Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Immigration / Kotz / Legislature / Politics Can Tennessee Republicans Really Court Mexicans?
Posted by Pete Kotz on Wed, May 6, 2009 at 5:21 AM
It seems the party has discovered that Mexicans are more than illegal sponges who steal all our jobs and white women. They also vote. So Republicans have been gearing up their rhetoric in hope of attracting the brown horde to their broad tent.
Is it going to work? Naaah.
I have this theory that immigrants are smarter -- or at least have more street smarts -- than the rest of us. It takes a bit of savvy to come to a new land and set up life when you're confronted with economic and language barriers. They are, in many ways, a superior form of human. So why would they throw in with the Republicans?
People like Hobbs may be reaching out, but for every step forward he takes, he's knocked two steps back by his party's goober faction, which can't stop yammering about the illegal menace. Throw in Brian Kelsey's call to reject stimulus money, and the GOP's general disinterest in everything from labor protection to the social safety net, and there's not a lot there for people climbing from the bottom of the ladder.
You can understand why fundamentalists readily throw in. They'll overlook their economic interests for the GOP's constant drumbeat on Godliness. But the Mexicans? They're a few steps up on the evolutionary scale, and will require more sophisticated arguments if the con is to be on.
Comments (9)
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The GOP has been saying for years that their message of social conservatism is appealing for Latinos who are Catholic, macho, anti-gay, and all the rest. What the GOP overlooks is, so are blacks, aside from the Catholic part. And they have no interest in their party. The GOP has been successful in getting whites to overlook their economic self-interest (just read the book What's The Matter With Kansas). But no one else is falling for it, and even whites are starting to jump off that wagon. But what's really ironic about the whole thing is, the Bush people really worked hard for the Latino vote and they were making progress with a message that was less social conservative and more economic self-sufficient. Then the right-wing echo chamber started targeting Latinos for all the nations ills and they turned their backs on the GOP. Now Bill Hobbs wants the Mexicans to know the Republicans love Cinco De Mayo and he things that will fix everything?
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I think they're also really overestimating their attraction to Catholics. During the last election, Obama took every state with a significant Catholic population.
I am a socially liberal and a fiscally moderate independent Latino. However, I come from a very conservative family. One thing I have found to be true is that white conservatives looking for Latino votes often do so late in the game and pander exclusively towards the Catholic social conservatism that structures much of the Latino political culture.
Bush began to make some progress for the GOP party in focusing on, as Chris1974 points out, economic self-sufficiency. Many Latinos in my family felt as though Bush and his administration regarded Latinos as a vital piece of, not only Americana, but America.
The GOP, has since forgotten Latinos in general. This message from the TN GOP is fairly offensive. They ignore and even decry the abuses of Latinos (they say illegal immigrants, but often end up functionally lumping all Latinos into that category) on the state economic landscape, as if Latinos are to blame for system wide failures (e.g. health care). Then, they send out a press release on Cinco De Mayo saying they join Mexican Americans in celebrating their heritage. I find it offensive.
On the other hand, the Democratic party hasn't done much either to raise the voice of the Latino. I hope Obama can do more of this, and I am very disappointed there has been no condemnation by the White House of loud and vocal blame placed on Latinos for H1N1. The blame is one thing, but as mentioned above the message in this polarizing political climate often functionally takes on the form of general disapproval of mere presence. This especially seems to be more apparent in the South, and sadly TN is on the fore front.
Thanks for posting this Pete.
Clearly, thinking isn't Kotz' strong suit: "Mexicans" can't (legally) vote in the U.S. (except for Dems). And, Kotz can't even get his talking points straight: what Dems usually do is pretend that the GOP can get enough of the Hispanicvote in order to remain competitive, knowing full well that the Dems will always be able to out-pander them. And, the GOP is dumb enough to do their part, such as by pandering to far-left racial power groups that don't support our laws and in some cases our southern border.
All money, Pablo, though I would defend the White House about not denouncing the people blaming swine flu on the Mexicans. These are the same nuts who yammer about different nut stuff every day of the week. You'd need to hire about 18 guys just to keep track of and denounce all their nut claims. Even in a depression, it might be hard to find people to fill those jobs.
24AheadDotCom,
I think you are taking Pete literally when he says Mexicans. He means Mexican-Americans. And Latinos on the whole aren't voting Democrat because the Dems are out-pandering the GOP. I'm married to a non-Mexican Latina, and believe me, the immigration debate has more to do with the toxicity of the Republican brand than anything, by far. And my wife has never been illegal in this country, has a post-graduate degree, and still found the whole debate insulting.
