The Republican party position regarding the Latino community is not just ridiculous – it is downright suicidal politically.  They have essentially pushed the Latino community away with their tone and rhetoric…often times using Latinos as a scapegoat for issues that plague the country.  After years and years of anti-latino laws and scapegoating with hyperbolic talk…Republicans have aggressively supported the following things:

• Building a fence along the entire 3,000 mile border with Mexico (but not with Canada)
• Rounding up and deporting latinos
• Accusing the latino community of intentionally having “anchorbabies” so they could have citizenship in America
• Changing the Constitution so that being born on American soil no longer constituted “American citizenship”

Naturally – bashing latinos and appealing to the racist elements within the Republican party led to an obvious conclusion; in 2010 – the GOP finally went “The Full Monty” and passed a rash of legislation across the nation further disenfranchising the Latino community.  Five Republican majority states (Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Indiana and Utah) all passed legislation that has been successfully challenged and blocked in court and will be reviewed by the SCOTUS this year.  And of course – it doesn’t help the Republican party’s standing within the Latino community when 20 out of 37 Republican Governor candidates in 2010 endorsed bringing Arizona’s contentious and anti-latino laws as models for their own states (Source: Politico

These laws included making it a crime to both be undocumented and have running water or electricity.  These laws included making it a REQUIREMENT for a police office to require someone walking on the street to provide “proof of citizenship” if they “looked illegal”.  Well – I sure as hell would love to know what the hell “looking illegal” actually looks like.  Hint: They’ve got brown skin.

Unfortunately for the Republican party – Latinos are also the largest growing demographic in the country and they’re voting in larger and larger #’s for the Democratic Party.

The national poll of likely Latino voters indicated that 73 percent of them approved of Obama’s performance in office, with over half those questioned looking favorably upon his handling of the healthcare debate and the economy, at 66 percent and 58 percent respectively.

Source: Latino Fox News

Greg Sargent points out Latinos prefer Obama’s position on jobs and the economy too:

* Fifty-five percent of Latinos think the best way to help the economy grow is for government to “invest resources in federal projects to stimulate the economy.” Only 31 percent favor lowering taxes to get the economy going again.

* Sixty-one percent of Latinos trust Obama and Dems to make the right decisions to improve the economy, versus only 24 percent who pick Republicans.

* Fifty-seven percent of Latinos say Obama’s health reform law should be left to stand, versus 28 percent who support repeal.

Steven Benen at MaddowBlog digs in:

What’s more, there’s no great mystery here. Romney is an inflexible opponent of the DREAM Act; he’s palling around with Pete Wilson and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach; he endorses a “self-deportation” agenda; he’s critical of bilingualism; and his casual dismissals of “amnesty” and “illegals” are a staple of his campaign rhetoric.

Of course he’s struggling badly with these voters.

This is the part where Mitt Romney says resoundingly that he’ll veto the Dream Act:

This is video of Mitt Romney extending an olive branch to the Latino community:

“They or their ancestors did not come here for a handout.  If they came for a handout – they’d be voting for Democrats.  In regards to illegal immigration – of course we build a fence and of course we don’t give in state tuition credits to people who’ve come here illegally.  This is the party that believes in supporting the law.  We’re going to enforce the law.  We’re a party of opportunity, but we’re also a party of legal, law abiding citizens.”
~Mitt Romney

Of course…undocumented immigrants didn’t seem to bother Mitt Romney when they did his landscaping, pruned hedges and mowed his lawn:

This is Mitt Romney showing just how important responding to the Latino community is to him…

Reporter: “Governor, what is your message to the Latino population?”
Romney: <Look around and ignore>

This is video of Mitt Romney avoiding a Latino voter imploring him to support the Dream Act.

Voter: “Governor – I love this country.  I’m a dreamer; I want you to support the Dream Act.”
Romney: <Looking around, smile and ignore>

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