Wooing the Latino Vote: A Lesson in GOP Hypocrisy

Their TV commercials will undoubtedly insult our intelligence. The issues they will try to sell us are not really our issues. The topics we want to discuss will mostly be ignored, but Republican politicians still will try to woo Latino voters in the next 14 months -- quite hypocritically, of course.

It's going to take a lot of magic -- wizardry of the kind that only Harry Potter and his clan could deliver.

You can expect to hear politicians saying a few words in Spanish, or trying to roll their R's when pronouncing Hispanic names. They might even march in the local Hispanic parade, or bring mariachis to perform at one of their campaign events. But if they have spent years bashing immigrants -- or even looking the other way while the extremists in their ranks behave like fire-breathing bigots -- Latino voters are not likely to sing along with their mariachis.

Nevertheless, GOP strategists apparently believe they can cast a spell over Latinos so they forget the draconian measures, heartless comments, racial profiling and xenophobia-mongering initiated almost exclusively by GOP leaders during the past few years.

They think they can make Latinos forget Republican offenses by recruiting a few Latino Uncle Toms to run for public office as Republicans. These would have to be Latinos who agree with their many anti-Latino policies, of course, but they do exist. We see them constantly squirming on Spanish-language television, as they are placed in the difficult position of justifying policies they know will be detrimental to their own people. And we almost feel like voting for their opponents -- just to relieve them of the misery of being Republican apologists.

In Florida, Latinos voters are predicted to top 1.6 million in 2012, a 34 percent increase in four years. This is where Latino voters could end up determining who will be our next president, and where the battle for our vote already has begun. GOP TV commercials are already insulting our intelligence, appealing to our worst fears about the economy and attempting to scare Latinos into voting for Republicans.

GOP leaders are apparently convinced that Latino voters can be brainwashed into believing that GOP issues are also the most important Latino issues. They believe we are stupid enough to let them set our priorities.

Isn't it amazing how some politicians pretend to tell Latinos what the real Latino issues should be? Republicans do this all the time. They tell us that Latinos stand for strong national defense and family values -- as if that is all we care about -- and that this is why we should fall in line with the GOP.

They stand on the extreme opposite side of the Hispanic community on many other important issues -- education, immigration, healthcare, multilingualism, diversity, affirmative action, equal rights -- but they don't want us to think about that.

In the poor and middle class Hispanic community, fighting for tax breaks for billionaires (as Republicans have) is never a good idea, but they don't want us to think about that either.

Some Republicans are realizing that they have been bullying a community that is becoming big enough to strike back. With 50 million people -- and more than 21 million voters -- Latinos are in a position to retaliate against those who have used them as punching bags for so long.

Some of the GOP presidential candidates are already avoiding the issues that could alienate the nation's fastest growing demographic group. When they talk about the Latino vote, you see them trying to steer the conversation away from immigration reform.

"I think we do the debate a great service by making sure it's not just about immigration but also about the broader issues facing the country because Hispanic and Latino voters care equally about those issues as well,'' Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty told the St. Petersburg Times.

Surely, avoiding Latino issues could be a "great service" for anti-immigrant Republicans, including Pawlenty, but not for Latinos.

Unfortunately, because Republicans have offered no hope and Democrats have offered no help, both sides may try to avoid debating immigration during the next election cycle. But the topic Pawlenty wants to censor is still one of the most important issues that will determine how Latinos vote in 2012.

So when Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus asserts that immigration would not hurt the GOP "one bit," and when White House senior aide David Plouffe ignores President Obama's 2008 campaign promise to reform immigration and says the president's reelection campaign among Latinos "can improve over what we did in 2008 in turnout," you know they are either dreaming or spinning.

Both sides will be hurt by immigration in 2012 -- for different reasons. For Republicans, there's nothing to be gained from discussing an issue that reminds Latinos why they should vote for Democrats. For Democrats, little can be gained from reminding voters about a broken promise.

Of course Obama and the Democrats are also trying to woo Latino voters. They keep hosting White House summits for Hispanic community leaders and entertainers -- making a lot excuses for failing to at least change some immigration policies by executive order.

Unfortunately, the Democrats have been so busy playing defense and caving-in to Republican xenophobic-extremists that they have lost the respect and faithful following they once commanded among Latinos.

The polls say Latino support for Obama has plummeted by about 30 points since he became president. And that's not because we feel Republicans are better; it's because we feel Obama has not fought them hard enough.

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.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM