McCain: Without Hispanic Voters, GOP In "Very, Very Deep Hole"

[daniel green]

"On the issue of the Hispanic voter, we have to do a lot more. We Republicans have to recruit and elect Hispanics to office," McCain told CNN's State of Union. "And I don't mean just because they're Hispanics, but they represent a big part of the growing population in America. And we have a lot of work to do there. And I am of the belief that unless we reverse the trend of Hispanic voter registration, we have a very, very deep hole that we've got to come out of."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/02/mccain-without-hispanic-v_n_249488.html

[Lady_Jean_La]

Obviously. imo

[watcher2005]

People still listen to a guy who talked about $50 an hour lettuce picking jobs in Yuma?

[Mimi428]

Thanks for the link, DG. Much appreciated.

I think McCain is right in his assessment, but I do not know how he or others in the GOP are going to reverse the view that the GOP is uninterested & downright antagonistic towards lots of folks, Hispanics included.

The GOP opposed Sotomayor & a whole lot of the reasons that were given sounded like they were against her simply because she was Hispanic. The GOP is again becoming more & more associated in the minds of many with the resurgence of some very disturbing hate groups & the increase in their activities. People surely aren't going to believe that the Holocaust shooter, for example, was a Democrat.

When you have the likes of Fox News, Limbaugh, Palin & others associated with the GOP consistently spouting off about how "this" person or "that" group isn't a "real" American, or not "one of us" - it can't be surprising that all sorts of folks view the GOP as being decidedly unfriendly & unsupportive of those who aren't lily white & who don't subscribe to a very strict, fundamentalist sort of 'Christian' religion.

JMO

[Lady_Jean_La]

What you said. MO
That and what Janet Reno did won't soon be forgotten. imo

[Lady_Jean_La]

But in spite of decades of GOP power, Roe v Wade still stands. The GOP failed to deliver what the religious right was looking for. Why?

Because their real agenda was to concentrate power and money in the hands of the corporate elite.

So now they are going to pander to the "hispanics vote"?

How can the GOP pander to the Hispanics?

[ABC]

How can the GOP pander to the Hispanics?
Good article can be googled "Hispanic Immigrants turning to Evangelical Religion". That can only help the GOP. Hispanics work VERY Very hard and are basically fiscal conservatives, in my opinion.

[Mimi428]

But in spite of decades of GOP power, Roe v Wade still stands. The GOP failed to deliver what the religious right was looking for. Why?

Because their real agenda was to concentrate power and money in the hands of the corporate elite.

So now they are going to pander to the "hispanics vote"?

Very good points. Until the election of Barack Obama, I think the GOP had a somewhat easier time of it in convincing the people who are inherently conservative when it comes to spending & government influence in our lives that they would be represented best by voting for the GOP candidates. They were convincing enough that they got a whole slew of folks who repeatedly voted against their own economic interests.

But we did elect Obama & the current economic condition of the country is not good. Those who voted GOP based on their perception that they were the more 'moral' of the two major parties had to deal with the questions of exactly how 'moral' is it for corporations to continue to collect 'welfare' while individuals & families are suffering financially.

We all saw how quickly the hateful rhetoric was started by the worst of the extreme-right fringe groups against the DEMOCRATIC candidate. Lots of good Republicans found out that joining them in voting for McCain were some decidedly nasty folks with deep-seated, extreme prejudices.

I read an article just the other day about the quandry the conservative intellectuals in the GOP have found themselves in. Instead of being thought of as the party with deep principles about the wisdom of small government & fiscal restraint, they are now perceived to be the party of the ANTI-intellectuals - the Palins & Joe-the-Plumbers.

I don't know what the GOP can do at this particular point to ameliorate the perception that there are a whole slew of folks voting Republican who are most decidedly full of hateful beliefs. I know the people I am personally acquainted with who typically vote Republican were upset & downright horrified to witness the tactics played out during the McCain campaign via Palin of exhorting folks to vote against the Dem candidate because he was "not one of us". Who can forget the struggle McCain himself demonstrated - when he had to go completely off the message he wanted to deliver because he had to address those in the audience who were practically in a frenzy with their shouts of how Obama was a "terrrorist", etc.?

Can anyone else recall another election in which the candidate for one party had to try to quash the hate speech emanating from his own supporters & convince those who were going to vote for him to stop slandering his opponent? I can't.

[Mimi428]

Don't know what website you got that off of.

<snipped>

What do you refer to? The article I recently read? The part about the despair of the conservative intellectuals was from a Newsweek article - link here...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/206098

Why the GOP is falling out of love with gun-toting, churchgoing, working-class whites.

But beneath the surface, some Republicans have been chafing at the ideological wages of right-wing populism. In intel-lectual circles, writers like David Brooks and Richard Brookhiser have argued for a conservatism inspired by Alexander Hamilton, the least democratic of the Founding Fathers, over one spiritually rooted in Thomas Jefferson, the most democratic. After Barack Obama's victory, you heard thinkers like author and federal judge Richard Posner lamenting on his blog that "the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party."

This is the original source.

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2009/05/is_the_conserva.html

My theme is the intellectual decline of conservatism, and it is notable that the policies of the new conservatism are powered largely by emotion and religion and have for the most part weak intellectual groundings. That the policies are weak in conception, have largely failed in execution, and are political flops is therefore unsurprising. The major blows to conservatism, culminating in the election and programs of Obama, have been fourfold: the failure of military force to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives; the inanity of trying to substitute will for intellect, as in the denial of global warming, the use of religious criteria in the selection of public officials, the neglect of management and expertise in government; a continued preoccupation with abortion; and fiscal incontinence in the form of massive budget deficits, the Medicare drug plan, excessive foreign borrowing, and asset-price inflation.

By the fall of 2008, the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party.

[Mimi428]

So you identified your hateful Leftist Sources!

Posner is a 'hateful leftist'?

You must be kidding.

Here's another one - I'm guessing this one won't suit you either.

http://progressiverepublican.info/2009/07/11/conservative-implosion/

Conservative Implosion

Progressive Republicans had been on the decline for years with no seemingly no ability to halt the continuing march rightward...

The era of the ever powerful and growing conservative republican seems to be in the middle of a steady if not dramatic collapse...

...unless rick Perry actually pushes for secession and Cornyn allows the economy to completely collapse, the fringe that these political figures and others have become bedfellows with will not be satisfied. In fact, one can see the contradictory element in this for any government leaders allied with these people; how can they serve those who hate the very institution they work at and who hate the very basis of who they are as politicians. With only an elementary view of logic anyone can see how it would lead to this, and now those who helped create this powerful, potent but ultimately self destroying beast now are starting to understand and no doubt feel the consequences.

[RedSocksFan]

The Dems are on record (or at least one of them) as opposing Estrada because he was a Latino.

The rest of your post is not really worth commenting on, IMO.

:smile:

Thank you for saying that. Many forgot that it was the Republicans who first nominated a Hispanic for the supreme court. Funny how they can twist things now and claim it's about race. Well, for them maybe it is all about that, but for the GOP, it's about issues. Too bad the Dems don't get it.

[Dovey]

It will be the same old same old, blame the past. Forget the past and move on and try to improve the economy and the lost jobs. It's been going in a downward slide and ya can't blame that on the past as it is now the present.

[Dovey]

Thank you for saying that. Many forgot that it was the Republicans who first nominated a Hispanic for the supreme court. Funny how they can twist things now and claim it's about race. Well, for them maybe it is all about that, but for the GOP, it's about issues. Too bad the Dems don't get it.

Isn't it about what is good and not what was in the past? It amazes me how so many look only at negative pasts and faults but never can offer the future as a positive solution.

[Brat2002]

Isn't it about what is good and not what was in the past? It amazes me how so many look only at negative pasts and faults but never can offer the future as a positive solution.

Sometimes it's a matter of giving credit where it's due. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. The left are the ones who divide people into groups. The right looks at the ideology of each person. When talking about a judge, of course the right will reject someone who seems clearly leftwing. It isn't about race and never was. It's about experience and qualifications. But if all one party can see is color, then it makes it difficult to get down to the issues or the solutions.

There are times when you must look at history, and learn from it. For instance, socialism has been a miserable failure each time it's been tried. We must look back sometimes. Both parties have had failed polices in the past and we can't forget them. We must learn from them lest we repeat the same mistakes. I can understand not continuing to blame those in the past for the current situation. Plenty of blame to go around to both parties. But in the present, we are seeing things get worse by the day and we have two parties with vastly different ideas of what to do and not do. The Dems are in complete contol and things are not getting better. That's a fact. They can't blame it on the other party completely and take no credit for all they've done to contribute. Right now, I don't think they are listening to anyone else and even if someone comes up with a viable solution, it won't be considered if it doesn't fit with the liberal agenda. I see them as power hungry and bent on getting all their age-old ideas on the table. They see their chance to take the country to the left and won't tolerate anyone standing in their way.

Even their constituents are protesting them at town hall meetings. Their reaction was predictable. They called the constituents mobs and ignored the message they were sending.

The Dems are at the helm right now and should answer to the people. I think the poll numbers are showing just how upset people are that this isn't happening.

The Republicans are in no position to stop things or have much of an effect. Of course, they will get the blame and continue to be called the party of no, but it's the Dems who aren't agreeing on things. Look at the healthcare bill. It's the lack of support within their own party which delayed the vote. I'm glad we got a bit of a reprieve and hope that it can be stopped. That delay is what the public needed to become informed about what they are planning, though I suspect it's changing all the time. They need to look back and realize the dangers of passing bills unread and thinking they can get things passed and work the bugs out later. I think it would be a total disaster and the much smaller program, Cash for Clunkers, showed us exactly how inefficient the government is at handling things. The stimulus has not stimulated anything and is also a huge mess.

We were promised transparency and an opportunity to learn what is in the bills before we are forced to live with them. I'm not holding my breath.

This administration is doing things at lightning speed. I can't help but think it's because they realize they have a short window of opportunity. 4 years goes by fast, especially when it will be time halfway through to start campaigning again. And some congress members might be worried about getting the boot so they seem to be trying to shove as much through now before they are thrown out.

IMO

[magythekat]

Sometimes it's a matter of giving credit where it's due. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. The left are the ones who divide people into groups. The right looks at the ideology of each person. When talking about a judge, of course the right will reject someone who seems clearly leftwing. It isn't about race and never was. It's about experience and qualifications. But if all one party can see is color, then it makes it difficult to get down to the issues or the solutions.

There are times when you must look at history, and learn from it. For instance, socialism has been a miserable failure each time it's been tried. We must look back sometimes. Both parties have had failed polices in the past and we can't forget them. We must learn from them lest we repeat the same mistakes. I can understand not continuing to blame those in the past for the current situation. Plenty of blame to go around to both parties. But in the present, we are seeing things get worse by the day and we have two parties with vastly different ideas of what to do and not do. The Dems are in complete contol and things are not getting better. That's a fact. They can't blame it on the other party completely and take no credit for all they've done to contribute. Right now, I don't think they are listening to anyone else and even if someone comes up with a viable solution, it won't be considered if it doesn't fit with the liberal agenda. I see them as power hungry and bent on getting all their age-old ideas on the table. They see their chance to take the country to the left and won't tolerate anyone standing in their way.

Even their constituents are protesting them at town hall meetings. Their reaction was predictable. They called the constituents mobs and ignored the message they were sending.

The Dems are at the helm right now and should answer to the people. I think the poll numbers are showing just how upset people are that this isn't happening.

The Republicans are in no position to stop things or have much of an effect. Of course, they will get the blame and continue to be called the party of no, but it's the Dems who aren't agreeing on things. Look at the healthcare bill. It's the lack of support within their own party which delayed the vote. I'm glad we got a bit of a reprieve and hope that it can be stopped. That delay is what the public needed to become informed about what they are planning, though I suspect it's changing all the time. They need to look back and realize the dangers of passing bills unread and thinking they can get things passed and work the bugs out later. I think it would be a total disaster and the much smaller program, Cash for Clunkers, showed us exactly how inefficient the government is at handling things. The stimulus has not stimulated anything and is also a huge mess.

We were promised transparency and an opportunity to learn what is in the bills before we are forced to live with them. I'm not holding my breath.

This administration is doing things at lightning speed. I can't help but think it's because they realize they have a short window of opportunity. 4 years goes by fast, especially when it will be time halfway through to start campaigning again. And some congress members might be worried about getting the boot so they seem to be trying to shove as much through now before they are thrown out.

IMO

Terrific post...IMO, you win the post of the month. :smile:
I have many liberal friends, so the liberal slant we see on here is not a
good example of what liberals are really thinking. We are all worried and confused about what will happen next. So many campaign promises made to sound good, but not being carried out...so much rush to complete their agenda without the people really knowing what the end results will be. I'm all for Health Ins. Reform and controlled to some extent..but my gosh....to have the gov run the whole thing scares me to death. Oh well, it is what it is, and I guess we'll live through it.:ohmy:

[MiamiNice1]

What is with all the insults today? Full moon? Rhiannon, Brentwood and Koola50 - your posts are despicably and needlessly insulting. This thread is NOT about calling the GOP "big time racists" or "disliking non-whites" or "suddenly tolerant" or "split personalities posting." How about you stop the bashing and stick to the topic?

imo

[Brentwood]

This is a real problem for the gop. Don't pretend it isn't. The gop racist stuff is spewing all over the place.

Audra Shay: New GOP "Racist" Headache On Facebook

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/06/audra-shay-new-gop-racist_n_226058.html

Also, I was quite irritated when they made race an issue with Sotomayor....ARGGGGG!

[Adalena935]

This administration is doing things at lightning speed. I can't help but think it's because they realize they have a short window of opportunity. 4 years goes by fast, especially when it will be time halfway through to start campaigning again. And some congress members might be worried about getting the boot so they seem to be trying to shove as much through now before they are thrown out.
IMO

snip> Enjoyed reading your post. I've had the same impression.

[Barbara2]

<snipped>

Also, I was quite irritated when they made race an issue with Sotomayor....ARGGGGG!

Sotomayor made race an issue with Sotomayor. IMO

[Brentwood]

Some are missing my point. First let me say that I think it is important that we have a 2-party (or more) system to balance things out.

The problem is, imo, the gop is catering to the far right wing and are not doing what is right. As long as they keep this up, there is no way in heck they will recover, imo.

I wish the repubs of old would take their party back.

JMO

[Adalena935]

Since 1945 there have been 12 presidents. 6 democrats & 6 republicans. It's no guarantee that trend will continue but there's no indication it won't.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

Harry Truman - D
Dwight Eisenhower - R
John Kennedy - D
Lyndon Johnson - D
Richard Nixon - R
Gerald Ford - R
James Carter - D
Ronald Reagan - R
George H. W. Bush - R
William Jefferson Clinton - D
George W. Bush - R
Barack Obama - D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

All U.S. Presidents by political party affiliation.

[Barbara2]

Since 1945 there have been 12 presidents. 6 democrats & 6 republicans. It's no guarantee that trend will continue but there's no indication it won't.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

Harry Truman - D
Dwight Eisenhower - R
John Kennedy - D
Lyndon Johnson - D
Richard Nixon - R
Gerald Ford - R
James Carter - D
Ronald Reagan - R
George H. W. Bush - R
William Jefferson Clinton - D
George W. Bush - R
Barack Obama - D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

All U.S. Presidents by political party affiliation.

The time is ripe for a third party if they can become a "not politics as usual party". I'm ready to vote them ALL out!

[daniel green]

I don't know what the GOP can do at this particular point to ameliorate the perception that there are a whole slew of folks voting Republican who are most decidedly full of hateful beliefs. I know the people I am personally acquainted with who typically vote Republican were upset & downright horrified to witness the tactics played out during the McCain campaign via Palin of exhorting folks to vote against the Dem candidate because he was "not one of us". Who can forget the struggle McCain himself demonstrated - when he had to go completely off the message he wanted to deliver because he had to address those in the audience who were practically in a frenzy with their shouts of how Obama was a "terrrorist", etc.?

snipped.

Powerful post, Mimi.

Thank you.

[Mimi428]

This is a real problem for the gop. Don't pretend it isn't. The gop racist stuff is spewing all over the place.

<snipped>
I know far too many Republicans who certainly are not racists or members of hate groups. But racists ARE voting Republican & supporting Republican candidates. It may be helpful on the individual level for one Republican or another to avow that they do not hold racist beliefs - but it does not do enough to help the GOP as a whole. They can't shed the image when the majority of the hate groups are voting for their candidates.

And yes, I DO recognize that there are extremist groups with hateful beliefs whose members are not white/Caucasian - but their numbers do not come close to the numbers present in the white supremacist groups, the neo-Nazis, the 'Storm Front' bunch, the Aryan Brotherhood/Nation, etc.

CNN ran a good article about this back in February - link here...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/26/hate.groups.report/index.html

Don Black said he despises Barack Obama. And he said he believes illegal aliens undermine the economic fabric of the United States.

What makes this year's report (from the Southern Poverty Law Center)different is that hate groups have found two more things to be angry about -- the nation's first African-American president and an economy that is hemorrhaging jobs. For the past decade, Latino immigration has fueled the growth of hate groups.

Black claims the number of registered members and readers on his white nationalist Web site surged to unprecedented levels in recent months.

On the day after Obama's historic election, more than 2,000 people joined his Web site, a remarkable increase from the approximately 80 new members a day he was getting, Black said. His Web site, which was started in 1995, is one of the oldest and largest hate group sites. The site received so many hits that it crashed after election results were announced. The site boasts 110,000 registered members today, Black said.

How is the GOP going to attract Hispanics when the anti-immigration groups behave badly towards ALL Hispanics, not just those who are here illegally? I don't think they will be able to attract many at all.

JMO

[Mimi428]

MSNBC also has been covering this - this was written less than a month ago...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30876593/

Last month the Department of Homeland Security issued a report on the expansion of right wing extremist groups, saying those organizations are being fueled by the economic downturn and the election of Barack Obama.

Some groups, like the NSM, blame immigrants for the scarcity of available jobs.

The immigration backlash has led to a surge in hate crimes against Hispanics, up 40 percent between 2003 and 2007, according to FBI statistics.

Again - it isn't a matter of all Republicans being part of hate groups - it is that the hate groups are voting for Republicans.

JMO

[February]

News flash for McCain. It isn't the loss of hispanic votes that put the GOP in the deep hole.

[watcher2005]

...

Again - it isn't a matter of all Republicans being part of hate groups - it is that the hate groups are voting for Republicans.

JMO

How many "hate group" poster boys or "terrorist cells" or provacateurs have turned out to be paid FBI informants or the like? Is there a list of that? Is it zero, more than one? How many?

What did we learn from McCarthy, the Church Committee hearings, or under COINTELPRO?

Why was the last administration interested in Quakers? Why were bicycle riders targets of suspicion?

Why are certain perfectly valid political questions listed along with unrelated questionable organizations to get a credibility reaction much like episodes of Star Trek? Of Course, Captain, you are familiar with the carnivorous nature of the Venus Fly Trap of Earth, the Regulan Slime Devil, and the infamous bore worms of Antarres II?

Hint, the common thread isn't one ideology or another... it's any speach of interest to the commoners must be marginalized by the elite. Only controlled opposition, and top down messages are freely distributable.

If the masses are suspicious of each other-- that's just fine with some. If we start looking together towards the guys standing behind the curtain...

[daniel green]

With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a "white voter" strategy. To some extent, it's working. The party's opposition to President Obama's agenda -- particularly his cap-and-trade energy proposal and health care reform plan -- is resonating strongly with disaffected white Democratic voters. Republican grievances about Obama, combined with race-baiting commentary from the far-right ideologues who have become some of the most dominant voices of the modern GOP, have led to a precipitous drop in the president's approval ratings among whites. It's all very reminiscent of the party's notorious Southern Strategy, which carried the GOP for decades. But that strategy backfired spectacularly in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and there's no reason to think it will work any better in 2010 -- especially given the ever-growing importance of the minority electorate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/04/for-the-modern-gop-its-a_n_250560.html

[watcher2005]

Since 1945 there have been 12 presidents. 6 democrats & 6 republicans. It's no guarantee that trend will continue but there's no indication it won't.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

Harry Truman - D
Dwight Eisenhower - R
John Kennedy - D
Lyndon Johnson - D
Richard Nixon - R
Gerald Ford - R
James Carter - D
Ronald Reagan - R
George H. W. Bush - R
William Jefferson Clinton - D
George W. Bush - R
Barack Obama - D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

All U.S. Presidents by political party affiliation.


I'm reminded of the old coin toss program from the classic Basic Basic book.

[uncannie]

News flash for McCain. It isn't the loss of hispanic votes that put the GOP in the deep hole.


It's the loss of moderates, independents, and minority groups, too.

It's the incredibly shrinking party.

Soon it's going to be time to fill in the hole.

Maybe Palin can give the eulogy for the party she helped destroy.

[daniel green]

Olympia Snowe said today that her Republican colleagues' pending "no" votes on Sonia Sotomayor raise "a serious concern" about alienating their Hispanic constituencies. The Maine moderate was among the first GOP lawmakers to say she would vote yes, joining Mel Martinez of Florida and Richard Lugar of Indiana on July 17. Snowe told reporters that voting for Sotomayor "would have certainly been an avenue for appealing to the Hispanic community, where we did poorly in the last election. I think we can ill afford to lose their support in the future when we're attempting to rebuild the Republican Party nationally," she said.


http://ninthjustice.nationaljournal.com/2009/08/snowe-gop-colleagues-could-be.php

[Brentwood]

They are alienating their Hispanic constinuency. They cannot help themselves. They are X#$%%?>'s.

[franker01]

They are alienating their Hispanic constinuency. They cannot help themselves. They are X#$%%?>'s.

Seems that would make you happy!

What's the MB anger all about??

[ABC]

They are alienating their Hispanic constinuency. They cannot help themselves. They are X#$%%?>'s.
I think Judge Sonia is great and will be a fabulous addition to the court but we the "People" can not allow ourselves to be held hostage by any self interest group. That includes the Catholics, Evangelical, Irish, etc. If we want this great country to work, folks gotta forgo thier self interest for the good of the country. Its what makes it work.

[daniel green]

snipped If we want this great country to work, folks gotta forgo thier self interest for the good of the country. Its what makes it work.

Awesome post, ABC!

Thank you!