DiabloViejo
08-26-2012, 02:45 PM
<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Squandering The Hispanic Vote: An Open Letter To The GOP</span>
JorgeRamos.com (http://jorgeramos.com/en/squandering-the-hispanic-vote-an-open-letter-to-the-gop/)
http://www.panoramadiario.com/uploads/pics/jorge_ramos.jpg
<span style='font-size: 11pt'><span style='font-family: Times New Roman'>It’s unlikely you will enjoy hearing this news (just as the Democrats probably won’t like the letter that I’ll write to them next week). Still, I thought we should clear up a few things before your convention begins in Florida on Aug. 27.
The Hispanic community is going to cast millions of ballots for President Barack Obama in November, many more than they will cast for Mitt Romney, which may swing the election toward a Democratic win. But that’s not the worst news: Unless your party changes its unreasonable anti-immigrant stance, your party will likely be shut out of the White House for generations.
A survey conducted in July by the political research firm Latino Decisions showed that 70 percent of Hispanic voters intend to vote for Obama in the coming presidential election, while only 22 percent expressed support for Romney. The results of other national surveys are very similar. Unfortunately for Republicans, winning the Hispanic vote is more crucial to victory than they seem to recognize.
One exception was President George W. Bush. Of course, when Bush moved out of the White House after two terms, he left behind an imploding economy and an expensive, unnecessary war in Iraq, but he also understood the electoral value of the Hispanic vote.
Thirty-five percent of Hispanic voters cast their ballots in his favor in 2000, and this number increased in 2004 to 44 percent — the highest percentage won by a Republican candidate in decades. Why? Because Bush had reached out to Hispanics. Then in 2007, he followed up by pushing through legislation that offered a real path to legalization for undocumented immigrants– but it was Bush’s fellow Republicans who defeated the bill in Congress.
Hispanic voters have not forgotten this.
Rather than picking up where Bush left off, Romney and fellow Republicans have decided to take a big step backward and oppose any effort at legalization.
In fact, Romney has suggested that life in the U.S. could be made so intolerable for undocumented residents that they will choose, as he has put it in interviews and past debates, “self-deportation.” I assure you, dear Republicans, that Hispanic voters will not forget this either.
We will never forget that the GOP supported the passage of terrible anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, Alabama and Georgia, nor that you backed the actions of Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who is now being sued by the Justice Department for allegedly engaging in policing practices that singled out Hispanics.
From the Hispanic perspective, Republicans have made one bad decision after another. For instance, the party could have capitalized on Obama’s failure to fulfill a campaign promise to introduce immigration reform legislation in Congress within his administration’s first year. But you chose not to.
Your staunch opposition to the Dream Act is another example. It is nonsensical to deny undocumented people brought here by their parents as children the opportunity to become citizens, and then use the importance of maintaining a secure border with Mexico as an excuse. These “Dreamers” — more than 2 million young men and women — are already established in the United States. They have been forced to live in the shadows for years through no fault of their own; they have studied and graduated from American public schools; they stand ready to make a positive, lasting contribution to our country. Yet your party refuses to do anything to help them.
And many within the party often praise President Ronald Reagan, who knew that the Hispanic community’s traditional mores are very similar to those held by the GOP: against big government, against abortion and in favor of preserving traditional family values. But unlike Reagan, who oversaw the approval of an amnesty law for undocumented immigrants in 1986, today’s Republicans have
squandered a golden opportunity by casting the undocumented, and, consequently, many Hispanics, as the enemy. (By the way, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, your vice presidential hopeful, isn’t doing you any favors. Not only does he oppose the Dream Act and creating a path to legalization, but his flip-flopping views
on the Cuban trade embargo could cause you to lose some votes from Cuban-Americans. A pity.)
Of course, as is the case with any segment of the electorate, issues regarding the economy, education and access to the health care are more important to Hispanic voters than immigration, according to many polls. Yet this issue defines who is against us. And in many states, you have overwhelmingly chosen anti-immigrant positions.
So, Republicans, you are going to lose the Hispanic vote this year, and you have done everything in your power to bring about that outcome. Now the question is: How are you going to avoid losing the White House for generations?
By Jorge Ramos Avalos
(Agust 21, 2012)
</span></span>
About the Author: (From Wikipedia)
Jorge Ramos has won eight Emmy Awards and the Maria Moors Cabot Award for excellence in journalism.
He has been the anchorman for Univision News since 1986 and has appeared on NBC's Today, CNN's Talk Back Live, ABC's Nightline, CBS's Early Show, and Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor, among others.
He is the bestselling author of No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home and Dying to Cross.
He lives in Florida.[1]
Ramos joined Univision, Telemundo, Fox Sports, ESPN Deportes, and many others in 1985.
He has interviewed multiple world leaders including Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez, Terry Porter, Rafael Correa, Fernando Ferrer, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and many others.
Ramos started working at a radio station in Mexico City. However, he left his country (Mexico) when the biggest Mexican television network censored a report he had made. Looking for another way of life, he immigrated to the U.S.
He came to the United States with a student visa in 1983. The first job he took was waiting tables. Finally, in 1984, he received the opportunity to join an affiliate of Univision in Los Angeles. Two years later, he became the morning host for the show "Mundo Latino".
He became one of the youngest national anchormen in the history of American television at the age of 28, in November 1986. Since this happened, he has been called the "voice of the voiceless"[citation needed] for other immigrants such as himself.
Ramos attended the Universidad Iberoamericana in México City where he majored in Communication. He then received his Master's degree in International Studies from the University of Miami.
He works alongside Univision colleagues María Elena Salinas.
On February 21, 2008, he represented Univision in a Democratic debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
The February 23, 2008 telecast of Saturday Night Live featured Will Forte impersonating Ramos in a Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama debate sketch, in which he is portrayed as an "Obama Stalker".
He appeared on the Comedy Central show Colbert Report on August 11, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Ramos_(news_anchor)
JorgeRamos.com (http://jorgeramos.com/en/squandering-the-hispanic-vote-an-open-letter-to-the-gop/)
http://www.panoramadiario.com/uploads/pics/jorge_ramos.jpg
<span style='font-size: 11pt'><span style='font-family: Times New Roman'>It’s unlikely you will enjoy hearing this news (just as the Democrats probably won’t like the letter that I’ll write to them next week). Still, I thought we should clear up a few things before your convention begins in Florida on Aug. 27.
The Hispanic community is going to cast millions of ballots for President Barack Obama in November, many more than they will cast for Mitt Romney, which may swing the election toward a Democratic win. But that’s not the worst news: Unless your party changes its unreasonable anti-immigrant stance, your party will likely be shut out of the White House for generations.
A survey conducted in July by the political research firm Latino Decisions showed that 70 percent of Hispanic voters intend to vote for Obama in the coming presidential election, while only 22 percent expressed support for Romney. The results of other national surveys are very similar. Unfortunately for Republicans, winning the Hispanic vote is more crucial to victory than they seem to recognize.
One exception was President George W. Bush. Of course, when Bush moved out of the White House after two terms, he left behind an imploding economy and an expensive, unnecessary war in Iraq, but he also understood the electoral value of the Hispanic vote.
Thirty-five percent of Hispanic voters cast their ballots in his favor in 2000, and this number increased in 2004 to 44 percent — the highest percentage won by a Republican candidate in decades. Why? Because Bush had reached out to Hispanics. Then in 2007, he followed up by pushing through legislation that offered a real path to legalization for undocumented immigrants– but it was Bush’s fellow Republicans who defeated the bill in Congress.
Hispanic voters have not forgotten this.
Rather than picking up where Bush left off, Romney and fellow Republicans have decided to take a big step backward and oppose any effort at legalization.
In fact, Romney has suggested that life in the U.S. could be made so intolerable for undocumented residents that they will choose, as he has put it in interviews and past debates, “self-deportation.” I assure you, dear Republicans, that Hispanic voters will not forget this either.
We will never forget that the GOP supported the passage of terrible anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, Alabama and Georgia, nor that you backed the actions of Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who is now being sued by the Justice Department for allegedly engaging in policing practices that singled out Hispanics.
From the Hispanic perspective, Republicans have made one bad decision after another. For instance, the party could have capitalized on Obama’s failure to fulfill a campaign promise to introduce immigration reform legislation in Congress within his administration’s first year. But you chose not to.
Your staunch opposition to the Dream Act is another example. It is nonsensical to deny undocumented people brought here by their parents as children the opportunity to become citizens, and then use the importance of maintaining a secure border with Mexico as an excuse. These “Dreamers” — more than 2 million young men and women — are already established in the United States. They have been forced to live in the shadows for years through no fault of their own; they have studied and graduated from American public schools; they stand ready to make a positive, lasting contribution to our country. Yet your party refuses to do anything to help them.
And many within the party often praise President Ronald Reagan, who knew that the Hispanic community’s traditional mores are very similar to those held by the GOP: against big government, against abortion and in favor of preserving traditional family values. But unlike Reagan, who oversaw the approval of an amnesty law for undocumented immigrants in 1986, today’s Republicans have
squandered a golden opportunity by casting the undocumented, and, consequently, many Hispanics, as the enemy. (By the way, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, your vice presidential hopeful, isn’t doing you any favors. Not only does he oppose the Dream Act and creating a path to legalization, but his flip-flopping views
on the Cuban trade embargo could cause you to lose some votes from Cuban-Americans. A pity.)
Of course, as is the case with any segment of the electorate, issues regarding the economy, education and access to the health care are more important to Hispanic voters than immigration, according to many polls. Yet this issue defines who is against us. And in many states, you have overwhelmingly chosen anti-immigrant positions.
So, Republicans, you are going to lose the Hispanic vote this year, and you have done everything in your power to bring about that outcome. Now the question is: How are you going to avoid losing the White House for generations?
By Jorge Ramos Avalos
(Agust 21, 2012)
</span></span>
About the Author: (From Wikipedia)
Jorge Ramos has won eight Emmy Awards and the Maria Moors Cabot Award for excellence in journalism.
He has been the anchorman for Univision News since 1986 and has appeared on NBC's Today, CNN's Talk Back Live, ABC's Nightline, CBS's Early Show, and Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor, among others.
He is the bestselling author of No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home and Dying to Cross.
He lives in Florida.[1]
Ramos joined Univision, Telemundo, Fox Sports, ESPN Deportes, and many others in 1985.
He has interviewed multiple world leaders including Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez, Terry Porter, Rafael Correa, Fernando Ferrer, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and many others.
Ramos started working at a radio station in Mexico City. However, he left his country (Mexico) when the biggest Mexican television network censored a report he had made. Looking for another way of life, he immigrated to the U.S.
He came to the United States with a student visa in 1983. The first job he took was waiting tables. Finally, in 1984, he received the opportunity to join an affiliate of Univision in Los Angeles. Two years later, he became the morning host for the show "Mundo Latino".
He became one of the youngest national anchormen in the history of American television at the age of 28, in November 1986. Since this happened, he has been called the "voice of the voiceless"[citation needed] for other immigrants such as himself.
Ramos attended the Universidad Iberoamericana in México City where he majored in Communication. He then received his Master's degree in International Studies from the University of Miami.
He works alongside Univision colleagues María Elena Salinas.
On February 21, 2008, he represented Univision in a Democratic debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
The February 23, 2008 telecast of Saturday Night Live featured Will Forte impersonating Ramos in a Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama debate sketch, in which he is portrayed as an "Obama Stalker".
He appeared on the Comedy Central show Colbert Report on August 11, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Ramos_(news_anchor)