Puerto Ricans: they earn like Mexicans, and vote like Jews... or Mexicans: According to GSS data, fewer than 20% of Mexican Americans voted for Reagan in 1980 when he carried 44 states. And this was long before the rise of strident close-the-border types. The high watermark for Republicans was Bush in 2000 when he got over 40% of the Hispanic vote. So we're told to pander so we can do badly instead of terribly. Right, Reagan fared so poorly because everyone knew he was a Mexican hater.
Americans with their eyes open realize that the Democratic Party is the natural home of Mex-Ams--just like it is for blacks. That doesn't mean we shouldn't court them or do outreach, but it makes no sense to pander with suicidal strategies like open borders.
When analyzing Hispanics, I usually focus on Mexican Americans because a great deal of illegal and legal immigration comes from Mexico. We choose the number that enter our country each year, and that choice deserves careful debate.
But let's broaden the discussion and get past the hype about other Hispanic groups as well. (In fact, I'm thinking we would do well not to use the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino." This a recent social and political construction that only hurts conservatives. Why do we want Mexican Americans to get offended when a Republican calls a Puerto Rican Supreme Court nominee a racist? It's an artifical category. Let's treat it as such.)
So--how do Puerto Ricans in the United States vote? They're Catholic and family-oriented, right? Natural conservatives, don't you think? GSS data:
Percent of Puerto Ricans voting Republican for President
2004 36.4
2000 28.6
1996 4.7
1992 25.7
The sample sizes get too small to go back any further, but you get the point. A whopping 5% of Puerto Ricans voted for Bob Dole. He did spent his whole campaign going on about how Captain Morgan is a homo. Yeah, I'm convinced if Rush would just shut the hell up, Puerto Ricans will forget about all the social programs that the Democrats are pushing. They just want people to talk pretty.
Are gun owners mentally ill?
Some anti-gun people think owning a gun is a sign of some kind of mental abnormality. According to General Social Survey data, gun owners ...
Captain Morgan is a homo? You're being clever again and it's way over my head. (I can't stand rum anyway.)
ReplyDeleteI agree. You'd have to change the underlying meaning of the Republican party in order to get the Mexican vote, the Puerto Rican vote, the Jewish vote, the Black vote, and the women vote. You can't just take a side on one issue (immigration) or pick a random black guy (Michael Steele) or nominate a random woman (Palin) and think that's going to win you any votes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you can do that without losing the soul of the Republican party. But without doing it, you guys are screwed because of demographic changes.
Either way, it's a good thing for the country.
Comments such as "places which represent the real America" alienate (Palin said something like this, I can't remember the exact words).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm sure many Hispanics are familiar with people who vote Republican and also have unfriendly attitudes towards Hispanics, so you can't expect them to vote for a party that has members which have a condescending atttitude toward them, no matter how much the candidates "pander" to Hispanics.
And you can't expect Anglos to vote for someone who mentions "Wise Latinas" and joins "La Raza". Or for a group that refers to "shiksas" and "goyisha kop"
ReplyDeleteLet's face it, we're tribal.
Yeah, in order to get any Hispanic votes, you'd have to support massed immigration from Latin America, several amnesty programs under different names, continuing affirmative action benefits for any group with below-average economic success, and covering up Hispanic-perpetrated crime by having Hispanic criminals redesignated "white", while Hispanic crime victims are "Hispanic". Also, guys, it would help if you'd have some Spanish-speakers in your party somewhere, like in the President's family.
ReplyDeleteIf the Republicans would do that ...
wait, never mind.
I guess in order to get Hispanic votes you just have to do all those things more than the other major party.
"Either way, it's a good thing for the country."
ReplyDeleteJA, are you suggesting that the GOP go away, to be replaced by something else, or are you suggesting a de facto one party state, where the GOP plays a role similar to the Washington Generals?
BTW, it's not just Republicans that are going to be screwed by the demographic changes. It's pretty naive to think that once an area becomes Mexicanized in terms of language, culture, and business climate that its political culture will somehow remain all-American. What I'm saying is that what most of us, left or right, consider corrupt is just business as usual in most Latin American societies.
My advice: be careful what you wish for.
Republicans out there drooling over mestizo voters are likely to alienate the Core of their party, that is to say Whites.
ReplyDeleteI know I will never again vote Republican for a long, long time due to their failure to openly champion White Racialism.
The only hope for Republicans is to replace Michael Steele with someone akin to David Duke.
Balkanziation beckons...
PS JA also take into consideration that 'minority groups' are going to want to slice into the Israel Lobbies funding to get their own money for their own Racial Interests. Be very careful.
David "Pro-Islam" Duke? No thanks. He's been in every party on the block anyway. I'd rather take a lifelong Republican like Buchanan.
ReplyDeleteTrying to scare Jews with NAM antisemitism is farcical. They'll turn mestizos and blacks inside out in a matter of years once it's worth bothering with. There will never be a comeuppance.
ReplyDeleteLOL,
ReplyDeleteI just love how the white racists/racialists can't imagine that I would have ANY other priorities besides "what's good for the Jews and/or for Israel." Here's a clue, people: race and ethnicity aren't the only things that matter.
"Here's a clue, people: race and ethnicity aren't the only things that matter."
ReplyDeleteTell Ms. Sotomayor...And you left out religion. Make sure you let muslims know it don't mean shit!
JA your attempts at misdirection have failed.
ReplyDeleteRace is all.