Whatever. The message (or combination of messages) the GOP is sending got them killed 71/27 yesterday with Hispanic voters and Rubio won't do them much good outside of Florida unless they change.
Why stop there? Surely people with a college degree are more educated than those without one. Let's make that a requirement. Also, the elderly are more likely to have degenerative neurological conditions that may impact their decision making process, so they are out. Those who own homes would probably make more informed decisions regarding property taxes, so we ought ignore renters as well. Lots of people I know turned out because they found the social policies proposed by the GOP at different levels of government were offensive.
If so, it needs a reprint. I remember reading something in 2000 or 2004 along the same lines (discussing Dems in general instead of Obama).
Whatever message the GOP was delivering got them 27% (if that) of the Hispanic votes. So, while their current message isn't universally derided among Hispanics, it is not one that they can win with.
I don't know, but I don't think it matters much as he wasn't really running in a contested race. The problem with Cruz is that he's half-Cuban, half italian/irish american....there have been dozens of cuban politicians like him (south florida, and along the east coast) but none of them have really magically appealed to hispanics nationwide, buecause most of them are from Mexico/central america/points south and have very little in common with Cubanos. See, e.g. Orlando Sanchez' glorious mayoral campaign. Now, you might argue that this is the same as Obama, whose mother was white but ethnic politics among hispanics don't really work the same way IMO. The Calle 8 - jai alai brigade's ability to even deliver just Florida for the Repubs is in doubt at this stage. YOunger cubans couldn't give an F about Castro and the Puerto Ricans are growing faster.
Let's hope there never is a nomination for Rubio. It would actually be interesting to watch the tally of Hispanic votes, since most Hispanics dislike Cubans.
I do think it would be a worthwhile discussion though.... :grin: It bothers me that people are shoe-horned out to vote once every four years. Setting requirements is loaded with problems.
Ill break it down. The majority of Cubans who left Cuba under Castro were wealthy right wing elite types. They settled in South Florida, used the money they stashed in US banks to build a prospering and politically powerful community. This community was so powerful that they managed to get a sweet exemption to US immigration law. An exemption that no other country in the world has. That is if any Cuban immigrant touches a grain of dry us sand then they automatically become residents and thus US citizens.
From the sounds of what I heard today, there won't be a damn bit of change. I was dying laughing at some of the stuff I heard on the radio today. It was the media, it was the blacks, the socialists are taking over... oh boy. It's going to be double down on anti-government, anti-women, anti-immigrants, anti-minority, etc. They're too far in to give up now it seems.
Havent had much time to post as of late, but here are my own 2 cents on where I see the GOP headed: 1) Libertarian positions have already influenced the GOP platform pretty noticeably, particularly as it relates to the role of government. I see them continuing this trend and additional GOP congressmen adopting libertarian positions as it relates to civil liberties and foreign policy (not many, but a few outspoken ones for sure). I was pretty surprised to wake up this morning and listen to my local conservative radio station with the host ranting about Obama's kill lists and undermining of civil rights, especially given that this particular commentator had historically been on the extremes of neoconservatism and interventionism during the bush era. In any case, it's a guess. The libertarian wing has greater appeal among youth and has more intellectual rigor to it than the current platform by far. 2) As far as reaching out to minority groups, I think the GOP probably sees the easiest group to win over being white women given their appeal to white america. Before the election, Republicans had 24 women in the House; after it, they have 21, while the Dems have increased their number from 52 to 61. In the Senate I believe after this election there will be only one female GOP senator. This trend is simply not tenable as a path forward, and I think they will have to strategically position themselves to appeal more to women and that appeal will have to extend to more than just housewives. 3) After women, latinos will become a strategic priority for them. Right now, all they have is Marco Rubio, who I dont seriously consider enough of an influence to galvanize a substantive GOP following, and so it is bound to take some time and investment. To me, they have to find an issue of interest to the average latino that they can champion, and I'm not sure yet what that issue is. 4) They have to figure out a way to distance themselves from the toxic legacy of the Bush/Cheney era. I believe it is now beginning to dawn on conservatives how incredibly damaging those years were and how disillusioned people have become with figures associated with it. 5) Although I would hope they would be smarter than this, I dont know if they will have enough restraint to overcome the impulse to say 'we lost because Romney wasnt conservative enough'. I'm pretty sure that's what we'll begin to hear in the coming weeks from the more dogmatic elements of the party, and it's time that they work to marginalize those figures rather than continually push them in the media as the spokespeople of the party. 6) Caving on social issues is something I definitely see more GOP politicians doing next time around. The writing is on the wall, and issues like gay marriage, abortion, and related issues will have to be negotiated in any district/county/state that is not zealously republican/conservative already.
I'm a Democrat, but the reality is that America can't afford to offer citizenship to every single person who strolls across the border. We just can't continue to keep doing that. If you enter America without any job skills, demand citizenship, and then vote for politicians who will give you heath care and welfare, it's not difficult to see how that simply isn't substitutable on a large scale. Sometimes it's not just Republicans who are bad at math. We cannot continue to import poverty.
I wonder how long you will be a Democrat with the " without any job skills, demand citizenship, and then vote for politicians who will give you heath care and welfare, "
Because that is the reality. That is how it is. I'm a Democrat because the Democratic Party is more closely aligned with what the real world is like than the GOP, a political party that is largely supported and heavily influenced by religious fundamentalist who don't place a very high premium on facts. We shouldn't make that same mistake just because it makes us feel good. America cannot maintain a high standard of living and also absorb hundreds of thousands of poor immigrants each year, just like our ill advised wars in the ME, we can't afford the cost anymore.
