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Republican party platform will be a hard sell for Latino votes


LatinaLista — It’s no secret that the Republican Party wants the Latino vote. According to the McCain campaign’s spokeswoman for Hispanic media, Hessy Fernandez, the campaign’s goal is to secure 45% of the Latino vote.
The campaign feels that they can bridge the wide gap that currently exists between McCain and Obama as McCain gets out more in the Latino community. As Fernandez says, “He (McCain) is a true friend of the Latino community.”
Well, when it comes to politics, and especially the recently adopted Republican Party platform, a “true friend” seems to depend on who is defining it.


While all issues are of importance to Latinos — education, health care, national security, the economy, etc., there are certain other issues that also impact Latino communities almost exclusively.
The Republican Party addressed these issues specifically in their platform: immigration, the Dream Act, undocumented immigrants and the English language.
Overall, it was a disappointing read — only because when it came to the issues that dealt with Hispanic immigrants, the same exaggerations were regurgitated and adopted by the party as fact.
Among the issues that the McCain campaign thinks will win Latino communities over are:

“…Guaranteeing to law enforcement the tools and coordination to deport criminal aliens without delay — and correcting court decisions that have made deportations so difficult … It does not mean driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, nor does it mean that states should be allowed to flout the federal law barring them from giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, nor does it mean that illegal aliens should receive social security benefits, or other public benefits, except as provided by federal law.”

What the committee members failed to honestly say was that because of this Administration’s policies, a.k.a. Republican Party’s, it’s become common practice to criminalize undocumented immigrants by charging them with identity fraud.
Law enforcement officials who work with these kinds of fraud cases have gone on record in the past to say that the majority who perpetuate the damaging fraud against citizens, are their own fellow citizens.
From this simple passage of the platform that is pasted in this post, teens who want to go to college will be forever denied that possibility.
In this regard, the McCain campaign will have their work cut out for them. Don’t they know that while these “Dream Act” kids may not be able to vote, they GREW up alongside their friends who can and who have registered in record numbers for this election season? If they don’t think these kids will cast a vote for the opposition in honor of the friends they see being left behind, the Republican Party is far more short-sighted than it ever has been.
Also, in state after state that has passed punitive measures to make sure undocumented immigrants don’t take advantage of social security or welfare benefits, it has been found that such measures proved to be more of a headache and obstacle to citizens who took advantage of those benefits with state directors (again) going on record that undocumented immigrants don’t take advantage of social security and welfare benefits.
An interesting piece that was a part of the platform and makes you wonder just how some are envisioning the future of the country is:

“Our strong ties with Canada and Mexico should not lead to a North American union or a unified currency.”

For the sake of argument, why would that be a bad thing? We’ve seen in Europe that countries can maintain their sovereignty but work in unison and be a part of something bigger by joining forces.
Maybe this passage explains the party’s reasoning better:

The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved. The census should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration.

Regardless of the intent, it’s not wise to shut your eyes and pretend 12 million people don’t exist.
But pretending seems to be the name of the game among the committee member who drew up this platform.
In one last example drawn from the Republican Party Platform:

Gang violence is a growing problem, not only in urban areas but in many suburbs and rural communities. It has escalated with the rise of gangs composed largely of illegal aliens, most of whose victims are law-abiding members of immigrant communities…Illegal alien gang members must be removed from the United States immediately upon arrest or after the completion of any sentence imposed.

While it’s true that gang violence has increased and many victims are immigrants, it is not true to plant the assumption that these gangs are largely comprised of undocumented immigrants.
In an article about undocumented gang members:

Although law enforcement officials struggle to quantify the number of illegal immigrants who are gang members, some say nearly half of some gangs – including Mara Salvatrucha, one of the city’s most violent – could be in the U.S. illegally.
Gang experts say there are no studies to corroborate the figures, although they estimate that the number is closer to 10 percent.

Hardly a majority as seen by experts, who are usually in law enforcement themselves.
The Republican Party Platform serves its purpose — it clarifies the party’s positions for its members and it spells out for the Latino electorate just what true friendship means in a Republican context.

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Comment(13)

  • Texano78704
    September 3, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    Hard sell is right. The entire portion of the platform that is entitled “Immigration, National Security, and the Rule of Law” is enough to “alienate” most immigrants. It is thick with irony. After all, what can you say about a political party, which, in 2001, abandoned Congress’ role as a check on the executive branch of our government and then has the gall use the phrase “rule of law” a dozen and a half times in the party’s platform. Just as ironic is their desire to retain the “wet foot, dry foot” policy for Cuban “immigrants” while opposing amnesty for the twelve million undocumented workers in this country.
    The GOP platform equates absurdly the practice of identity theft and trafficking in fraudulent documents to the issue of illegal immigration; in doing so, it attempts to put forth the E-Verify system to solve all our problems on the subject. E-Verify is an unreliable system that flies in the face of human rights and “right to work” labor policies.
    Another hard sell is its effort to penalize “sanctuary cities,” not considering the fact that the afore mentioned cities have no jurisdiction when it comes to enforcing federal immigration law. Many of our elected officials of large urban areas will not want to see the reduction in community cooperation when it comes to fighting violent crime that misguided GOP policies will inevitably cause.
    Then there is their push for “English as the official language.” In spite of the fact that immigrants are integrating into our society, they push this bonehead idea as way to achieve that integration. Republicans absurdly suggest, “English is the accepted language of business…” It is, rather, an accepted language. Apparently none of these people have ever travelled to the Rio Grande valley or been shopping in any of Texas’ largest cities.
    Truly, I wonder which country these people are thinking of when they came up with platform. Most likely, they had in mind a step back to the 1930’s when corporatism found its niche in various parts of Europe.

  • Rick Hernandez
    September 3, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Your comments about gangs are plain stupid and 100% wrong. LA county jail checked last year and found over 50% of those arrested for violent crimes were illegals. If you ask any sheriff (or visit their website) it’s an average of 50% of their most wanted criminals for violent crimes are illegals. The fastest growing gangs in the US are Nortenos, Surenos, Latin Kings and MS-13. FBI estimated MS-13 is 90% illegals. Chicago PD reports the fastest growing gang in their area is Surenos as a result of illegal immigration. Biggest complaint of gang investigators throughout the nation according to the National Alliance of Gang Investigators is the growth of gangs in rural and smaller communities as a direct result of illegal immigration. It’s obvious you didn’t research before posting your blog.

  • Michaela
    September 3, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    We’ve got the Barrio Aztecas and Aztecas, two separate groups, in my town. Our gang task force is in full swing to take them down. To say our illegal gangs in the U.S. are not a problem is asinine.

  • Texano78704
    September 4, 2008 at 10:35 am

    One more thing… I think it very interesting to see what the big business point of view on immigration. They have never made it a secret that that they favor legalization for the twelve million undocumented workers, yet the GOP stated in their platform that they specifically oppose amnesty. Here is part of a recent WSJ article, just prior to the release of the GOP platform.
    “Latino voters have moved sharply into the Democratic camp in the past two years, reversing a pro-GOP tide that had been evident among Latinos earlier in the decade,” according to Pew. “Some 65% of Latino registered voters now say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 26% who identify with or lean toward the GOP.” The 39-point Democratic edge was 21 points as recently as 2006. It’s an example of what can happen when Republicans lose their free-market bearings and start channeling cable news populists.
    Restrictionists are also deluding themselves if they think sealing the border can reverse these demographic trends. Illegal border crossings peaked in 2000 under President Clinton. They’re down by half under Mr. Bush. According to Census data, Hispanic population growth is no longer being driven by immigration, legal or illegal. Since 2000, it’s been driven by the higher birth rates among Latino women already here.
    To woo back these voters, Republicans needn’t pander or abandon conservative principles. These are economic migrants who come here looking for work, not handouts, with labor participation rates that exceed those of the native born. But at the very least, the GOP must make Hispanics feel appreciated. And that’s difficult to do when the party’s attacks on illegal immigration end up demonizing Hispanic migrants.
    Republicans might also keep in mind that most of the illegal Latino population in the U.S. is related to people here legally. To the ears of these legal immigrants, rants against illegals are attacks on a mother or father or sister or uncle — not some abstract law-breaker.
    source

  • yave begnet
    September 4, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    Rick, you cite a lot of figures but haven’t linked to any sources to back them up. Please share your sources with us.

  • Evelyn Chavez
    September 5, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    He can’t yave….psst psst it’s one of those kkkers sites. Dont tell anyone I told you. K

  • laura
    September 6, 2008 at 10:34 am

    Thank you, Marisa, for this analysis of the Republican Party’s platform. This alone clarifies who we have to vote for. They even advocate violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment in the passage, “The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved. The census should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration.”
    At the same time, I find very interesting that during the Republican convention, the anti-immigrant content of that party’s platform was hardly mentioned. In fact, last week, we didn’t hear Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson or Rudy Giuliani “out-tancredo-ing Tom Tancredo,” as they were doing during the primary season. Those gentlemen deleted the anti-immigrant rhetoric from their prepared remarks this time. Tom Tancredo was not even visible. No hate fests against Latinos this time. This must have been disappointing to many Republicans who love to revel in blaming immigrants for the disasters that Republican rule has brought down on us.
    Why was the anti-immigrant scapegoating so sparse this time?
    Easy – Karl Rove told them to cut it out. He doesn’t like seeing that 21-point gap among Latina/o voters in favor of Obama.
    Let’s make sure that 21-point gap becomes a 40-point gap against McCain/Palin.

  • Evelyn
    September 7, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    You are so right Laura they dropped the Republiklan like a hot potato. They have seen all the other RebubliKLANSMEN loose elections, so now they are trying to backpeddle! To Little To Late!
    My niece likes this song, she speaks several indigenous languages, now she is learning Spanish
    JoJo, To Little To Late
    spanish version

  • cindylu
    September 8, 2008 at 2:37 am

    Great analysis of the platform. I don’t expect to agree completely with either party’s platform. However, it’s good to know I can tell students that the Republicans want to prevent states from deciding who can/cannot qualify for in-state tuition and thus bar undocumented students. On the other hand, Obama supports the federal DREAM Act. Sounds good to me. I’d made my decision long ago — Republicans were never on the table — but it’s nice to know I was on the right track.

  • Michaela
    September 15, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    Evelyn Chavez :
    He can’t yave….psst psst it’s one of those kkkers sites. Dont tell anyone I told you. K
    That was a very unnecessary and childish remark Evelyn. How old are you? Five?

  • Evelyn
    September 16, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    That was a very unnecessary and childish remark Evelyn. How old are you? Five?
    E
    Why is it childish to think when you and others dont offer proof for any of the BS you spew is because it comes from a KKK infested website? It’s the truth!

  • Michaela
    September 17, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    E
    Why is it childish to think when you and others dont offer proof for any of the BS you spew is because it comes from a KKK infested website? It’s the truth!
    Well then, I take back the “it’s childish” and replace it with “it’s ignorant.” I do not frequent any “KKK” sites but I am sure there are some out there just as there are plenty of brown KKK sites which you seem to frequent, SPLC, ADL, NCLR, etc., ad nauseum…they are all racist sites against Americans, of any color, who do not agree with their radical agenda.

  • Evelyn
    September 18, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    Michaela :
    E
    Why is it childish to think when you and others dont offer proof for any of the BS you spew is because it comes from a KKK infested website? It’s the truth!
    Well then, I take back the “it’s childish” and replace it with “it’s ignorant.” I do not frequent any “KKK” sites but I am sure there are some out there just as there are plenty of brown KKK sites which you seem to frequent, SPLC, ADL, NCLR, etc., ad nauseum…they are all racist sites against Americans, of any color, who do not agree with their radical agenda.
    E
    Why is it ignorant to think when you and others dont offer proof for any of the BS you spew is because it comes from a KKK infested website? It’s the truth!
    Proof of that is the fact that you never have offered proof of anything you say it is all based on what you read on bigoted websites or what other like minded people tell you!
    You certainly have a right to express YOUR OPINION and make a fool out of yourself with some of your statements, especially the one about Mecha La Raza and Maldef if you want to, because you hate Hispanics.
    I will stick to believing lists by credible organizations who study these types of organizations like the following one of known hate groups whose members and participants are known Klan members.
    From SPLC
    GLENN SPENCER, head of the anti-immigration American Patrol, has been interviewed at least twice on the show, on Jan. 7 and June 4, 2004. Spencer’s Web site is jammed with anti-Mexican vitriol and he pushes the idea that the Mexican government is involved in a secret plot to take over the Southwest — facts never mentioned on Dobbs’ show. Spencer’s group is regarded as a hate group by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Spencer has spoken at least twice to the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, which has described blacks as “a retrograde species of humanity,” and once to American Renaissance, a group that contends that blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Dobbs has never reported those ties, or mentioned Spencer’s more wild-eyed contentions, such as his prediction that “thousands will die” in a supposedly forthcoming Mexican invasion. His CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer, on the hand, featured Spencer on his own show but reported Mexico’s official response and SPLC’s hate group designation.
    In late 2004, it was revealed that the new head of a national advisory board to Protect Arizona Now, an anti-immigration organization, was a long-time white supremacist who was also an editorial adviser to the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Although VIRGINIA ABERNETHY’s controversial selection was reported prominently in virtually every Arizona paper — and despite the fact that Dobbs heavily covered the anti-immigration referendum that Protect Arizona Now was advocating — Dobbs never mentioned the affair at all.
    A man named JOE MCCUTCHEN was quoted last April as part of a feature on the Minuteman Project, described by Dobbs as “a terrific group of concerned, caring Americans.” No mention was made of the fact that McCutchen, who heads up an anti-immigration group called Protect Arkansas Now, had written a whole series of anti-Semitic letters to the editor and given a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens — facts revealed the prior January by SPLC, causing Arkansas’ Republican governor to denounce McCutchen’s group.
    This August, BILL PARMLEY, a Minuteman leader in Goliad County, Texas, quit the group because of what he described as widespread racism. Similarly, in September, newspapers reported that another Texas Minuteman, Janet Ahrens, had resigned because members “wanted to shoot the taco meat.” Dobbs never mentioned either of these people, who were featured prominently elsewhere.
    On Oct. 4, Dobbs had PAUL STREITZ, a co-founder of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, as a guest on his show. Streitz denounced Mayor John DeStefano Jr. for “turning New Haven into a banana republic” by favoring identification cards for undocumented workers. Two days later, newspapers revealed that two of the group’s other founders had just quit, saying Streitz had led it in a racially charged direction. Dobbs has never reported this.
    BARBARA COE, leader of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, was quoted on a show last March bitterly attacking Home Depot for “betray[ing] Americans,” apparently because Hispanic day laborers often gather in front of the store looking for work. Not mentioned were her group, listed by the SPLC as a hate group, or the fact that she routinely refers to Mexicans as “savages.” Coe recently described herself as a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a “white pride” group formed from the remnants of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s that were once described by Thurgood Marshall as “the uptown Klan.” She also told The Denver Post in November that she had given a speech to the group.
    CHRIS SIMCOX, co-founder of the Minuteman Project and a top national anti-immigration leader, was arrested in 2003 by federal park rangers for carrying a weapon illegally while tracking border-crossers on federal parkland. While Simcox has been repeatedly interviewed on his show, Dobbs has failed to mention that arrest or bigoted anti-Hispanic comments Simcox made to the Intelligence Report several years ago.
    http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=589
    ~~~~
    John Tanton’s Network
    The organized anti-immigration “movement” is almost entirely the handiwork of one man, Michigan activist John H. Tanton.
    Here is a list of 13 groups in the loose-knit Tanton network, followed by acronyms if the groups use them, founding dates, and Tanton’s role in the groups.
    Those organizations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center are marked with an asterisk (*).
    In this list, “founded” means a group was founded or co-founded by John Tanton. “Funded” means that U.S. Inc., the funding conduit created and still headed by Tanton, has made grants to the group.
    *American Immigration Control Foundation
    AICF, 1983, funded
    *American Patrol/Voice of Citizens Together
    1992, funded
    California Coalition for Immigration Reform
    CCIR, 1994, funded
    Californians for Population Stabilization
    1996, funded (founded separately in 1986)
    Center for Immigration Studies
    CIS, 1985, founded and funded
    Federation for American Immigration Reform
    FAIR, 1979, founded and funded
    NumbersUSA
    1996, founded and funded
    Population-
    Environment Balance
    1973, joined board in 1980
    Pro English
    1994, founded and funded
    ProjectUSA
    1999, funded
    *The Social Contract Press
    1990, founded and funded
    U.S. English
    1983, founded and funded
    U.S. Inc.
    1982, founded and funded
    ~~~
    “We’re building in a deadly disunity. All great empires disintegrate, we want stability.”
    — John Tanton, 1986, FAIR founder and now board of directors member
    “Gobernar es poblar translates ‘to govern is to populate’… In this society where the majority rules, does this hold? Will the present majority peaceably hand over its political power to a group that is simply more fertile?”
    — John Tanton, 1986
    “Is apartheid in Southern California’s future? The demographic picture in South Africa now is startlingly similar to what we’ll see in California in 2030. In Southern Africa, a White minority owns the property, has the best jobs and education, has the political power, and speaks one language. A non-White majority has poor education, jobs and income, owns little property, is on its way to political power and speaks a different language.”
    — John Tanton, 1986
    “Will Latin American migrants bring with them the tradition of the mordida [bribe], the lack of involvement in public affairs, etc.? What in fact are the characteristics of Latin American culture, versus that of the United States?

    — John Tanton, 1986
    “Can homo contraceptivus compete with homo progenitiva if borders aren’t controlled? Or is advice to limit one’s family simply advice to move over and let someone else with greater reproductive powers occupy the space?”
    — John Tanton, 1986
    “The new immigration will not work the same as the old. For some reason, Mexican immigrants are not succeeding as well as other groups.”
    — Roger Conner, 1986, then FAIR executive director
    “Not everyone thinks that replacing strawberry fields with dim-sum restaurants and noodle houses is necessarily an enhancement in their quality of life.”
    — Dan Stein, 1989, then FAIR spokesman, now FAIR president
    “I think [Pioneer Fund officials] support our work because the[ir] trustees agree with what we’re doing. But we pitched the funding proposal to them. They give us money because we asked for it.”
    — Dan Stein, 1994, on donations to FAIR from the racist Pioneer Fund
    “Should we be subsidizing people with low IQs to have as many children as possible, and not subsidizing those with high ones?”
    — Dan Stein, 1997
    “Immigrants don’t come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing. Some of them firmly believe in socialist or redistributist [sic] ideas. Many of them hate America, hate everything the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans.”
    — Dan Stein, 1997
    “[Millions of immigrants coming to America will be] defecating and creating garbage and looking for jobs.”
    — John Tanton, 1997
    “In the bacteriology lab, we have culture plates. You put a bug in there and it starts growing and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And it grows until it finally fills the whole plate. And it crashes and dies.”
    — John Tanton, comparing immigrants to bacteria, 1997
    “How many computer whiz kids cancel out one Sirhan Sirhan, a Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman or … a Charles Ponzi?”
    — John Tanton, 1997, criticizing visas for immigrants with high-tech skills
    “American secessions have rarely been viewed with alarm [but] in the 1990s … we are more inclined to consider them a serious threat to national unity, especially since that unity is being stretched to the breaking point by ethnic revanchiste movements fueled by Third World immigration. … In any major city, the peace is disturbed by Latino, black, and Asian nationalist gangs, which in some cases are only the shock troops of ethnic movements seeking the racial dismemberment of the United States. In refusing to control immigration, the Federal Government is writing a script for ethnic civil war. Why?”
    — FAIR website, 2002, quoting paleoconservative author Thomas Fleming, a member of the neo-Confederate hate group, League of the South
    “[Muslims] are not coming here to become Americans. … [They are] promoting colonization of their own religion, of their own culture in towns and taking them over.”
    — Susan Tully, 2004, FAIR national field director
    “I have a secret plan to destroy America. … We must first make America a bilingual-bicultural country. … I would then invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture. … Having made America a bilingual-bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws.”
    — Richard Lamm, 2000, speech at FAIR conference, now FAIR board of advisers co-chair
    “New cultures … [in the U.S. are] diluting what we are and who we are.”
    — Richard Lamm, 2004
    “I am sick and tired of all the white bashing that goes on through the use of political correctness as an indoctrinating tool.”
    — Joe Turner, 2005, now FAIR western field representative
    “I am sick and tired of multiculturalism, meaning, let’s celebrate every culture as long as it isn’t a European/white culture. … [J]ust because one believes in white separatism that does not make them a racist.”
    — Joe Turner, 2005
    “It is clear that there is a ‘fifth column’ movement in the United States that professes greater allegiance to a greater Mexico or a breakaway, separatist movement based on a Latino homeland, despite the efforts of Latino politicians to dismiss it as a quixotic idea of rambunctious Latino youth, largely on university campuses.”
    — FAIR website, 2005
    “The large influx of immigrants from Mexico … differs in important ways from the traditional immigration model… . [T]he United States has no historic precedent of large numbers of people coming to this country who could argue that they were returning to a country that was once theirs. … Further complicating the picture is the fact that due to many social factors — particularly low educational achievement — this unprecedented group of immigrants is entering American society at the very bottom of the socio-economic ladder… . This reality breeds the kind of resentment and alienation that makes them susceptible to the siren songs of radical activists.”
    — FAIR website, 2005
    “The hierarchy from the Pope down has from time to time acknowledged the right of sovereign states to control their borders. But the numerous conditions the churchmen have invoked would seriously vitiate this right. … [Catholic bishops apparently] would like to condition this sovereign prerogative of states right out of existence.”
    — FAIR website, 2006
    “Far from being the agenda of a kooky fringe element, the idea of reconquest of the American Southwest and the creation of an Aztlan nation, was prominently displayed by millions of illegal aliens all across the United States as they marched earlier this year to demand amnesty.”
    — FAIR’s website, 2006
    “Last week, President Bush met with Mexican President Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Harper … to hone their plan for a North American Union that would merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. … FAIR has been exposing the short-sighted Bush plan to eventually erase the border between the U.S. and Mexico … and American sovereignty since 2000.”
    — FAIR E-mail to supporters, 2007
    “Every illegal alien is a person whose true identity has never been verified and therefore an illegal alien may be a terrorist or violent felon. I will say with a great degree of confidence that had [the 9/11 terrorists] not had driver’s licenses, my son and 3,000 other people would be alive today.”
    — Peter Gadiel, 2007, former FAIR board member
    ~~~~~~~
    Here is more info an where all the hate you have against Hispanics starts.
    http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=180

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