Como se dice ‘completely and utterly clueless’ en Espanol?

May 27, 2006

Guest Post by Morbo

The [tag]Republicans[/tag] seem determined to go out of their way to insult, belittle and malign the fastest-growing minority group in the country — and that’s just fine with me.

Don’t get the wrong idea. In no way do I support the GOP’s xenophobic attacks on [tag]Hispanics[/tag]. In fact, I deplore them. But a little part of me can’t help but be pleased as the Republicans offer the nation further evidence of how completely hopeless they really are.

Numerous surveys have highlighted the ways Hispanic [tag]immigration[/tag] — legal and illegal — is changing this nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics accounted for nearly half of the 2.8 million people added to the U.S. population in 2004 and 2005. People of Hispanic origin now make up 15 percent of the U.S. population, about 43 million people.

Hispanics are flexing [tag]political[/tag] muscle already, and they are poised to flex a lot more in the years to come. As The Washington Post recently reported:

Nearly half of the nation’s children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, and the percentage is increasing mainly because the Hispanic population is growing so rapidly, according to a census report released today.

Hispanics are the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority group. They accounted for 49 percent of the country’s growth from 2004 to 2005, the report shows. And the increase in young children is largely a Hispanic story, driving 70 percent of the growth in children younger than 5. Forty-five percent of U.S. children younger than 5 are minorities.

Even the dimmest political analyst should be able to look at this data and realize that alienating Hispanics is not a good idea. Yet that is exactly what the Republicans are doing.

As the country debates illegal immigration, the GOP has repeatedly pandered to its xenophobic base, sponsoring a resolution to make English the “national” language and floating absurd proposals to build a Berlin Wall-type structure around the border with Mexico.

Is it annoying Hispanics? Yep. As The Post reported this week:

Hispanic [tag]voters[/tag], many of whom responded favorably to President [tag]Bush[/tag]’s campaign appeals emphasizing patriotism, family and religious values in Spanish-language media in 2004, are turning away from the administration on immigration and a host of other issues, according to a new survey….

A survey of 800 registered Hispanic voters conducted May 11-15 by the nonpartisan Latino Coalition showed that Democrats were viewed as better able to handle immigration issues than Republicans, by nearly 3 to 1: 50 percent to 17 percent. Pitting the Democrats against Bush on immigration issues produced a 2 to 1 Democratic advantage, 45 percent to 22 percent.

There is much here for the [tag]Democrats[/tag] to exploit. As the data indicates, Hispanics aren’t just bothered by the administration’s incoherent immigration policy; they must also be disturbed by the fact that the Republicans are belittling their culture, customs and language. The message the GOP is sending is that Latino contributions to the culture do not matter, are not welcome and are in fact somehow threatening to the country.

If I were Howard Dean, I would pay for commercials on Spanish-language radio every day blasting that message. I would tell the Hispanic community, “The Republicans do not appreciate your hard work, your values and your contributions to American society. But we Democrats do. Come join us as we build a better nation for ALL Americans.”

Bush and his backers have a choice: They can welcome the fastest-growing minority group in the country or stand with the racist Minutemen and their “seal the border” fantasies. So far, they have opted for the latter. Let’s spend lots of time between now and November reminding the Latino community of that fact. And if all goes well on Nov. 7, let’s not forget our promise. In 2007, let’s pursue policies that respect, and don’t denigrate, what the [tag]Latino[/tag] community has to offer.

A footnote to this: The Post story on Bush’s loss of Hispanic support noted that Bush hoped to do well in this community since he speaks [tag]Spanish[/tag]. I refuse to believe he does. That boob can barely speak English. I’ve heard him rattle off a few Spanish phrases from time to time. It sure sounds like pidgin Spanish to me.

While I welcome our new immigrant overlords, I insist that we get our borders in control, including a wall, if necessary. Then perhaps, in light of the nativist sentiments expressed by the Republicans and others, we should suspend all immigration for a 20 year period so as to allow everyone to assimilate.

  • The Rethugs’ true nature is xenophic and racist (yes, these are two separate and distinct sicknesses), and it is coming to the fore.

    This seems to spell a two-fer opportunity for Dems: First, this seems to be pissing off the Hispanics, and they will flee the Rethug Party in droves (that relative plurality which in fact did support BushCo in the past) and head straight into the welcoming arms of the Dems. Second, this has the potential to really split the Christo-fascist wing off from the rest of the Rethug Party, and this group will likely sit out the election in November. Real (Barry Goldwater-type) conservatives who cannot vote for the fakes now dominating the GOP but refuse to vote for a Dem will, likewise, sit out the election.

    The result SHOULD be a larger proportion of this fall’s electorate being registered Dems, and the independents will disproportionately support Dems (or at least cast anti-Rethug votes). I hope that this “analysis” is more logic than the result of having inhaled too much Pixie-dust…. 🙂

  • #3

    Gains this November may be undone by the “liberal” activist judges that have been nominated by the WH and accepted by the Senate and in particular the feckless Democrats there who mindlessly accepted an unqualified Brett Kavanaugh.

    If you won’t stand to defend yourself or play politics then perhaps you should find yourself something else to do.

    If the Dems can’t do shit, then perhaps an angry middle class party can come about.

  • I’m amazed that the GOP is blowing its one chance to attract a significant voting block. Most hispanics, being Roman Catholic, are anti-abortion. Given the irrationality of the GOP that alone should appeal to the one-issue types found in the GOP. But no, tell them they’re “illegal” – drive them our way. We’re already providing numerous social services the GOP doesn’t believe in. Besides, if we attract the Hispanics, perhaps we can call attention to those employers who exploit (i.e, hire) them, which is where the blame pen-ultimately belongs (the ultimate culprit being NAFTA). The problem isn’t new – see the lyrics to Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”, written in 1948.

    Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
    Our work contract’s out and we have to move on;
    Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
    They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

    I grew up in Paso Robles CA (just south of the “Los Gatos Canyon” setting for the song). Not a nice area in which to do non-unionized, menial agriculural work, much less accept the hatred of the “legals” who got there first.

    The GOP, as usual, are looking backward and being very vicious about it as well. Maybe this November they’ll discover that people trying too hard to live behind the times have their heads up their ass?

  • 1. Mexicans are disproportionate consumers of state-funded services such as Medicaid, welfare, education, ‘special education,’ police, criminal courts, prisons…

    2. Mexicans are poor economic producers. They were poor producers in ‘Mexico’ and remain poor producers. They didn’t leave Mexico. They brought it with them.

    3.Both ‘Illegals’ and so-called ‘legal’ immigrants produce less, earn less (and thus pay fewer taxes) than white people. They are also more likely to conduct their economic activities on the cash ‘black’ market. This gives them another price advantage since they don’t pay parts of their income into federal or state income tax withholding, workmen’s comp, insurance, sales tax…. Their barrio ghetto real estate is consistently lower priced than white real estate, resulting in reduced property tax yields.

    4. Local White flight. Not only white people but white businesses and jobs are fleeing Mexifornia to Nevada and elsewhere. This refugee movement is also striking hard at California’s state tax revenue base. Mexifornia’s tax consumption is rising while California’s tax production is collapsing.

  • The Republikanners are finally bringing their Neo-Xeno, “party-of-god” mentality onto the front burner. Maybe going down to irreversible defeat is a part of their plan; maybe they’re just as hell-bent toward martyrdom as some of the Islamic fundamentalists. The GOP’s “jihad,” however, appears to be on the political battlefield….

  • You’re correct, George does not speak Spanish. The media continues to perpetuate this myth for some reason, but it’s just not true – he only knows a few phrases. His brother Jeb does indeed speak Spanish, but George does not.

  • “Tonto perdido” is how they’d describe that sin vergüenza in my little village.

    Nice article in the Financial Times Deutschland the other day from their Washington correspondent who thinks that, on the whole, immigrants are able to assimilate much better in this country. Of course, many of them live right next door. He wrote: “The self-confidence shown by millions of illegal immigrants at recent mass rallies in the U.S. in, for example, demanding the right to become American, is astonishing. They see the U.S. as a promise to humanity and felt that most Americans would find it morally difficult to deny them this demand.”

    And behind all the rightwing crappola we’re hearing these days is the America that sees “impoverished immigrants as silent heroes – pioneers of the very kind that has turned the U.S., with its nearly 400 years of steady immigration, into what it is today.”

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