Posted on 04/02/2014 8:05:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON – Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the future of the Republican Party depends on what the Republicans do to expand its appeal among Hispanic voters and show them that the GOP is not “just the party of deportation.”
“I’ve been saying over and over that the Republican Party cannot win until it’s more diverse, until it looks like the rest of America,” he said.
During a Tuesday symposium hosted by the Media Research Center (MRC) and the American Principles Project (APP), the Kentucky Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate said that if the GOP wants to appeal to minority groups it has to “show up” and “say something.”
Paul said Republicans should work to get the “the door ajar” for minority groups.
“I think that what’s happened is that there’s not the perception of empathy coming from the Republican Party, that we care where they are coming from and that we care what their problems are. Until we get to that point, they’re not going to listen to any of the next message,” he said.
Paul highlighted Mitt Romney’s poor showing among Hispanics in the 2012 presidential election as a reason for winning their support.
“There’s enormous upside potential. We could probably double our vote, but we’ve got to get the door ajar.”
While Paul opposed the comprehensive immigration reform package in the Senate last year, he has indicated his support for other approaches to reform.
He said one way to appeal to Latino voters is by ensuring that “Mrs. Garcia’s nephew is not going to be sent home to Mexico” because “everybody, even those who are here legally, know somebody who is here who doesn’t have the proper visa.”
“The other thing to acknowledge is, it’s not always the individual’s fault,” he said, referring to those who are undocumented. “Sometimes it’s a child who has no control over this. But sometimes it’s also someone who came here and tried to use our system.”
“We as conservatives talk a lot about big government and how [it] never seems to work. We’re always talking about Obamacare now, how big government is a disaster…. Well, guess what? Big government is not very good with the visa system, either. Part of the problem is not the fault of those who are coming to this country and try to use it, part of the problem is big government,” he added.
In contrast to the strategy laid out by some conservatives who argue that the GOP should move beyond immigration and focus on issues where Latinos and conservatives share common ground like abortion and marriage, Paul called for a change in tone when talking about illegal-immigration reform.
“The bottom line is that the Hispanic community…is not going to hear us until we get beyond that issue. They’re not going to care whether we go to the same church or have the same values or believe in the same kind of future of the country until we get beyond that. So showing up helps. But you’ve got to show up and you’ve got to say something and it has to be different than what we’ve been saying,” he said.
Paul said he opposed the immigration bill because it still did not allow for those on work visas to switch jobs. He gave an example of an immigrant who came to the United States on a legal work visa to pick crops for $9 per hour but every day on his way to work saw an ad for a construction job that offered better pay.
“You become an illegal alien by taking a better paying job,” Paul said. “That has to be addressed. If you don’t address that, you’ll continue to have an illegal immigration problem.”
Asked by MRC President Brent Bozell how many times he has appeared on Spanish-language media outlets, Paul said he has made about half a dozen such appearances since becoming a senator in 2011. He added that he hoped to do more and that other Republicans should do the same.
“We need to do more of it. I need to brush up on my Spanish,” Paul said. “Even though I took Spanish in school, mine’s not good enough to do an entire interview in Spanish.”
Paul’s remarks were followed by a panel that focused on strategies and tactics for communicating the conservative message to U.S. Spanish-language news outlets.
MRC Latino Director Ken Oliver-Méndez presented some of the findings of the organization’s first analysis of Spanish-language nightly news on Univision and Telemundo.
“What we found is a pronounced leftward tilt in both networks’ reporting, particularly in coverage of U.S. domestic news,” said Oliver-Méndez. “As it stands now, Democratic, left-leaning sources consistently dominate the narrative in these networks’ coverage of domestic issues.”
There is no useful point in voting for a republican if all they want to be is another democrat party pandering to the “not Americans” homosexuals, and other minorities while bashing conservatives
The country is lost.
STFU Rand You stupid SOB, why let them control the agenda? You know damn well no amnesty and deportations if the right thing to do.
I’m so sick of these pandering, self serving politicians. Put them in your own damn neighborhoods
Crickets chirping in the background.
PLease, everyone, note: he didn’t back the senate amnesty bill because he thought it didn’t go far enough!
Got a link? Thanks.
That is the huge fact that so many keep ignoring. With very few exceptions - ANYONE who is not a known criminal, who is willing to do things through the proper and legal channels, can come to the US. It isn’t rocket science. The GOP has never been against such legal immigration.
But when the laws are not being enforced anyway - why even TALK about NEW laws?
Silly peasant!
New laws (and the 8 billion old laws) are for THEE, but not for Yee...
Page two of this article:
“Paul said he opposed the immigration bill because it still did not allow for those on work visas to switch jobs.”
Why not? It is rather defeatist to say we can’t deport them all. They all broke the law. Bye bye.
I am waiting for the political leader who will ignore the concept of minorities and talk to us like we are ALL Americans. Does anyone remember Reagan?
"Rand Paul announced on Sunday that he will vote against the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill because it does not sufficiently secure the southern border.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/351779/rand-paul-im-no-gang-eight-bill-eliana-johnson
FURP.
But it would make no longer illegal what he says we should permit because they do it anyway. And, the article says that that is his claim.
I know he made noise about and proposed border tightening—which of course in no way diminishes the massive amnesty he favors.
1. No freebies for illegals (housing, education, medical).
2. Asset seizure for employers of illegals (including the employer’s customers).
3. Contact with Mexican prisons to incarcerate those convicted of any crime.
4. No anchor babies.
You won’t need a wall or deportation efforts. They’ll be gone.
The only ones who will stay are those working in the crime industry (mostly drugs) and ending the WOD will get them to give up and leave.
And just to show I’m not heartless, we can have a merit competition among illegals. Top scores on the SAT, winning entries in talent contests or business plans get free admits for a couple percent of the illegals.
I do not support amnesty, I support legal immigration and recognize that the country has been enriched by those who seek the freedom to make a life for themselves. However, millions of illegal immigrants are crossing our border without our knowledge and causing a clear threat to our national security. I want to work in the Senate to secure our border immediately. In addition, I support the creation of a border fence and increased border patrol capabilities.
Immigrants should meet the current requirements, which should be enforced and updated. I realize that subsidizing something creates more of it, and do not think the taxpayer should be forced to pay for welfare, medical care and other expenses for illegal immigrants. Once the subsidies for illegal immigration are removed, the problem will likely become far less common.
I support local solutions to illegal immigration as protected by the 10th amendment. I support making English the official language of all documents and contracts.
Millions crossing our border without our knowledge constitutes a clear threat to our nation's security. Instead of closing military bases at home and renting space in Europe, I am open to the construction of bases to protect our border.
http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=issue&id=12
The 10th A stuff is bs and no pol who supports amnesty claims to—but that is exactly what he is advocating. Please don’t try to paint him as someone he isn’t.
Many, but not enough, Freepers are on to him already.
>>I am waiting for the political leader who will ignore the concept of minorities and talk to us like we are ALL Americans.<<
Interesting you should say that while in apparent agreement with the majority of comments on this thread denouncing Rand Paul, since he appears to be the one GOP candidate that is giving serious thought about how to include ALL Americans in his policy proposals, and how to get them to listen to him.
Remember, he’s trying to get the ear of Hispanic citizens/voters, not those of illegal aliens. All he’s saying is that to do that you have to tone down the rhetoric and advocate for rational policies to get the border back under control while simultaneously establishing a secure method of monitoring the non-citizens who’ve then been permitted to work here. And “tone down the rhetoric” essentially means that we have to stop talking about mass deportation. It’s a losing proposition politically.
The general complaint against this seems to be “no amnesty.” So which GOP candidate has proclaimed himself to be the “no amnesty” candidate?
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