Latinos won't forget Romney's 'anti-immigrant' talk

[babylonsister]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/31/opinion/navarrette-immigration-gop/

Latinos won't forget Romney's 'anti-immigrant' talk
By Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN Contributor
January 31, 2012 -- Updated 1329 GMT (2129 HKT)

Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a CNN.com contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist.


Miami, Florida (CNN) -- Responding angrily to a campaign ad from Newt Gingrich accusing him of being anti-immigrant, Mitt Romney insisted during last week's Republican debate at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville that he has no problem with immigrants.

Perhaps not. But the dishonest and cynical way in which the former governor of Massachusetts has dealt with the immigration issue on the campaign trail shows that he has a problem being consistent.


snip//

It was Romney who -- bringing back a tactic he used in 2008 against Arizona Sen. John McCain -- painted Rick Perry as soft on illegal immigration. Romney attacked Perry for signing a bill in the Lone Star State that allowed undocumented students to attend state colleges and universities and pay in-state tuition rates. The narrative that Romney pushed was simple: "Illegal immigrants are takers. They take advantage of in-state tuition rates. They take spots in university campuses that should go to U.S. citizens. They take, take, and take some more." Never did Romney mention all that illegal immigrants contribute to society -- by paying taxes, increasing productivity, creating competition, and doing jobs that Americans won't do.

Later, with Perry vanquished into the single digits, Romney used the same line of attack against Gingrich, accusing him of advocating a kind of amnesty for illegal immigrants after Gingrich said that he wanted to provide undocumented workers with a "red card" that allowed them to work legally in the country. Romney accused Gingrich of letting illegal immigrants take jobs from American workers.

Now as he competes this week for Hispanic votes in Florida -- and, on Feb 4, in Nevada, where Latinos account for 26.5 percent of the population -- Romney must be hoping that Latinos have bad memories.

We don't. We never forget a slight. And, in that respect, Romney has given us plenty to remember.

[Major Hogwash]

1. If Romney would have softened his message in Florida, he would have lost, I think.

They have to use fear to win, and fear of immigrants was Bush's #2 weapon of choice.
They're still using 2004 tactics in 2012!!

Romney should come out for the Dream Act, since it was a Republican idea to begin with.
But, if he did, the entire tea party faction would throw him overboard.
He has boxed himself in to a little corner and has no way out.
There is no way for him to debate President Obama later this fall and convince Latinos that he will represent them fairly.

By the way, I heard that Spanish language message that Romney made for his robocall last week in Florida, and it was the worst, most stuttering, unassured sentence that I have ever heard a white person deliver in Spanish in my life. He sounded like someone had written that sentence down for him and spelled it out phonetically for him. Bush had better Spanish speaking skills than Romney, and Bush was absolutely pathetic when he spoke Spanish, a complete nimrod.

[ellisonz]

2. K & R

Team Obama needs to actively organizing the Latino community.