GOP sounds alarm on Latino voter gap

GOP sounds alarm on Latino voter gap

POLITICO.COM
By BEN SMITH
5/18/09 4:35 AM EDT

The Republican Party has scarcely begun to repair a wound that threatens to confine it to minority status: its 2006 collapse among Hispanic voters.

Driven by some Republicans’ sharp attacks on illegal immigration and — as many Hispanics perceived it, immigrants in general — Latino voters fled the GOP en masse in the midterm elections, then turned on John McCain, as well.

He got 31 percent of the Latino vote to the 44 percent that George W. Bush took in 2004, according to exit polls. And it was enough to put much of the West and Southwest out of reach for the Republican Party, to give Florida to the Democrats and to hand Barack Obama the presidency.

Now, as Obama moves to solidify his advantage, Republican leaders are sounding the alarm on what could be the party’s most pressing national challenge.

“It’s absolutely urgent. The demographics are there in black and white,â€

They have completely alienated a majority of the white voting block. They had better figure out a way to get them back as well. I am certainly not voting for a cheesehead neo-con like McCain (aka Bushlite)

as long as the Hispanic label (more special ethnic group) is present it will always be a loser for Republicans. They way to defeat this democratic trojan horse is to destry teh horse meaning blow up the label and appeal to the man or woman of Hispanic descent and bring them back into teh fold as "mainstream" Americans by appealing to them on issues that united Americans and not on what divides them like illegal immigration.. That's how you get them back or soem of them. Hispanics are no different than any racial or ethnic group. Republicans needs to stop obssessing about it and give democrats a run for their money

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He got 31 percent of the Latino vote to the 44 percent that George W. Bush took in 2004, according to exit polls. And it was enough to put much of the West and Southwest out of reach for the Republican Party, to give Florida to the Democrats and to hand Barack Obama the presidency.

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Is it not possible that he lost Hispanic votes due to legal Hispanic citizens being thrown off by amnesty bill? Seriously, not all Latinos think amnesty is a good thing, and many of them believe that illegal immigration is a problem.

Remember when the Clintons and Gore strong armed the INS into hurrying the processing of immigrants coming across the border? These quickly “processedâ€

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They have completely alienated a majority of the white voting block. They had better figure out a way to get them back as well. I am certainly not voting for a cheesehead neo-con like McCain (aka Bushlite)

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Exactly. Not to mention, if you are going after an ethnic group, and not people of all colors and ethnic groups with the same philosophy, then you are pitting one group against another. Not all blacks are Democrats. not all whites are Republicans, and when you look at how many don't even bother to vote anymore, you're missing out on quite a group of voters. Remember, it's not supposed to be race based. If we're back to that and demographics, then this whole country is doomed. I can guarentee you that if suddenly we got boatloads of people through open borders or beaches etc. and the vast majority were not hispanic, you would see the hispanics wanting that border closed. If all of a sudden, we had tons of Chinese children entering our schools, and hanging onto their language and culture to the point that all the special classes catering to the Spanish bi-lingual programs were cut in order to cater to the new majority minority, they'd be screaming. Sorry, now you have to be tri-lingual....isn't it wonderful!!!! If baseball said sorry, no more latino players because demographics say there's too many of you and not enough Arabic and Korean players to be demographically correct, they would be screaming. If they said sorry, no more Mexicans allowed to be carpenters because there's too many in that field and we need more diverse workers, they'd be screaming.

They need to take the high road and go by philosophy and the Constitution and rules of law and not targeting ethnic groups as potential voters. It goes against everything we have worked for. Outside of making illegal aliens legal, and making Spanish a mandated 2nd language for everyone, and holding jobs for them and giving them oppertunities others aren't guarenteed, what makes them any more special or different than any other group? Poor hispanics somehow suffer differently than poor of any other group? Hispanic women birth babies so totally differently from any other woman on this planet that they require "special" hospitals just for them? Latino elderly are different than elderly of any other group? Latino children deserve more than any other group of children? Based on nothing but what color they are or what country they from? I don't think so. Taling from one group and giving it to another isn't addressing the issues. We're all either on the same page or we're not.

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Conservatives will be out numbered and out voted

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Real easy to do when you make sure they are silenced or allow massive immigration to everyone but conservative views. I personally believe they have purposly created this divide to be able to oust whatever group they don't like.

I don't believe conservative views are all that restrictive, so far it appears to be more tolerant of others than any other group. It's not Christians trying to silence Muslims. They are just asking not to be silenced in the process of allowing them their freedoms. It's not the whites saying no blacks or hispanics allowed to be hired, they are just asking not to be ousted out of the picture because they are white. No one is saying, don't allow any Mexicans into this country because we don't like Mexicans, they are asking that they come legally and obey our laws and assimilate into this culture, just like every other group has had to do. It's not Conservative TV and radio trying to run the liberal agenda out of existance, they just want the same freedoms the others have.