Posted on 11/23/2012 10:41:10 PM PST by Steelfish
Republican Super Pac Aims To Win Over Hispanics With Immigration Reform After Obama won 71% of the bloc, GOP campaigner Carlos Gutierrez turns to convincing party to embrace a shift in tone
Ed Pilkington in New York
22 November 2012 The head of Mitt Romney's campaign to attract Latino voters during the presidential election has warned fellow Republicans that unless they embrace immigration reform they are in danger of destroying the party's reputation as the guardian of economic freedom and prosperity.
Carlos Gutierrez, former commerce secretary under George Bush and the man who spearheaded of Romney's outreach to the Hispanic community, has called on the Republican party to drop its perceived hostility towards the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US or risk alienating the increasingly powerful Latino vote. He has set up a Super Pac called Republicans for Immigration Reform to instill new thinking within the conservative movement.
"What we want to do with the Super Pac is to provide some intellectual cover to Republicans so that they can move forwards without being politically hindered. If we are to remain the party of entrepreneurs and economic freedom and American prosperity, we have to also be the party of immigration," Gutierrez told the Guardian.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
“I really think it is a GOP communications problem. . . “
I agree. Look at most Republican leaders talking on television’ representing the face of the GOP:
John McCain - on the air all of the time. Looks and sounds like an ancient angry fool.
Both George Bushes had trouble articulating a full sentence.
Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty boring as paint drying.
Lindsay Graham - no comment
Romney - improved as a speaker during the campaign but always seemed stiff. At the Candy Crowley moment when it really counted, he folded. In any event he looked and acted like the rich white guy Obama labeled him.
Boehner - the tan looks fake, and he seems to be in a fog. No energy or passion. Seems happy to be a punching bag.
McConnell- comes across as a doddering old fool.
Karl Rove - a slick white male political operative who has been around forever.
The boring white men above are the daily face of the leadership of the Republican Party for most Americans. What can Mitch McConnell or John Boehner possibly say to a 26 year old unemployed youth, with $100K of student debt, that will make her the slightest bit interested in voting Republican? McCain is even worse, he comes across as crazy and angry. Plus they ooze of being unprincipled politicians, not passionate advocates for a viable vision.
Palin gives a good stump speech but still has trouble in an interview format. I cringe when she stutters through an interview on Fox and cannot do more than repeat obviously memorized talking points. Under fire in a hostile interview at NBC or CNN I fear she would fold under pressure even today. Until she can consistently prove herself under pressure in hostile environments she cannot be the conservative spokesperson. She has to demonstrate her intellect, and effectively articulate a message, in the media of the people she needs to persuade. Her perceived negatives must be overcome and it is her job to do it if she wants to be a player.
Rubio shows promise. In an interview he speaks well and with controlled passion for real ideas, not sound bites. Hi speeches are uplifting. However, like Obama in 2008, he has no real record of accomplishment. If the GOP runs him in 2016 without a record the media will have a field day accusing the party of pandering to Hispanics and not being serious. If they are going to run him against Hillary they need to get him a real leadership position as well as create PR events to demonstrate to the American people he is a real leader.
Candidates such as Mourdock and Akin only reinforce the party’s image as the bastion of out of touch white men. They were incredibly poor communicators and cost the party two Senate seats.
If the Republican leadership wants to understand its communication problem, it needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. Boring middle aged and elderly white men are not going to sell conservative principles to young whites and minorities. A mature white male with effective speaking skills, conviction, and a positive message (ie Reagan) could but such a leader is not in sight.
The fact the Democrats successfully defined Romney in a negative way, and the party could not attack Obama’s glaring negatives effectively, demonstrates the GOP does not have a real communications strategy. it may be because the leadership has no core beliefs. To them politics is thousands of individual races, not a grand crusade to sell the American dream. They view the political landscape tactically and not strategically. Look at the debate within the party today about conservative principles and the Tea Party. Many in the leadership want to ditch the conservative policies supported by the base, even though they haven’t tried to make a passionate case for those policies. How can people who don’t believe in conservatism sell the story and attract new voters? They can’t and won’t.
The question is, what are conservatives going to do?
Exit poll data...25% of Hispanics thought immigration was important...75% thought they would be given more free stuff (like medical care) from the Democrats. As usual the Republicans are letting the Democrats set the agenda rather than looking at facts.
PING
“Carlos Gutierrez, former commerce secretary under George Bush and the man who spearheaded of Romney’s outreach to the Hispanic community,”
This is what tics me off. All these politicians recycle the same old amnesty latinos. There are plenty of decent CONSERVATIVE Latino leaders, but NO, dems or repubs don’t have any use for them.
Well .. I guess the original stat was wrong. This is the final count - after the election.
Well .. sorry to ruffle your feathers.
I have no info regarding NON-hispanic Cubans .. I only report what I know to be true.
If you don’t agree - fine with me.
You do realize that the best ‘final stats’ they have are from the exit polls, don’t you?
Really .. is that why John Kerry thought he won in 2004 ..??
ROTFLOL
You can take what you ‘know’ to be true despite the best statistics available, but I can just as well point out the discrepancy.
Fine with me.
I understand the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans do not like to be referred to as “hispanics” .. Correct ..??
Probably because most of them did come here legally, and have become very productive.
I wrote “non-Cuban Hispanics.”
In other words, Hispanics from Mexico, or Panama, or Argentina.
There are roughly 50 million Hispanics in the USA.
Only 2 million of them are Cuban.
The other 48 million vote overwhelmingly for the Democrat Party.
They have always voted overwhelmingly for the Democrat Party.
In 1986, Ronald Reagan gave Amnesty to 3 million illegal Hispanics.
In 1988, 75% of Hispanics voted AGAINST George H.W. Bush.
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