Will scapegoating Latinos and blacks help or hurt GOP in election?

[yurbud]

I'm wondering if their "blame the victim" strategy in New Orleans and now returning to demonizing illegal immigrants will get them more racist votes than they will lose in minority and non-racist white votes.

[IndianaGreen]

1. This is a popular issue for the white Southern base and for Lou Dobbs's

fans, but the GOP has blown it big time with Latinos. Like the sign at the LA protest said: Republicans hate Latinos.

Even Hillary Clinton recognizes the GOP is blowing this!

[RagingInMiami]

3. And how strong can their white southern base be after Katrina

The ongoing war, the obvious corruption and the ports deal?

[IndianaGreen]

6. I think this is a miscalculation by the bigots in the GOP

they have awakened a giant.

[yurbud]

9. similar to Katrina: they thought more whites would buy the rioting blacks

propaganda and say let them drown.

It didn't work, and probably lost some of the soft racists who don't actually want to KILL people.

[yurbud]

7. someone once said a racist would rather starve than be fed and know

a black guy was being fed too.

The same is probably true for drowning.

[holboz]

10. Yes - the Repukes are turning into a socially conservative party...

and Bill Frist hopes to play up the "THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!" frenzy amongst scared white people(remember the South Park episode). Fear mongering works extremely well for their southern base.

[yurbud]

12. the correct response: "You're right, so let's arrest the employers"

There's fewer of them, so they will take up less jail space and therefore save money (something republicans claim to care about).

[Fovea]

2. They may gain a little ground in places like Missouri

But lose Fla and California. That would be good for us, catastrophic for them.

[RagingInMiami]

4. They lost Florida a long time ago

It's those damn machines that won it for them in 2004.

[yurbud]

8. any chance that will be corrected by '06 or '08?

[RagingInMiami]

13. We're doing the best we can

But it's a David vs. Goliath fight.

[AX10]

5. In states such as California, Florida, New York and Texas...

it will hurt them. New York and California will become even more blue and Florida will become blue as Texas less red. Arizona and New Mexico will become more blue too.

[mrgorth]

11. No net effect

Not all of them are sounding racist on this. Most are sounding pro-cheap labor. They'll lose some black and latino votes but get some white ones. They won't lose as many minority votes as we think because they have them worried about abortion and gay rights.

[puerco-bellies]

14. No Effect!

They are playing to thier base.

[cantstandbush]

15. It has historically helped the Republicans and Dixicrats to use race

and all the attendant code words to get out that fat bigot vote.

[WestSeattle2]

16. Look at the math...

they've already harvested all of the religious votes they're going to, and they've already pocketed all of the pissed-off white guy votes they're going to get. So, they have to woo suburban moms, and minorities.

They've managed to scare the beejezus out of suburban moms with their war in Iraq, cuts in social services, sleazy business and lobbying practices, and their swaggering swash-buckling junior high school bullshit, and now they've managed to poke a huge stick into the immigration hornets nest.......

The r's probably just lost Florida, ensured California remains D for another generation, and made Arizona D's more competitive. Hopefully the mega-protests aren't over yet either.


I'm sure Mr. Dean is roflhao at this very moment....

[SaveElmer]

17. This is a big fat loser for the Republicans...

Any inroads they may have made with Hispanics will be gone. In the SOuthwest this could be huge for the Democrats.

[dolstein]

18. Since when is opposing illegal immigration "scapegoating"?

No doubt, the people who employe illegal immigration deserve much of our scorn, in that they not only break the law, but no doubt encourage more illegal immigration.

But sorry, I don't buy the argument that illegal immigrants are "innocents" or "victims." Children of illegal immigrants are one thing -- it wasn't their decision. But adults who knowingly enter this country illegally and remain here in violation of immigration laws know exactly what they're doing. They're breaking the law. Period. They ought to be deported. Sadly, the immigration laws have been ignored for so long that it's impossible to deport all of the millions of illegal immigrants. But we definitely need to change the current system, or there will only be millions more.

[SaveElmer]

19. Yes they know what they are doing...

They are doing what they have to to survive. They are the victims, victims of corrupt governments, and a system that exploits them while driving them into poverty.

How would you propose deporting 11 million people?

[dolstein]

20. Oh, puh-leeze

The fact is, the vast majority of the residents of those same countries DO NOT enter this country illegally. Nobody is forcing these people to enter this country, much less illegally.

As for deporting 11 million people, I don't propose it. But I do propose cracking down heavily on any employer who employs illegal immigrants. If those jobs dry up, hopefully many of these people will leave the US on their own.

[SaveElmer]

21. I interact with these people every day...

I see alot of what they are going through. They are not here because they want a bigger yacht or something. They are here because they are expolited where they live, and are trying to provide for their families.

[dolstein]

22. And there are plenty of legal residents who want to provide for

their families too. Illegal immigrants depress wages, making it even harder for poor Americans to support their families.

Sorry, but there actually is a downside to illegal immigration, whether you want to admit it or not.

And again, you conveniently ignore the fact that there are plenty of people who are exploited in their home countries and yet choose NOT to enter this country illegally. Hell, there are people exploited all over the globe. Don't these people deserve an equal opportunity to live in this country? The rules need to be enforced against everyone equally.

[SaveElmer]

24. I didn't say there wasn't....

I don't think illegal immigration is not a problem...I simply do not believe concentrating our efforts on the victims is the best way to solve that problem. It's like trying to cure the measles by cutting off the sores...

The immigrants themselves are the symptom of a wider problem. Cure the disease, cure the symptom.

[dolstein]

25. You sound just like the people who didn't think juvenile delinquents

should be punished back in the 60s. These people thought that juvenile delinquests were merely "victims" of poverty. If you cure poverty, you cure juvenile delinquency. Of course, some things are easier said than done.

Sure, it would be great to eliminate poverty in the third world. But that's not going to happen any time soon. In the meantime, millions of people are in this country illegally, resulting in depressed wages for legal immigrants and citizens. You can pretend that the illegal immigrants themselves aren't part of the problem, but that doesn't make it so. There is an element of choice involved here. As I've said before, for every people who chooses to enter this country illegally, there are many others who choose not to. Why should we reward the former and punish the latter?

[SaveElmer]

26. You distort what I say as a strawman...

So you can refute an argument I did not make...

I said nothing about "eliminating" poverty. If these people were living in societies where everyone is given roughly an equal chance to make it I might agree with your point. But they are not. These people are not only in poverty, they are entrenched in a system that keeps them there. And part of that is our fault.

If you don't believe these people are exploited in the countries they come from, you remind me of those snooty people living in gated communities wondering why so many people seem to be unhappy.

As to your last point about those being here legally being hurt by illegal immigration, I think the massive demonstration that are occuring tell you how they feel about it better than I can.

[Up2Late]

23. This is another stupid mistake. The only part of the RW who want this...

... fight, is the ultra-extreme RW. They are pandering to the "stormfront" and hate-group fringe. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google Stormfront, (but don't link to the site, it will get your post deleted), they've been pushing this issue for years.