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PHOENIX (Reuters) - Two-thirds of U.S. Hispanic voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain and the partisan gap among the United States' fastest growing voter bloc is broader than at any point this decade, a study found. The nationwide telephone survey by the Pew Hispanic Center released on Thursday said 66 percent of a sample of 2,015 registered Latino voters polled said they backed Obama, with 23 percent supporting McCain, a senator from Arizona. The survey said Obama's strong showing represented a sharp reversal in his fortunes from the primaries "when he lost the Latino vote...

California-based immigration reform activist Rick Oltman says he is continually amazed that both presidential candidates continue to pander to Hispanic voters as if they are one huge monolithic voting bloc. ...Oltman, national spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, says most voters vote based on income level. "The average wage for Hispanic Americans in California is at the poverty level. People who are low income workers, when they vote, tend to vote Democrat," Oltman contends. "So all of this pandering for the Hispanic American vote over the fact that somebody is going to offer an amnesty that allows illegal aliens to...

The Third Annual Latino Congresso started today at the Bonaventure Hotel.. John McCain and Barak Obama was originally listed as speaker, then "invited" and in the end their names were not on the final program at all. Spanish Media was there, as was KTLA and the Associated Press. The event opened with the leaders of the various groups outlining their agendas. The two main issues were Latino Voter Registration and Immigration. The have committed Five Million Dollars to getting Latinos registered to vote for the presidential election. The speakers seldom used the term "Latino" constantly referring to "our community, our...

A John McCain supporter recently challenged my criticism of the candidate's position on amnesty and posed the following question, in part: " Are we going to insist on a strict application of the law? Are we going to increase government spending and expand police powers to root out people who have done what immigrants have done for generations? Wouldn't we be better to set a timeline and give permanent resident status to those who have become Americans while focusing on those who come here for less admirable reasons?" My response was as follows: This time, we had damn well better...

In their speeches this week to the National Council of La Raza, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain illustrated why the American public holds Congress — and politicians in general — in such low regard, particularly on the issue of illegal immigration.

When Barack Obama addressed the National Council of La Raza on Sunday, he pandered when he said America's immigration system "isn't working ... when companies hire undocumented immigrants instead of legal citizens to avoid paying overtime or to avoid a union; when communities are terrorized by (U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency) raids - when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel." When Obama accuses the men and woman who administer federal laws of viciously tearing nursing babies from their...

McCain at The Race conference: Capitulation complete; Update: Juan Hernandez to broker meeting with Morones? By Michelle Malkin • July 15, 2008 08:32 AM As expected, John McCain’s appearance at the annual convention of La Raza/The Race yielded no Hermana Souljah moments. Ed Morrissey points to McCain’s mild, almost apologetic rejoinder to open-borders zealot Enrique Morones and compares it to Barack Obama’s embrace of the radical activist. That’s a relief. But it’s the very least we could expect of a Republican candidate. And when you watch the clip Ed posted, you’ll notice that in response to Morones blasting our Border...

Barack Obama takes the podium at the National Council of La Raza/The Race tonight. John McCain will Hispander, as Mickey Kaus puts it so well, tomorrow. It’ll be an open-borders lovefest for Obama, who was championed yesterday at The Race conference by L.A.’s zealous pro-illegal immigration mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. You’ll recall that Obama is very, very proud to have marched “shoulder to shoulder� with shamnesty activists in the 2006 illegal alien May Day parade. ABI gives him a career grade of D- for his immigration voting record. As I predicted in my column this week, the open-borders radicalism of The...

John McCain today is poised to make the biggest mistake of his 2008 presidential run. The presumptive Republican nominee will address the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza in San Diego. La Raza is billed by too many as simply "the nation's largest Hispanic rights group." But this is perhaps the most radical apologist group for illegal immigration and the "rights" of illegal aliens -- and worse.

There's a ridiculous myth that RINOs in DC have been spinning about illegal immigration and it goes something like this: Hispanics vote almost entirely based on the illegal immigration issue and if Republicans deliver an amnesty, Hispanics will be so grateful that the percentage of them voting Republican will go from roughly 30% up to 50+%. So, even if we allow 12-20 million mostly uneducated, mostly Hispanic illegal aliens from socialist countries to become Americans and that leads to another 30-40 million (or more) of their relatives becoming U.S. citizens through chain migration, it'll still be a net gain for...

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will be using the National Council of La Raza convention, which begins tomorrow in San Diego, as a platform for courting the increasingly significant Latino vote. Convention organizers hope to press the senators for answers on some of the thorniest issues affecting Latinos, among them immigration policies and solutions to the nation's health insurance and mortgage crises. This week, as they prepared to participate in the four-day event at the San Diego Convention Center, some local groups said they were optimistic about what they would hear from the candidates and in convention sessions,...

The figure rises nearly 50% from the year before, a federal report says. Officials cite a campaign by Spanish-language media and community groups. The number of Mexican-born immigrants who became U.S. citizens swelled by nearly 50% last year amid a massive campaign by Spanish-language media and immigrant advocacy groups to help eligible residents apply for citizenship, according to a government report released Thursday. Despite Mexicans' historically low rates of naturalization, 122,000 attained citizenship in 2007, up from 84,000 the previous year, with California and Texas posting the largest gains. Salvadorans and Guatemalans also showed significant increases at a time when...

Just dropped John a line telling him his immigration stance sucks-Your turn

Barack Obama says "instead of worrying about immigrants having to learn English," we Americans "need to make sure our children can learn Spanish." Obama has consistently opposed making English the official language. In 2007, he was one of 34 senators who voted against the measure.

Video. He says he is "embarrassed" at Americans who can't speak foreign languages, but he's got no problem with foreigners who can't speak ours. All American boy, that guy.

Title says it all. AP...so can't post. John McCain...Hispandering 101.

John McCain is trailing Barack Obama by 30 percentage points in support from Hispanic voters, according to this week's polling from Gallup. Even among Hispanics that self-identify as conservatives, McCain and Obama are even. This is a far cry from 2004 when George W. Bush captured 45 percent of the Hispanic vote. At that time, Republicans were optimistic that Hispanics would become a majority voting bloc for the Republican Party. The McCain campaign has two operative questions: Can ground be picked up among Hispanic voters? And if so, how? I hope that the senator sets his sights on Hispanics. If...

WASHINGTON — A leading Hispanic organization is demanding assurances from the two major presidential candidates that they'll push for comprehensive immigration revisions and dramatically increase Hispanic representation in the federal government. John McCain and Barack Obama are scheduled to appear Tuesday before the 79th annual convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens as part of their continuing offensive to bolster their support among Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing minority. More than 9 million Latinos are expected to vote in the November general election.

Barack Obama, John McCain, and even Hillary Clinton will all be speaking at this year's convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an illegal immigration-supporting group that was once patriotic but has since been radicalized. As shown by the attendees discussed below, the convention will be a nexus of those who do not support what's in the best interests of the U.S. For example, here's a 2007 quote from their national treasurer Jaime Martinez, who'll also be appearing at one of their workshops: "We must not sell out, and we must fight for the rights of our...

Whose idea was it to send John McCain down to Mexico the day before Independence Day and have him grovel for Latino votes south of the border by visiting the Basilica de Guadalupe–a famed Catholic shrine featuring the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which most Mexican politicians consider off-limits for campaigning? According to Frentes Politicos (hat tip - reader Edgar M.), the stunt was the brainchild of none other than McCain’s open-borders Hispanic outreach director and former Mexican cabinet official Juan Hernandez, who apparently survived the big campaign staff shake-up: I. El truco para la buena imagen fue idea...

Appearing before Mexico's drug-fighting Federal Police, John McCain promised Thursday that as president, he would quickly implement a U.S. aid package to give the officers more helicopters, technology and training. Mr. McCain, visiting the federal force's new command center as he concluded a three-day trip to Colombia and Mexico, paid his condolences to the hundreds of officers who have died in the drug fight since President Felipe Calderón took office 19 months ago. Those deaths, Mr. McCain said, "will not be in vain." "I want to thank President Calderón and the people of Mexico for their efforts in making our...

WASHINGTON — Besieged Texas sheriffs have vowed to press the White House and Congress to deliver emergency assistance to law enforcement officers battling drug cartels along the Mexican border to match the $400 million on its way to Mexico. The sheriffs said they were frustrated that President Bush and Congress agreed to provide assistance to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative, without offering additional federal help to their departments. The officers said they'd seek direct federal assistance, as well as changes in Department of Homeland Security restrictions to permit local law enforcement departments to use homeland security funds to...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will join presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain in Mexico City Thursday morning on the last day of McCain's three-day visit to Latin America. Gov. Bush was in Mexico City on business and wanted to spend time with the candidate. He will not spend the day with Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., who has several other events today, including a media availability this afternoon. Gov. Bush's name has been floated in Republican veepstakes chatter. On Good Morning America Wednesday, however, McCain pushed back on any talk of his vice presidential pick.

The San Diego City Council will vote next Tuesday to declare July 8 “National Council of La Raza Day.” Well, they already gave their blessing to “Happy ACLU Day” despite the litigious group’s long-standing efforts to take down the Mount Soledad cross. Might as well put their weight behind the ethnic supremacist group fighting against assimilation, funding reconquista schools, advocating speech suppressiong, and promoting lawlessness, too!

In their June 28 speeches to (NALEO), John McCain and Barack Obama seemed to be competing to see who could do a better job of pandering to open-borders advocacy groups..... .....Mr. McCain called for creation of a "temporary" worker program; declared that "comprehensive immigration reform" will "be my top priority yesterday, today and tomorrow"; and called for a way to turn illegal aliens into citizens of the United States. .... In response, the McCain campaign attacked Mr. Obama for proposing "poison pill amendments" that would undo the efforts of Mr. McCain and Sen. Edward Kennedy to pass a "bipartisan" immigration...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton introduced former rival Sen. Barack Obama to her Hispanic supporters and fundraisers Thursday night, and he got an earful from a group that remains skeptical nearly a month after their Democratic primary battle ended. “We were offering constructive criticism that will help him in the fall,” said Ingrid Duran, a Falls Church consultant who advised Clinton on Hispanic issues. “At the end of the day, we’ll support the nominee. The question is how actively.” About 25 members of Clinton’s Hispanic Leadership Council and Hispanic Finance Council met with Obama at the Mayflower Hotel at the invitation...

With an eye on the fast-growing Hispanic market, State Farm Insurance Cos. will announce Thursday that it will be the lead sponsor of the largest national campaign thus far to encourage Latinos to become U.S. citizens and register to vote. That will make it the first mainstream U.S. corporation to put money behind the massive mobilization effort ahead of the November presidential vote. State Farm, one of the country's top home and auto insurers, will inject $1 million into the "Ya Es Hora" (It's About Time) campaign. The drive -- backed by the largest Spanish-language broadcast and print media in...

Leaders across Latin America have reacted angrily to a new EU law that could jail illegal immigrants for up to 18 months before they are deported. One president called it a hate initiative. Another said it was an attack on people's rights and lives. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans live and work in Europe, many of them without permission. Many do jobs that Europeans do not want to do, providing a vital source of income for poor families back home. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led the reaction, threatening to cut oil exports to Europe unless the EU retracted the...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Comments from bloggers that say, "Hartford is a piece-of-scum city populated by animals," and, "It is the African/ Latino people that have ruined our country,” are the kind that Mayor Eddie Perez said he no longer wants to see on www.hartford.com. Perez and community leaders held a rally Friday afternoon in front of the Broad Street headquarters of the state's largest newspaper, the Hartford Courant. Perez said he's asked the Courant to better monitor comment from readers

In the meeting, attendees said McCain promised that, if elected, Congress would pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

I was one of the 150 people at the Drake Hotel in Downtown Chicago Wednesaday night who came to hear John MC Cain speak to Illinois Hispanics. I had e-mail in my request to attend after seeing an article in the news paper announcing this event. This is what i received.......... We are pleased to confirm your invitation to attend the "Hispanic Voices Reception" with Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. The event will take place on June 18, 2008, at The Drake Hotel, 140 E. Walton Place, Chicago, Illinois, in the Drake Room. A volunteer will call you in the...

Portland, Oregon, possibly vying to be the most liberal city on the west coast, recently set up a day labor site for American employers to come and hire Illegal Immigrants looking for work (here and here) The site opened for “business” Monday, June 16, 2008, with little initial interest from local employers, shy of possible media exposure. The second day brought a little interest and a local man protesting the city of Portland encouraging Illegal Activity within city limits. He called the Victoria Taft Radio Program this evening to report that for sitting on the curb in the driveway, holding...

Click photo to enlargeTwo young girls play hand games as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and a panel of community leaders...«12345»OAKLAND — Pledging to "take them on big-time," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, sharply criticized the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Friday and declared she would push for measures to reduce the fear she said agents have caused East Bay immigrant families. The Oakland Democrat told a packed North Oakland church that she wants to "ensure that ICE is following the rules and that those rules are well-known and publicized — especially when it comes to actions at schools, hospitals, religious centers...

Dozens of Fox Valley Hispanics will get the chance to talk with Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's nominee for president, later this month. And they'll get to do it for free. McCain will be in Chicago on June 18 for a fundraiser at the Drake Hotel, but he'll stick around that night to hold a town hall meeting with Illinois Hispanics. » Click to enlarge image John McCain to speak in Chicago More than 100 are expected to attend, according to the meeting's organizers, Julie Brady and Gabriela Wyatt. Brady, of St. Charles, is the deputy co-chairman of McCain's...

The City Council's Trinity River Corridor Project committee should open its meeting in about 10 minutes. First item up - a briefing on the name change plan for Industrial Boulevard. There should be some interesting back and forth after a city sponsored survey ended in an overwhelming win to rename the road Cesar Chavez Boulevard. We'll be live blogging the debate. Hope you can join us. Also, in the next blog item, we'll invite your comments and hopefully start a single thread.

SAN DIEGO – Presidential candidate Barack Obama will travel to San Diego next month to join opponent John McCain in speaking at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Both senators are expected to address immigration and other issues pertinent to Latino voters, NCLR President Janet Murguía said during a visit to San Diego promoting the convention. Obama's plans were announced yesterday; McCain had agreed earlier to address the convention. The fact that both candidates will attend “speaks to a number of things, not only to the importance...

WASHINGTON-The United Nations plans to examine Prince William County’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigrants during a visit next week. Jorge Bustamante, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on migrants’ rights, plans to tour Manassas and Woodbridge, receive briefings on local enforcement measures, and attempt to meet with local officials. He contacted immigrant leaders in the county two months ago to begin preparing for a visit, saying he was interested in the landmark nature of the county’s actions. Special rapporteurs are tasked with reviewing human-rights issues of international concern to raise political pressure and shape public opinion, but cannot issue sanctions. The...

A Dallas man faces a charge of murder after he was involved in a traffic accident about 1:30 p.m. Monday that killed an 83-year-old Dallas woman. Eddie Ramirez, 28, allegedly stole a police "bait" car Monday which subsequently crashed into a car driven by Annie Reyes, according to police reports. Reyes, whose 2000 Honda was broadsided in the wreck, near the intersection of 12th Street and Montreal Avenue in the Oak Cliff area of southwest Dallas. She was pronounced dead at 2:15 p.m. at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, according to reports. The bait cars, which are used to catch vehicle...

Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned - her father forbid it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered. The 49-year-old flower shop owner and Miami native said her inability to speak "espanol" makes it difficult to conduct business, seek help at stores and even ask directions. She finds it "frustrating." "It makes it hard for some people to find a job because they don't speak Spanish, and I don't think that it is right," said Green, who sometimes calls a Spanish-speaking friend to translate for customers who don't speak English....

From his bag of tricks for converting right-thinking conservatives into Republican leftists, John McCain has injected God, love, and compassion into the non-stop wrangling about amnesty for as many as 38 million illegal aliens. During a recent debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, McCain said the following, in part: "We need to sit down as Americans and recognize these are God's children as well. And they need some protection under the law; they need some of our love and compassion." In other words, Americans who believe in law and order and other right wing foolishness are the problem. A spike of...

Reader A.F. e-mails the chart of the day. He writes: “Michelle, I work peripherally for the insurance industry and get the industry’s magazine National Underwriter. The May 8 issue contains a cover story titled: “Workers Comp for Illegal Aliens Sparks Debate Among the States.” A box within the text describes which states already provide WC for illegal aliens: “CA, FL, NV, NY, TX and UT expressly include illegal aliens in the WC coverage” —- UTAH??? So you can come to the US, work illegally, complain of headaches caused by a little slip and fall and you can go on drinking...

Bexar County commissioners voted to support a Texas Border Coalition lawsuit to block the Department of Homeland Security border fence, but their action Tuesday fell short of actually joining it. “We’re lending our name in support of this, not our finances,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. The county is not part of the Coalition, but Wolff attended a May 16 news conference announcing the lawsuit and said the county “was directly affected by what happens on the border” and should support it. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop construction on the grounds DHS violated constitutional law to acquire...

Noteworthy, not because this is the first time he’s said something this vile but because it’s not. He floated it to our favorite liberal in February during an interview on Fox News radio (and, sad to say, wasn’t called on it) and thought so highly of his bon mot that he recycled it for his new book. Either no one’s taken him aside to explain how disgusting it is or someone has taken him aside but he thinks it’s so important and righteous that he’s going to keep deploying it anyway. I don’t know which is worse. Bear in mind,...

Mr. McCain has launched a Spanish-language Web site, aired TV spots in Spanish emphasizing his military service and, at a Cinco de Mayo event in Phoenix, declared "everything about our Hispanic voters is tailor-made to the Republican message." Gil Cisneros of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Colorado, who is vice chairman of the McCain campaign in the state, said the Arizona senator has a reputation among Hispanics as patriotic, family-oriented and moderate on immigration. He said Mr. McCain's sponsorship of last year's failed legislation to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants will be a strong selling point.

<p>MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Congress has scaled back on President Bush's anti-drug plans for Mexico and put human rights conditions on some of the aid, drawing fire from some Mexicans who accuse American lawmakers of meddling in their country's internal affairs.</p>

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday the Senate should apologize for slavery and segregation, calling them “dark chapters in our history.” McCain said he would support a planned resolution by fellow Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, who is also seeking the presidency, to apologize for racist laws, some of which ended more than a century ago. “They were federal policies,” Brownback told the Boston Globe on Monday. “They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward . . . is at the end of the day acknowledging those, taking ownership for it, and asking for forgiveness.” McCain agreed...

In another case of politicians not having a clue what's really going on in this country, an interesting exchange took place in Washington this week. Three Democrat legislators spoke to reporters about what they claim is "anti-immigrant coverage" by conservative media outlets. Apparently, they think floods of illegal aliens crossing into America and the crime and violence at the border are just overblown incidents developed by conservatives to attack our neighbor to the South. After they spoke, the Democrats were asked if they realized that the State Department had issued a "travel alert warning Americans about military-like 'combat' along the...

NION CITY - Republican presidential candidate John McCain joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in calling today for comprehensive immigration reform, including guest worker visas to bring employees to California's Silicon Valley and the state's vast agricultural fields. The two men brought up the issue at McCain's prompting during a global competitiveness roundtable featuring California technology executives and entrepreneurs. Asked by Silicon Valley panelists on what he would do to grant more visa for skilled technology workers, McCain broadly advocated the comprehensive immigration reform plan he had backed with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy in Congress. The same issue brought McCain intense criticism...

Three Valleys Municipal Water District Director Javier Alvarez was asked to resign by Director Brian Bowcock Wednesday May 21, 2008 during the boards monthly meeting. ((Will Lester/Staff Photographer) ) • Photo Gallery: Alvarez asked to resign• PDF: Alleged lies told by AlvarezCLAREMONT - A local water representative Wednesday called for the resignation of Director Xavier Alvarez, who has pleaded guilty to falsely claiming he won the Medal of Honor.At a meeting of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, Director Brian Bowcock called Alvarez a "disgrace," read from a lengthy list of what he called Alvarez's lies and urged him...

OUR OPINION: U.S. MUST SUPPORT EFFORT TO DEFEAT NARCOTICS CRIMINALS The outpouring of drug-related violence in Mexico over the last few months has made it indisputably clear that President Felipe Calderón's government is engaged in a fight to the death against the powerful criminal gangs that run the cross-border drug trade. For Mexico, the stakes are all too clear: Either it prevails or the country becomes one big sanctuary for druglords. With Mexico reaching out to the United States for help and the Bush administration eager to comply, Congress must make assistance to Mexico an urgent priority. Last week, the...