Alabama's HB56 & The GOP's New Interest In The Hispanic/Latino Vote

Latinos and the Republican Party. (4.00 / 2)

I have two comments, !. the Latinos of my mother-in-laws Peurto Rican Heritage are not the same culture as the Latinos here who tend to be of Mexican Heritage.  I wonder what the statistics would look like if those two demographics were split out.  That is besides the point.  I was listening to NPR on my way to dropping my grandkids (I have custody) off to school (1/2 hour one way because Bessemer schools have something like a 37% graduation rate).  The Republican talking head they were interviewing seemed to think all they needed to get the latino vote was to get latinos on the Republican ticket.  To me that would be the same as believing blacks would relate to Clarence Thomas as one of thier own in the Supreme Court or the same as running Ann Coulter in a race just to get my vote - fat chance!

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by: grammasusan @ Fri Nov 09, 2012 at 16:49:15 PM UTC

Right on point (4.00 / 1)

That seems to be one of the biggest fallacies about Latinos.  They are no more a "single" people than most White Americans.  Just a few short decades ago, there was mass prejudice against *certain* white groups by *other* white groups.  Remember Archie Bunker's idea of a "balanced ticket?" 

[Gloria hands Archie a flyer with a group of candidate names that she feels the new youth vote will put an end to]

Archie [reading the list]:  What's the matter with this?  I call this representative government.  Salvatore, Feldman, O'Reilly, Nelson.  That's an Italian, a Jew, an Irishman and a regular American there. [Archie then turns to Mike]  That's what I call a balanced ticket."

Mike:  "Why do you always have to label people by nationality?"

Archie:  "'Cause how else you gonna get the right man for the right job?  F'rinstance, take Feldman there.  He's up for treasurer.  Well, that's perfect.  All them people know how to handle money.  Know what I mean?"

Mike:  "No.  I don't." [walks away]

Archie:  "Well, then, you got Salvatore running for DA; he can keep an eye on Feldman. [walks over to Mike & Gloria]  You know, I wanna tell you something about the Italians.  When you DO get an honest one, you really got something there. [Mike & Gloria groan and wince]  And here you got O'Reilly, the mick--he can see the graft is spread equally around.  And you got Nelson, the American guy.  He's good for TV appearances--make the rest of 'em look respectable."

All the above is from the "All in the Family" episode, "The Election Story."  That episode first aired in October 1971.

Now, when you look at your "typical" Italian, Irishman or Jew, they pretty much look like "regular Americans."  (I do wonder what Bill O'Reilly would think about being considered something OTHER than a "regular American" considering just 40 years ago, there were "regular Americans" like Archie Bunker who didn't think the Irish were "regular Americans.")  And, of course, Mike Stivic was a "Polack"--who, per Archie, wasn't a "regular American" either.  And Archie's reaction when he was asked to perform the eulogy for his pal, Stretch Cunningham, and learned that Stretch was actually Jewish?  That good ol' boy, who looked just as "regular" as Archie?

Latinos aren't some monolithic entity.  For the last few decades, the Cuban community had been the single strongest supporter of the GOP while most other Latino groups (Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Dominicans) had been more often Democrat but tended to vote for the person more than the party.  And while there'd been a leaning to the GOP because of "social conservatism," especially on the abortion issue, Latinos have become more independent--even going against the Church at times--as the GOP has become so "anti-immigrant" by equating "illegal immigration" with "Latino."  But, even in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration started attacking the Catholic-based Sanctuary movement by calling all non-Cuban "illegals" nothing more than "economic refugees" and completely ignoring the Salvadorans and Guatemalans who'd fled because of right-wing death squads back home, more Latinos started finding the Democratic Party to be more sympathetic (something about that Statue of Liberty nonsense--"poor and huddled masses, yearning to breathe free").

But now, after more than 20 years of GOP-led Latino-bashing, suddenly the GOP is waking up to the demographic reality that Latinos are increasing.  And, what's so amusing is that DESPITE all the Latino GOP office-holders (especially in the US House and Senate) who've warned against the Latino-bashing, it took the GOP's being defeated at the polls for some of the LEADING Latino-bashers to suddenly see the light.  Of course, until Lou Dobbs changes HIS stance, I doubt there'll be any substantive movement on the issue.

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by: BamaRainbow @ Sat Nov 10, 2012 at 18:03:29 PM UTC

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As always.... (0.00 / 0)

GREAT comment that's worthy of its own diary.

I actually remember that All in the Family episode from when I was a little kid!

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  - John Kenneth Galbraith

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by: countrycat @ Sat Nov 10, 2012 at 18:23:46 PM UTC

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