Ideology is the biggest Republican problem

By Frank Moraes

Kevin Drum has written another of those "Republicans need to be nice" articles over at Mother Jones, "The GOP's Immigration Problem Goes Way Beyond Immigration." He specifically discusses the small amount of movement from conservatives on immigration. Drum doesn't mention this, but it is amusing that conservatives are treating Latinos just like they claim liberals treat women. Throughout the campaign, they said that women cared about economics, not birth control. Well, now the conservatives are claiming that the only reason Latinos hate them is because they didn't support the Dream Act.

The truth is that the conservatives were always kind of right. Most of what people care about are economic issues. And birth control is an economic issue. Immigration is an economic issue. Being on the right side of these issues is not sufficient to get these groups' votes, but it is necessary. We need to applaud conservatives who make this small step forward, but I wonder if it will lead anywhere. I fear that they will instead reach a place where they just can't believe these Latinos want even more.

When I talk about what Latinos want, I'm talking about greater income equality. Drum, in his infinite villager wisdom, is talking about messaging. He quotes conservative fucktard Bernie "The liberal media are destroying America!" Goldberg, "There is a strain of bigotry -- and that's the word I want to use -- running through conservative America... That has to leave the conservative movement... I am sick of it." Drum follows up on this is a most poetic way: 

Like it or not, conservatives are going to need a much more thorough housecleaning if they want to survive in an increasingly diverse future. No more gratuitous ethnic mockery. No more pretense that reverse racism is the real racism. No more suggestions that minorities just want a handout. No more screeching about the incipient threat of Sharia law. No more saturation coverage of the pathetic New Black Panthers. No more complaining that blacks get to use the N word but whites don't...

And so on. It's good writing, but it misses the point. Conservatives don't talk this way for nothing. Goldberg is right: there are a lot of people who vote Republican because they are bigots. I'm not suggesting that there aren't racists in the Democratic Party. But they vote Democratic despite their bigotry, not because of it. And let's get real: given the Republican Party ran a "whites only" campaign this year, they aren't likely to abandon the racists in their party who are some of their strongest supporters. The party may tone done the rhetoric, but that's about all.

Of course, all of this talk of racism and the war on women misses the point. Even if the Republicans perfected all their pretty talk and convinced enough people to vote them into power, it would not last. Republican ideology is against everyone but the very rich. The democracy will only allow so much income inequality. After a certain point, the inequality is reduced or the democracy is destroyed. This is why the Republicans have been trying to suppress the vote. They know that in order to continue to be a dominant party they must either water down their ideology or our democracy. I don't see them working on their ideology any time soon.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

How does Romney pretend to be popular among Latinos?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Easy.

1) By threatening Univision and the University of Miami, which hosted the Univision forums with the two presidential candidates last week, saying he'd "reschedule" if his demands were not met.

2) Specifically, given that there weren't nearly enough supportive students to fill the hall, by demanding that the rule agreed to by the two campaigns that the forums be attended mostly by students be lifted in his case.

3) And so by being "allowed to bus in rowdy activists from around southern Florida in order to fill the extra seats at [his] town hall" while the president "stuck to the original parameters and allowed a large chunk of the tickets to be distributed to interested students on campus."

4) And by being able to do this because the university official "charged with coordinating the forums," Rudy Fernandez, is a member of Romney's Hispanic steering committee.

5) That is, by getting preferential treatment and making it seem as if he didn't.

Oh, yes, the Romney camp gloated with glee, the manipulated contrast "glaring enough to evoke some boasting from the Romney campaign in the immediate aftermath":

When the Republican took his place Wednesday night in the first of two back-to-back candidate forums televised on the mega-network, he was greeted by an adoring, raucous crowd that cheered his every word, and booed many of the moderators' questions. The next night, President Obama was treated to stone cold silence from the audience as he was aggressively grilled on his lackluster immigration record.

But of course the two crowds were different and so were bound to have different responses, what with this preferential treatment and breaking of rules, and, indeed, "Romney's non-student activists ignored instructions to hold their applause."

And so really "the enthusiasm gap" was "an optical illusion."

Which is hardly surprising -- and, indeed, the real enthusiasm gap is quite the reverse -- given that Obama is way ahead of Romney among Latinos, and given that Romney takes an extremist right-wing position on immigration and has called for, as he did at the forum, "self-deportation," hardly a popular position to take in that community.

And given that Romney's whole campaign is built upon dishonesty and deception.

Ann Romney woos Latino voters with the typical Romney mix of ignorance, entitlement, and douchebaggery

By Michael J.W. Stickings

By most accounts, it would seem that Ann Romney's pre-Christie speech on Tuesday went quite well, though, really, did anyone expect otherwise? She's a polished business/political wife and she now has a lot of experience trying to humanize her husband.

It went well? Big deal.

Then again, she's one-half of a rich douchebag couple -- she drives a couple o' Cadillacs, is really into dressage (a rich white person's "sport"), comes across as remarkably stuck up despite her various and ongoing attempts at modesty and humility, and refers to those beneath her, which she and Mitt see as pretty much everyone, as "you people."

So there was certainly ample opportunity for her sense of entitlement and privilege to come across in her speech, or at some point during the convention. And... well, it did, just a day after her supposed triumph:

Ann Romney's convention speech was directly aimed at wooing female voters, but at a lunch event Wednesday she changed her focus and pitched her husband to Hispanic voters, a voting bloc that is especially important in this battleground state, urging them to get past the "biases... from the Democratic machine."

Right, their biases. Like, you know, being against xenophobia and immigrant-baiting. Like being for the DREAM Act, addressing the issue of undocumented immigration with compassion, and being open to the idea of America as a land of opportunity for all, not just for the privileged (white) few.

Seriously, is Ann Romney so fucking clueless about the extremist right-wing -- and indeed outright nativist -- positions Republicans have taken on the very existence of Latinos in America?

It's not all about "small business," which Romney mentioned in her speech, as if Latinos are all small business owners -- again, what utter lack of understanding, what utter ignorance.

And then to suggest that she "know[s] what it’s like to be the daughter of immigrants" because her grandfather was a Welsh coalminer? Seriously? Nothing at all against Welsh coalminers, who had it rough, but that's completely ridiculous. (One of my grandfathers landed on the beaches on D-Day with the U.S. Army, while the other was a British bomber pilot. I know what it's like to fight the Germans!)

You know, if Mitt Romney were his own wife, he'd be just like Ann. They're perfect for each other.

Can Romney win in November with Latino support so low?

By Richard K. Barry

...but Romney can't.

It's true that national horse race numbers on the presidential election aren't moving that much and it gets somewhat boring reporting consecutive polls within the margin of error. But some numbers, particularly for specific constituencies, are very interesting.

Today Latino Decisions released a poll showing President Obama with 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney. To put that in perspective, Obama got 67% of the Latino vote compared to McCain's 31% in 2008 according to exit polls.

We know about Romney's problems on immigration issues and Obama's strength. But these are very impressive numbers for the president.

If you want to know how bad things could be for Romney, consider that 13% of self-identified Latino Republicans say they will cross over and vote for Obama. 60% of independents plan to vote for Obama.

As Steve Benen points out, "It's fair to say that even most Republican strategists believe Romney will have a difficult time winning the White House with Latino support this low."

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Hopelessly Misinformed Latinos for Romney (HMLR) -- Part 2

By Miguel

(I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message. Estoy Mitt Romney y apruebo este mensaje.)

Hola! My name is Miguel. You may remember me from my last message to Latino voters. Since then, things have changed for the better and I wanted to return once more and encourage all Latinos to vote for Señor Romney for President in 2012.

Recently, people have been saying that Mr. Romney has changed his position on immigration and that he is playing to the Latino base by walking back his original comments about sending us all back home. Mi amigos, this is nothing more than the liberal media trying to confuse you. Mr. Romney is a man of his word, and no matter what you may hear, he has not changed his stance. He still wants to help us.

Not too long ago, Mr. Romney said this:

Well, the answer is self-deportation... People decide that they could do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here.

Now, some people read this and think Mitt Romney does not support Latinos. This is wrong! In reality, Mr. Romney has big plans for latinos to do better... in our native homeland! If you read between the lines you see a man who wants to improve conditions outside the United States and bring prosperity to places that for centuries were nothing more than America's puta, a place worth less than the hourly wage of our hardworking children.

I see Mitt Romney for who he really is: an honest man who truly cares about Latinos and wants what is best for us. This is a man who has sent many of America's jobs to countries that truly needed the work. With a record like that, how can we not support him? I do not know how many of those jobs came to Tijuana, but from the looks of things down there we need a man like Mr. Romney to help put Mexicans back to work.

President Obama recently promised to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States without fear of deportation. But allowing us to stay indefinitely only prolongs the hardships that our families face back home. If more jobs stay in America, then our families back home continue to suffer. Mr. Romney has different plans. In this era of global economics, we need a leader who thinks outside of Washington and outside of the United States. We need Mitt Romney.

On election day, vote for a leader who will put us back to work globally and do for Mexico what he has already done for China. If you love your families and are proud of where you came from, then do what is right.

Vote Mitt! You won't be sorry.

Mitt Romney 2012 – A Better America.

Paid for by Hopelessly Misinformed Latinos for Romney.

**********

By tmcbpatriot (not Miguel, but close)

Politics continues to be political

By Richard K. Barry 

A new poll released on June 17, 2012 by Latino Decisions and America's Voice finds that Latino registered voters really like President Obama's recent announcement that he will "halt deportations and provide temporary work permits to some young undocumented immigrants":

Prior to June 15, 2012, many immigration reform advocates had stated that the record high levels of deportations of immigrants under the Obama administration was causing some Latinos to grow weary about the Obama re-election campaign. In a Latino Decisions/Univision News poll in early 2012, 53% of Latino voters said they were less enthusiastic about Obama in 2012 than they had been in 2009, while just 30% were more excited about the President. Overall, when asked what they thought about Obama’s deportation of 1.2 million immigrants, 41% of Latino voters said they were less enthusiastic about Obama, compared to 22% who were more enthusiastic, a net enthusiasm deficit of -19 points. The announcement on June 15 appears to have clearly erased Obama’s enthusiasm deficit among Latinos.

Repeat that last line: The announcement "appears to have clearly erased Obama's enthusiasm deficit among Latinos."

On Face the Nation over the weekend, Mitt Romney told Bob Schieffer that as for Obama's announcement, politics was "certainly a big part of the equation."

Isn't it interesting that Mitt Romney, a man who has changed so many of the political positions he once held to pander to a very conservative Republican Party, would sneer at anyone else for "being political."

That's politics. And, you're right, Mitt. Obama's announcement was political. Bazinga!

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)