignorance, he might not know what Mexican means.