Posted on 08/29/2012 6:04:55 AM PDT by SharpRightTurn
TAMPA, Fla. — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Tuesday said Republicans aren’t going to close the gap with Hispanic voters until they “stop acting stupid.”
Bush said many Hispanic voters share the GOP’s commitment to faith, family and small government but have been alienated from the party by exclusionary rhetoric on immigration. But that, he said, is finally changing.
“I promise you this is where the conservative cause is going, and thank God it is,” he said to cheers at a lunch sponsored by the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network.
The advantage that Democrats have with Hispanics is a principal concern of Mitt Romney’s campaign. The GOP standard-bearer badly trails President Obama among the voting bloc, and if the numbers don’t improve, it could cost him the swing states of Colorado, Florida and Nevada — and perhaps the entire election.
Republicans moved aggressively this week to close the gap, arranging a speakers’ slate at the convention heavy on Republicans of Latino descent. The outreach from the podium is being reinforced with Spanish-language ads from the Romney campaign.
Bush, whose wife is Hispanic, told The Hill that while jobs and education are the most important issues for the Latino community, more inclusive language and policies would be “an important symbol that shows sensitivity” for their concerns.
He also warned, in Spanish, that if Asians and Latinos, the fastest-growing populations in the United States, didn’t feel comfortable in the party, “we’re going to lose elections.”
“That’s not opinion — that’s math,” he said.
Romney ran hard to the right on immigration during the primary, voicing his support for Arizona’s controversial immigration law and arguing that illegal immigrants would “self-deport” if the United States “turned off the magnets” of easily accessible jobs and in-state tuition.
He’s softened his rhetoric on immigration somewhat since but mostly avoided talking about it.
Some in the party aren’t backing down. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), the author of the Arizona law and an informal adviser to the Romney campaign, pushed language into the official party platform that says laws like his should be “encouraged, not attacked” by the government. The platform advocates withholding federal funds from “sanctuary cities” and any universities that provide in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.
A Romney campaign official downplayed the platform position and expressed confidence that they will reach their target of 38 percent support from Hispanics on Election Day.
“The platform that counts is Mitt Romney’s platform,” Romney Hispanic outreach head and former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told The Hill. “He’s got a son who speaks perfect Spanish. His warmth will connect with the Hispanic community. He’ll be doing a lot more events, a lot more advertising. They’ll know him a lot more. I think from here on, it’s on the way up.”
Romney launched a Spanish-language ad on Tuesday, and unlike previous commercials, it not only attacks President Obama’s economic policies but also promises to help Latinos battered by the dismal economy.
“I know how to revive the American Dream,” Romney says in English, with Spanish subtitles. “I will not let you down. I will work tirelessly to create more good-paying jobs, to reform the education system and to lower taxes.”
Romney has also agreed to participate in a forum with Univision, the country’s largest Spanish-language TV network.
Gutierrez said that Romney, who aside from a June speech at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) has not talked much about immigration, was unlikely to address the issue in his convention speech.
“He may mention it, but he’s going to talk about the economy,” he said.
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) said Romney’s NALEO speech was “great,” but only a start.
“I think he needs to do a lot more, and I think he will. It’s imperative. You cannot win a presidential election if you don’t get at least 35 percent of the Hispanic vote, and I think it’s important for him to get out there and go after it,” he told The Hill.
Al Cardenas, the head of the American Conservative Union and a Romney adviser, admitted the campaign’s 38 percent goal would be tough to reach, but he said Romney’s numbers with Latinos could improve. He said the candidate’s Thursday night convention speech could prove crucial to how much he narrows the gap.
“Frankly, he’s entered into this general election with a fairly empty canvas and the other side’s done a pretty good opportunity of maligning it,” Cardenas said.
“He’s got to use this convention as his opportunity to open the eyes of the Hispanic community, say, ‘I’m a caring person, I care about you and the needs of the Hispanic community, and here’s who I am.’ ”
George and Jeb: dumb and dumber.
"Bush, whose wife is Hispanic, told The Hill that while jobs and education are the most important issues for the Latino community, more inclusive language and policies would be “an important symbol that shows sensitivity” for their concerns."
Hey, Jeb--do us a favor and give a speech in Spanish to the Latino community that they can make "an important symbol that shows sensitivity" by dropping the demands for group Hispandering and instead say they just want to be Americans, not looked upon as a group that expects anything different from other Americans.
"He also warned, in Spanish, that if Asians and Latinos, the fastest-growing populations in the United States, didn’t feel comfortable in the party, “we’re going to lose elections.”"
If Republicans lose elections due to Latinos not voting for them it is because idiots like Jeb, his brother, and McCain have fought to import mass numbers of them here even though it was clear these illegal aliens had no interest in a limited constitutional republic.
Surrender Dorothy!
No more Bush’s.
He should be happy with Reverend La Raza Samuel Rodriguez giving the benediction at the convention.
Amen boomop1, Amen
Thanks, Jeb. Thanks a lot.
Hey! What about all the people from all over the world who are trying to enter the US legally?
So, just because these hispanic folk are here illegally, that’s a reason to make them legal?
What nonsense.
Hey Jeb,
What’s so hard about understanding the entire term - “ILLEGAL immigrant”?????
Just zip it bud... You’re irrelevant now.
There are 101 million white registered voters, there are only 14 million black and 14 million Hispanic registered voters. If whites unite on this issue and vote one party, illegal immigration amnesty no longer is an issue. Latinos and blacks vote as a bloc, why can’t white America. Whites have no one to blame but themselves.
Enforce the law, repeal the law, or STFU Jeb.
The Bush family makes me ill.
The Bushes need to GO AWAY!!!! Enough of them. They have had a grip on the Republican Party my entire adult life. I never want to hear or see them again.
Jeb Bush’s bleatings on the immigration issue are fingers on a chalkboard to me. I do not want to share the same political party with his kind.
I really hate this douchebag. In fact I think FReers should protest him at the RNC and boo him in his speech when he says this crap - lustily. As in, shut the speech down with boos until this creep gets flustered.
Jeb Bush is perpetuating false stereotypes about the party himself and planting these ideas in “Latino voters” minds - that doesn’t exactly help, Jeb. People along the border coming home and finding their homes occupied by drug smugglers and human trafficking operations and aren’t comfortable with such a thing aren’t racists, Jeb...I doubt a majority of Latinos would be, either...rather than teaching Latinos he is just playing the Democrat playbook to attack his own party with false innuendo.
Not to worry Jeb...soon as he gets in he’ll have more “flexibility”.
Juck Feb!
pandering to the invaders
Stay Out The Bushes
Jeez! why not just give all we have to illegals. This issue does have something to do with the rule of law and protecting citizens..guess no one told JEB
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.