The GOP's Big Hispanic Problem

It's the economy stupid, not just illegal immigration.
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Construction, leisure services, and certain aspects of manufacturing were obliterated along with the economy. Hispanics were also big victims of subprime/credit card schemes, with the likes of BoA pimping outrageous loans for quinceañeras. They lost homes too.
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The Republicans blew the dialogue on undocumented workers, but the idea that Hispanics are a mindless Borg reacting solely to immigration issues is ignorant, maybe even closet-racist.

Looking at this from the other direction, who is the most influential pro Hispanic person in the republican party?
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McCain? No muscle left, and pretty disliked to start with.
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Bush? No one in listens to him anymore.
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I can't think of anyone besides those two.

I think that the pro-business and bigotry driven bases collided in this one.
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They're still untangling that mess.

sg, The Corner will NEVER give up the fight. They love playing the victim card too much after they are called racist.

PNNTO
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It is Jeb Bush without question. Dont forget that his wife is hispanic and he speaks fluent spanish. If he hand not stupidly gotten involved with the Terri Schiavo situation here in Tampa I think he would have been the Republican nominee in 2012. I don't think he wants to go for the presidency at this point though. But he had HUGE support among hispanics and latinos here in florida

Olè.

To return to my first contention, the problem with the Hispanic vote is a subset of a larger prolem. To wit:
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1. The shift in voting for Hispanics is around 3 million voters.
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2. I think it is safe to say that the Black electorate is comprised of about 30 - 40% conservative voters but who won't vote GOP because of their history since 1970 (keeping it traditionally between 7 - 13%) and the recent conduct during this last election (pushing those numbers below 4%).
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3. The benefit of understanding this would net the GOP between 6 and 8 million voters - a fact that people like MS relentlessly ignore!

WWLDD?
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As long as Hannity, Rush, and especially Lou Dobbs draw breath, the Republicans will never win over the non-Cuban Hispanic vote. Moreso the latter two than the former; though I'm sure Hannity has it in him to be that myopic and pas5ive-aggressively racist.
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The struggle within the GOP isn't just defining a core belief; its being able to adapt and change while being totally hamstrung by its most vocal and effective loudspeakers.
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If there is some good news, however, its that these guys are no strangers to being bold hypocrites when it suits them. (For example: Jamie-Lynn Spears' pregnancy is shameful to her and is a failure of her parents; Bristol Palin's pregnancy is a testimony to her strong moral upbringing and a courageous decision) That plus the millions of dollars of ad money and the growing demographic may provide enough impetus--never underestimate the power of greed.

sg, being out of office and with that last name is Jeb the most " influential" pro Hispanic republican? I'm not disagreeing but that really says something about the republicans.
The single genuinely decent thing about Bush, to me, was his sincerity on immigration. His party would have none of it.

sg:
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Do you think that there was an "Elian Gonzalaz" effect there too, that eventually wore off?

sgw--Jeb might have been presidential material, if not for his brother.
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America will NOT elect another bush for at least another decade. Flirting with an 80% disapproval rating and having arguably the worst presidential administration in over a century doesn't help ingratiate the fam with the electorate.

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53_3 "I think it is safe to say that the Black electorate is comprised of about 30 - 40% conservative voters"
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Conservative how?

The single genuinely decent thing about Bush, to me, was his sincerity on immigration.

Or a massive red flag indicating Big Businesses' desires to keep the highly profitable Hispanic slave labor trade going, whether or not TEH BASE agrees.

If Bush was such a wonderful fellow, he'd, for example, give legal immigrants suffering under the unfair H1-B visa amnesty along with those illegally here. But alas, he is not.

@Paul Bush's immigration policy was, generally, one of the (only) two things I admired about him. The other has been his approach to the HIV epidemic in Africa. As a humanitarian (there... and ONLY there) Bush has done some absolutely amazing things. I think he deserves props for that, just like he deserves all the stuff that's thrown at him for everything else

PNNTO
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Dont forget that most folks thought Jeb would be the one running for president. Or should I say most folks thought that Jebe SHOULD have been the one running for office. He ran a tight ship down here especially when we were facing hurricanes. I hate to put it in these terms but him marrying a hispanic woman and having a mixed family was also part of his appeal. As soon as the election was over on tuesday I started hearing his name pop up in the conversations about rebuilding the brand. The problem of course is where as with McCain you had to try your best to link him to Bush's policies, you wouldnt have to try very hard to tie Jeb to his brother. But he still maintains quite a bit of prestige and power behind the scenes and I hear he is a GREAT fundraiser. But like you said it does say a lot about the state of the GOP. Now Mel Martinez has strong hispanic support but thats for obvious reasons.
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53_3
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The Elian Gonzalaz thing wore off long ago. Even though it SEEMED like it divided a lot of people, from my observation it wasnt as big of a deal as it was made out to be. Last I heard Elian was doing well in Cuba by the way

Elections are dynamic, not static. Eight years from now, the economy could be booming and the immigration situation stabilized. The issues of the day could be abortion and education. A Catholic pro-life, and pro-voucher hispanic electorate could return to the GOP in Reagan or greater numbers. Things change. Realignments realign.

[...] Scherer has a post at the Time blog about the GOP’s Hispanic problem.  But the truth is that the problem for the GOP isn’t limited to Hispanics, it covers the [...]

deathbypapers,
Good point about the work and funding to Africa for HIV.
I could understand Bush's "sensitivity" to immigration because of his time in Texas but I never could figure out why he cared about HIV in Africa.

PNNTO
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Many black people are social coservatives who are pro life and have strict religious principles. More than you think are also fiscal conservatives as well. But a lot of those people just don't think the Republican party is the right place for them. My dad is about as conservative as you can be but you better not EVER call him a Republican. Fisticuffs are sure to ensue!

PNNTO:
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There are many Black voters who believe one or more of the GOP planks, but don't agree with how to implement them. Very big in the Black community is self reliance, responsibility, and good parenting. The Million Man march is a hint, and the 70-30 split for prop 8 is another one.
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I don't agree with that, and I think it is shortsighted, but it is a good, and the result, though I didn't anticipate it, is not a surprise to me. In addition Christianity drives some of this, too. There are many who hold strong conservative Christian values (the previous was an example of it).
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The spectrum of Black voters is really astonishing, once one delves much more deeply into the Black community.
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State's rights is a good example of misaapplied conservatism. Obviously, this is the "kitchen knife on the table" after the murder. This has been used as a surrogate for smaller government, but the problems with this is the legal structure. A federal law should be supreior to a state law which is superior to a local law. Right now, that's not the way we are legally constructed, and had that been the real legal framework, Jim Crow laws would have been struck down every time they were passed.

The other has been his approach to the HIV epidemic in Africa. As a humanitarian (there... and ONLY there) Bush has done some absolutely amazing things. I think he deserves props for that, just like he deserves all the stuff that's thrown at him for everything else.
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Heh, it's amazing how the slightest whiff of progressivism and charity gets some of you to fall for even Bush's shenanigans.
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http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber07112003.html
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Let's not mention either Bush's scheme to create a market for frankenfoods in Africa, disguised as "food aid".
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"More than you think are also fiscal conservatives as well But a lot of those people just don't think the Republican party is the right place for them"
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I'd be hard pressed to find a fiscal conservative in todays the republican party.

pourme
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Thats true but somethings arent so easily forgotten and when you have right wingers spewing a constant stream of venom at hispanics under the guise of being upset about immigration laws those words are going to stick for quite a while. See its not just the hisbpanics that are in this country illegal that get affected by those crass words. Its also the people of hispanic heritage who were born and raised in this country but still get dirty looks in their direction because of the atmosphere that has been created by wing nut radio. I just don't see the trend changing anytimme soon UNLESS the Dems nominate an azzhole who does the same thing. I would hope we wouldnt be that stupid ever

Damm! Can't say 'pa$$3ed'!
PNNTO:
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There are many Black voters who believe one or more of the GOP planks, but don't agree with how to implement them. Very big in the Black community is self reliance, responsibility, and good parenting. The Million Man march is a hint, and the 70-30 split for prop 8 is another one.
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I don't agree with that, and I think it is shortsighted, but it is a good, and the result, though I didn't anticipate it, is not a surprise to me. In addition Christianity drives some of this, too. There are many who hold strong conservative Christian values (the previous was an example of it).
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The spectrum of Black voters is really astonishing, once one delves much more deeply into the Black community.
.
State's rights is a good example of misaapplied conservatism. Obviously, this is the "kitchen knife on the table" after the murder. This has been used as a surrogate for smaller government, but the problems with this is the legal structure. A federal law should be supreior to a state law which is superior to a local law. Right now, that's not the way we are legally constructed, and had that been the real legal framework, Jim Crow laws would have been struck down every time they were pa$$ed.