Tag: Latinos

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Black people Politics voter suppression

Rand Paul thinks that Evidence of Voter Suppression Does Not Exist

Despite the fact that he and his party are doing all they can to suppress the votes of African Americas and Latinos.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a tea party senator with a long history of opposition to civil rights laws, told an audience in Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday that there is no evidence of black voters being excluded from the franchise. According to local NPR host Phillip Bailey, Paul said that he does not believe “there is any particular evidence of polls barring African Americans from voting,” during a speech to the non-partisan Louisville Forum.

If Paul is not aware of the evidence indicating widespread efforts to prevent African Americans from voting, then he must not be looking very hard. During the 2012 election, black and Hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to cast a ballot as white voters. In Florida, lines of up to six hours led an estimated 201,000 people to become frustrated and leave the polls.

These lines existed largely because of a voter suppression bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) which reduced early voting hours in the state. After the election, top Republicans admitted that the purpose of cutting early voting was to reduce Democratic turnout.

One Republican operative conceded that early voting was cut on the Sunday proceeding Election Day because “that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves.”

Get a clue Paul! You’re blinded by your own politics.

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Healthcare ObamaCare Politics Repeal

Talks Of ObamaCare Repeal Hurting Republican Rebranding Efforts

Republicans are in the midst of a vast re-branding effort. They have looked at the results of the 2008 and 2012 elections and have decided that the American people are correct – their policies are as popular as trickle down economics, and Americans are not buying those policies anymore.

The obvious next move for Republicans would be to dump the failed policies of yesterday and adopt policies that a majority of the American people want. What people want is health care; and after President Obama signed the affordable healthcare law in his first term, the American people voted overwhelmingly for him in 2012 guaranteeing him a second term.

But Republicans, in their infinite wisdom, are promising the American people that their cherished healthcare will be repealed. It is that stubbornness and their failure to accept the will of the people that is setting the foundation for more lost elections in the future.

I’m not complaining.

The LA Times reports on how Latinos, one of the fastest growing minority group, is responding to Republicans talk of health care repeal.

As Republican leaders try to woo Latino voters with a new openness to legal status for the nation’s illegal immigrants, the party remains at odds with America’s fastest-growing ethnic community on another key issue: healthcare.

Latinos, who have the lowest rates of health coverage in the country, are among the strongest backers of President Obama’s health care law. In a recent national poll, supporters outnumbered detractors by more than 2 to 1. Surveys show that Latinos overwhelmingly see guaranteeing health care as a core government responsibility.

Yet congressional Republicans continue to make repeal of the 2010 Affordable Care Act a top agenda item and have renewed calls for deep cuts in health programs such as Medicaid which are very popular with Latinos.

“Obamacare is a colossal mistake for our country,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said recently in a speech on the Senate floor. “It needs to be pulled out by its roots.”

Categories
Immigration Politics

Republican Representative Calls Hispanics “Low Skilled”

At a time when Republicans are trying to get the Hispanic vote, this is not something they should be saying.

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) thinks that Republicans should not take up immigration reform or even make an effort to compete for the votes of the fastest growing demographic in the country because he believes that Hispanics are “low-skilled” and dependent on social programs who will vote for Democrats because of it.

It’s about the worst possible messaging for the party still ringing from defeat at the polls in November, during an election which saw President Barack Obama trounce his Republican opponent by a 3-to-1 margin among Hispanics — but that didn’t stop Barletta from saying it.

“I hope politics is not at the root of why we’re rushing to pass a bill. Anyone who believes that they’re going to win over the Latino vote is grossly mistaken,” Barletta said, according to Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call. “The majority that are here illegally are low-skilled or may not even have a high school diploma. The Republican Party is not going to compete over who can give more social programs out. They will become Democrats because of the social programs they’ll depend on.”

The White House and a bipartisan group of Senators are outlining plans this week to reform the nation’s immigration system in a way that will permit the children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and become citizens, as well as provide a pathway to citizenship for individuals who broke the law to come to the U.S.

Categories
immigration reform Politics

President Obama on The Dream Act – “No Is Not An Option.”

USA Today is reporting that President Obama told a largely Hispanic gathering at the White House today that he will continue to fight for legislation that would ease the path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants.

Speaking at a Cinco de Mayo reception, Obama said congressional Republicans have blocked the “DREAM Act,” which would apply to undocumented college students and members of the military.

“We didn’t come this far just to let partisan politics stand in our way,” Obama said. “‘No’ is not an option.”

Latinos are the nation’s fastest-growing voting population, and are a major prize in this election.

Polls currently give Obama a huge lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among Latino voters; the president’s re-election team is currently running ads in Spanish-language media.

Categories
Herman Cain Republican vote

Republican Leader Leaves Party Because Of Herman Cain

The Republican party is shedding their loyal members one by one. This time its Lauro Antonio Garza, the Republican leader of Somos Republicans, a Texas Republican group that caters to conservative Hispanics.

Mr. Garza sat back and listened to the recent claims by Herman Cain, that an electric fence along the border states would be the way to keep illegals out of the country. When asked about those irresponsible statements on this week’s Meet The Press, Cain said he was joking. No one in the Republican leadership however, had any problems with Cain’s careless remarks, and this silence from the Republican leadership was the last straw for Mr. Garza.

Below is his letter.

GOP leadership: Beyond Reprehensible

How much distance has been travelled since President George W. Bush left office? To us at Somos Republicans, the answer is, ‘Way too much!’ We fear that for most of the Republican Party, the answer is, ‘Not far enough!!’

Today, we find the Republican Party has strayed from its roots and its founding principals so far that they can no longer be seen. We saw this yesterday, in the glare of broad daylight, when a leading presidential candidate, Herman Cain, not once, but twice, advocated for the murder of innocent people and that was met with cheers! Somos Republicans, America’s largest organization of conservative Hispanics, was alone in its criticism of this loud mouth hateful bigot. He says he was ‘joking.’ Nobody here is laughing! The fact the GOP allows and applauds such outrageous thoughts is beyond reprehensible.

To us, the idea of allegedly ‘Pro-Life’ people shouting for the un-Constitutional use of deadly force is unbelievable. Then, too, we shouldn’t be surprised since Republican leaders have been advocating for the nullification of the American Constitution in states like Arizona, Georgia and now Alabama. When did Republicans, once synonymous with ‘conservative,’ become so liberal as to attack their very own Bill of Rights in the 4th and 14th Amendments?!

Where is Republican leadership? Where has the guiding principal of ‘Morality’ gone?! If the Republican Party cannot or will not rebuke this hateful bigot and others like him who wear the mantle of ‘Republican’ then perhaps the time has come for a rebuke of the Party itself!

Ronald Reagan left the Democrat Party saying they had left him. Perhaps, I shall do the same because the Republican Party has become radical and unreasonable. President Reagan must be tumbling in his grave!
Lauro Antonio Garza,MPO
Somos Republicans, Texas State Director
October 16, 2011

Categories
Democratic Party Domestic Policies Immigration National Anthem Republican United States voter suppression

In Your Face Hate – G,O.P tells Latinos “Don’t Vote!”- Video

The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave.

These are the last few words of The Star-Spangled Banner, our National Anthem.  They represent the core of what America is – a nation where freedom reigns due to the ultimate sacrifice of the men and women who died to make this freedom possible.

Your Vote Counts

Don’t tell that to the makers of this ad, a group calling themselves, “Latinos For Reform.” This group is advising Latinos to bypass these elections and “Don’t Vote,” because, according to its website, “Democratic leaders had two years to push for comprehensive immigration. It turned out that their efforts were scant: all talk and no action.”

We checked out the website associated with this ad and found the following, “If, however, we don’t vote for these politicians, then we will command the attention and respect of both sides of the aisle.” The site claims that this is “the only way to make them stop taking us for granted.”

It’s quite frankly appalling to think that any group, especially one that claims to represent the voice of its members, would tell their members to keep their mouths shut!

The makers of this ad know one thing – that Republicans have been against Comprehensive Immigration Reform and have stood in the way of any real advancement on this issue for decades. The makers of the ad also know that since the Obama Administration, Immigration Reform and the Republicans opposing it have been a major topic in Washington over the last year.

From Republicans asking for the building of the “fence,” to their wanting to ship all illegal immigrants out of America back to their original country, to the “Anchor Babies,” these are all ways the Republicans are trying to suppress the Latino vote. Republicans know that thinking Latinos and other minorities will not cast a vote for a Republican, so advising Latinos to stay home will guarantee a no vote for Democrats.

Republicans are banking on suppressing Latinos, but Latinos are wiser than these Republicans are giving them credit for. Unlike what the author says on the Latinos for Reform website, staying home and keeping your mouth shut is not the way to make your voice heard. It is a way to help Republicans win.

In the land of the free, all legal voters must cast their votes. It’s the only way to make your voice heard.

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