Courting Latinos, Without Shame

He spends much of his campaign time feeding the flames of hatred against illegal immigrants, yet Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has the gall to go courting Hispanic voters.

There is a Spanish word to describe that kind of person, "descarado," and the closest translation is "shameless."

Here's a politician who once was considered a moderate on immigration but has flipped completely in order to appeal to GOP hardliners, a former Connecticut governor who boasts about denying driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and having deputized state police to enforce federal immigration laws — two politically expedient moves he made after he decided to run for president as a conservative.

Here's a presidential candidate who has campaigned against immigration reform legislation that includes any path to legalization for illegal immigrants.

Yet he thinks he actually can win support among Latinos. He must think we are completamente estúpidos .

Many Latinos are opposed to illegal immigration, of course. But unlike Romney, the overwhelming majority of Latinos, including Republicans, feel we should have some compassion for the 12 million illegal immigrants who are already here.

In fact, Romney has condemned other candidates for being too soft on illegal immigrants. For example, he has criticized his GOP rival, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for making the city "a sanctuary city for illegal aliens" because Giuliani did what he was supposed to do, which is to leave federal law enforcement to federal agents.

But if you were a Latino who didn't know Romney's background and heard him speak at the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's annual convention in Washington Sunday, you might have even clapped for him. He can fool some of the people some of the time — especially with flowery rhetoric.

"If you say, name people who are hardworking, seek education, love God, love their families and value freedom, it's Hispanic-Americans, just like other Americans," Romney told a crowd at the convention.

Ironically, that description of Latinos also applies to the overwhelming majority of the 12 million illegal immigrants he uses as guinea pigs to score political points among the immigrant haters.

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly has come out in support of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, but Romney was there to try to fool them.

"I want to make sure we continue an open door in immigration that welcomes people who come here with those kinds of values," Romney said shamelessly.

In spite of the campaign of hatred that has been launched by GOP leaders against illegal immigrants for the last couple of years, Romney had the audacity to suggest that Republicans should not cede the Latino vote to Democrats.

He said the debate over the immigration reform legislation that failed in Congress last month has been "mischaracterized."

"It's very important that we as a party communicate how much we value immigration," Romney told Latino Republicans.

If there is a Hypocrites Club of America, Romney should run for its president. That would be the only way he could get a significant number of Latinos to vote for him.

Let's face it: Republicans got 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004 and 29 percent in 2006, and with candidates like Romney, that number would go down to a single digit.

There will be some exceptions, of course. No doubt, he will get some votes from Latinos. In every community, there are some masochists.

To find out more about Miguel Perez, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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