Bush was running against white guys, Gore and Kerry. Bush would have lost to Obama too. Hispanics, Asians, Blacks and even Cubans voted for the half-African marxist because they dig his getting one over on whitey.
Moreover, according to exit polls, Romney decisively beat Obama on the questions of leadership, values and economic expertise but was crushed by more than 60 points on the question of which candidate “cares about people like me.”
Also, Bush would have lost because he would have rolled over and said nice things about Obama too. Just like McCain and Romney.
Bush did NOT win 44% of the Hispanic vote in 2004. That has been debunked, from analysts from both the Left and the Right. He got maybe 40%. And while that is still great for a Republican, it was still a large, double-digit loss to a weak and dull opponent in John Kerry.
Only Republican leaders could be stupid enough to think that repeating this performance is a path to victory going forward. Just do the math; if the Hispanic vote continues to rise, then eventually a relative increase can still end with an absolute loss. And when it comes to battleground states where the margins are close and Hispanics (or some other group the GOP is told it must pander to) are said to be decisive, the truth is that any group could be said to be decisive in a close race. Yeah, the increase in Hispanic voters hurt Romney big in Florida, but what if Romney had done a few points better with whites? Well, he’d be President elect right now.
And I’m always suspicious of why people like Jonah Goldberg repeat this bogus 44% figure. Someone like Goldberg, who’s job is to live and breathe politics, has to know that the number is bogus. So why does he repeat it?