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CRUZ or LOSE!Posted on 04/10/2015 12:52:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON — Ted Cruz has a Latino name. He has a Latino background. And he’s one of the few Latinos to have ever run for the presidential nomination of a major party.
But is he Latino enough?
The Hispanic community in his home state of Texas gave him some but not overwhelming support when he was elected to the Senate in 2012. And mostly Democratic Latinos nationwide are more wary than ever after Cruz’s relentless criticism of immigration reform and the new health care law.
His father is a Cuban exile, and the Republican senator from Texas touts his father fleeing Cuba during the revolution every chance he gets, which usually gets a rousing response from an anti-Castro audience.
In his presidential announcement speech March 23, Cruz spoke of his father’s journey, an immigrant’s journey.
“Imagine for a second the hope that was in his heart as he rode that ferry boat across to Key West, and got on a Greyhound bus to head to Austin, Texas, to begin working, washing dishes, making 50 cents an hour, coming to the one land on Earth that has welcomed so many millions,” he said. “When my dad came to America in 1957, he could not have imagined what lay in store for him.”
The Cruz campaign released a video in Spanish and promises a push for Latino voters. “We will have an aggressive Hispanic outreach effort and have staff that are spearheading it,” said Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. “Ted’s father, Rafael, will also be an active surrogate.”
(CRUZ-SPANISH-AD-VIDEO-AT-LINK)
But Cruz, whose mother is Anglo, has had a limited connection to the Latino community, which is largely Mexican-American and also largely Democratic.
“Running in the primary, Ted Cruz is not making any effort to appeal to Latino voters,” said Matt Barreto, co-founder of the research and polling firm Latino Decisions.
Cruz’s attacks on issues favored by much of the Hispanic community, especially the Obama administration’s easing of immigration restrictions and the Affordable Care Act, have made him unpopular. In a Latino Decisions poll in November of over 4,000 Latinos in 10 states where Hispanics are a significant voting bloc, Cruz had a favorable rating of 31 percent and was viewed unfavorably by 39 percent.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who also is Cuban American and who is announcing his presidential campaign Monday in Miami, also had a 31 percent favorable rating but fared slightly better with a lower negative rating of 36 percent.
Cruz’s birth certificate gives his name as Rafael Edward (“Ted” is a nickname), named after his father. The elder Cruz left Cuba on a student visa after having been arrested and tortured for his disenchantment with rebel leader Fidel Castro, who he had initially supported. His last name is very distinctive: “cruz” means cross in Spanish.
Ted Cruz was born in 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, where his parents were in the oil business. The family moved from Canada to Houston when he was small.
Cruz speaks passable Spanish; he has said he speaks “Spanglish.”
“He’s slightly more Hispanic than Jeb Bush,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, who added that he was only half-kidding.
A recent report that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is weighing a presidential run, had checked off “Hispanic” on a voter registration card caused a stir. Bush is considered a blue blood, the son and brother of former presidents from Texas whose family roots are from wealthy New England families. But Bush, who laughed off the incident as a mistake, speaks fluent Spanish and is married to a woman from Mexico.
Texas does not ask for race identification on voter registration, so Cruz’s self-identification is not so readily available.
“While Cruz is ethnically Hispanic on his father’s side, that is not part of his political persona,” said Jillson.
The Texas senator won his seat in his first political campaign in 2012 by appealing to the tea party in the state with his message of being a strong social and fiscal conservative.
He garnered 35 percent of the Latino vote in the general election, according to a poll by Latino Decisions, outperforming GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who got 29 percent.
But, said Barreto, who is also a professor of political science at UCLA, Cruz’s working against the immigration bill crafted by Rubio and a bipartisan group of senators in 2013 cost him support.
“He himself comes from an immigrant family, and that creates bad feelings in the Latino community,” said Barreto. The bill, which set a path to citizenship, passed the Senate but was not considered by the House of Representatives.
“Ted Cruz is undeniably Latino,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Political Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “Does he seem to be interested in appealing to the Mexican American majority of the Latino population? Not so much. His career in Texas primarily has been focused on reaching out to conservatives.”
He’s more Latin than Obama is black. This is silly.
She will let us know when its time to respond positively to the race of a candidate again.
Blurbillectuals?
Blurbocrats?
But no guacamole.
Sra. Mercio, eres una m**rd*.
(Ms Mercio, you are [a piece of] Shiite.)
Cruz or lose
BTW Hispanic activists use "anglo" to refer to all white people, much like someone who refers to all asians as "chinese".
Or all blacks as _______s.
Isn’t it racist to ask a question like that?
What a silly article. Exactly how is Obama, who’s mother is white and was brought up by his white mother and white grandparents, more black than Ted Cruz is Latino , given that Ted Cruz’s daddy, who is Latino, was actually there to bring him up and Obama’s black daddy went AWOL from the get go?
Whoever he was.
He is obviously not latino or minority because he isn’t in need of leftwing government to declare him “disabled” and give him benefits.
Is Ted Cruz Latino enough?
Well he’s is not toting around a leafblower in a sombrero but....
CRUZ or LOSE!Ted is one of about 12 humans running for President.
I was unaware being a stupid liberal was part of being Hispanic.
Or all hispanics as Mexican.
I don’t think people should run on their “ethnic” credentials. Cruz will have to appeal to ALL people on the basis of his ideas and the likelihood of his being able to implement them.
Unfortunately, he seems to have decided that appealing to people as an Evangelical and citing his personal walk or whatever is going to win them over, Hispanic or non-Hispanic. He reminds me a lot of Rick Santorum, although a lot smarter (Rick had little but his Christianity going for him).
I think Cruz is a brilliant guy but I don’t think he’s going to be the candidate, much less President. He lost me (I’m not Hispanic, btw) with his religious proclamation, because I don’t like people pandering to any group, and I was always dubious about him as an executive so it didn’t take much to lose me.
He’s never managed anything but has been kind of a gadfly attorney most of his life. And he’s great. He was the one who won the election for Bush with his arguments before the Supreme Court.
I’d love to see him as AG, because he has the intelligence and courage to undo many of the things that the stupid, ignorant but ideological Obama and Holder did. But I don’t think he’s going to fly with the majority of Americans, Hispanic or not, as Chief Executive.
I’m not sure who will. I like Walker - but also Jindal and Fiorina, although I’m not sure either one of them should be at the top of the ticket. If it’s not Walker, Jindal would be my second choice, but I doubt that he has the money to get there.
I think Bush will fade away because, in a lot of ways, he’s yesterday. We don’t need retreads.
ROFL ROFL Goon One. Thanks for making me laugh
AMEN !
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