Posted on 10/20/2007 6:39:22 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON -- The Republican Party's highest-ranking Latino official abruptly resigned Friday, marking the latest casualty in the GOP's bitter internal fight over immigration and dealing another setback to President Bush's years-long effort to court Latino voters.
The announcement by Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida that he was quitting as general chairman of the Republican National Committee came after he had expressed frustration over the tenor of the immigration debate within his party. ...
"Mel Martinez was a symbol of the party's outreach to Latinos, and that seems to be disappearing," said Lionel Sosa, a longtime Republican strategist and advisor to GOP presidents since Ronald Reagan. ...
The White House had engineered the ascent of the Cuban-born Martinez over the objections of many conservatives as part of an effort to repair the GOP's image among Latinos. That image suffered when Republican congressional leaders and conservative activists stymied administration-backed measures that would have created a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
Some GOP strategists say the party's poor performance among Latino voters in 2006 helped ensure Democratic victories across the country. Now, some worry that Martinez's early exit from the RNC foreshadows more trouble in 2008.
Robert de Posada, president of the Republican-leaning Latino Coalition, said Martinez's departure is especially disheartening because it follows the resignation of another high-profile Latino in the GOP: former U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.
"The message that it sends is Latinos are not welcome," De Posada said. "The radical conservative base has a temporary victory right now."
The RNC will be run by Mike Duncan, who shared the title of chairman and was responsible for the party's day-to-day operations.
--snip--
Bush issued a brief statement saying that Martinez "represented the best of the Republican Party and its core values."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) arrives to attend a Republican rally in Orlando October 20, 2007.
The Republican contenders in the 2008 presidential race will try to woo a tough crowd on Friday and Saturday
at a "Values Voter Summit" of conservative Christians who have yet to rally around a single candidate.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria (UNITED STATES)
So is jorge planning on running for president of Mexico are something, because he sure cannot get their votes in this country.
BS. Since when is the Republican party the sole party of the Latinos? And shouldn’t President Bush being doing his dead leval best to repair the base of the party or does he know something we don’t know because he refuses to share what he is doing.
Who asked for that Martinez smuck anyway? Good riddance.
Hey, he's talkin' 'bout us! ;)
(Robert de Posada, president of the Republican-leaning Latino Coalition, said Martinez’s departure is especially disheartening because it follows the resignation of another high-profile Latino in the GOP: former U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.
“The message that it sends is Latinos are not welcome,” De Posada said. “The radical conservative base has a temporary victory right now.” )
What BS is this? Gonzales was forced out by DEMOCRATS!
+1
Gonzales was forced out by DEMOCRATS!
worth repeating .. Thx
What they smoking I am sorry that Scoody and Shaggy you know what they smoking
Can you say hippie lettuce LOL!
“Latino head of RNC resigns (Sen. Mel Martinez, frustration over anti-illegal immigration stance)”
Hasta La Vista Senior Quisling, take McCain with you.
Outreach to Latinos is important, but illegal immigrants from any country aren’t supposed to vote, right?
Maybe it's a failure in our efforts to assimilate these guys, or possibly their mothers whisper words of hate to them in the crib ~ I served in the military and worked in the Postal Service with thousands of people of Latin derivation or origin who actually thought of this as a country worth sacrificing for, and preserving. Martinez stands out as being remarkably unlike them; rather more like the people their folks fled.
Martinez should take his hateful words and attitudes with him to some other place. He doesn't like us; we don't need him.
Right
Sure would be interesting to see the statistics on how many AMERICAN CITIZENS who are Latinos agree with the so-called conservative anti-illegal immigration position.
Right ~ this little lie about Gonzales is just like the Harry Reid lie about Rush. Gonzales was not kicked out by Republicans ~ he was driven from office by, among others, Chucky Schumer, a man without a bone in his body to say anything of a Republican bone!
I noticed the same thing. De Posada is more concerned with attacking the GOP than the facts.
He should have argued that Gonzales’s resignation under Democrat pressure BALANCES the resignation of Martinez.
Martinez, with help from GWB, has stunned the GOP. It remains to be seen if the GOP can recover by 2008.
He quit because the Republicans don’t want illegals in the country?
I say good bye.
Racists unite!
And adios!
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