One thing I truly don't get is that this is such bad politics for the Republicans. Hispanic-Americans are the fastest growing group in the U.S. and the Repubs are actively driving them away. It makes no sense. In many ways they are a natural constituency -- conservative, religious, family values.
We are a nation of immigrants. It is the entire history of this country. And the same pattern is repeated over and over, with only the demographic changing -- "they'll never assimilate." This was said of Irish, Germans, Polish, on and on. The fact is they do assimilate, even if they retain pride in the country of their heritage. A very high percentage of second generation Hispanic-Americans speak English as a first language in the home. Mike, my great-great grandparents (and people before them) were from Hungary, Germany, Ireland, and I'm even one part American Indian. (Basically, to use the cliche', I'm an American mutt). I know all about all of us being a nation of immigrants.
What I am talking about is the state of our country and what this administration is doing. (And yes, many of the issues can be traced back to Bush).
On a semi-related note - you mentioned Repubs driving them away. Here is some food for thought.
The Bush administration ran a program called "Operation Wide Receiver", where the ATF allowed guns with tracking devices to cross the Mexican border, in hopes that both the U.S. and Mexican govt could catch members of drug cartels. The program failed because the tracking devices didn't work, and some of the drug lords figured out how to disable the devices. The program was viewed as a failure, and scraped before Obama took office....
Then after Bush left, ATF ran a 2nd program called "Fast and Furious", which sent a far greater number of untraced guns across the border through purchases, with no way of tracking them. This went on WITHOUT the knowledge of the Mexican govt. Actually, ATF agents have testified that they were ordered to stand down and not track the weapons as they fell into to the hands of drug cartel members, even when interdiction was possible. The guns wound up being used to kill/injure a few hundred Mexicans, as well as border patrol agent Brian Terry and ICE officer Jaime Zapata. Eric Holder lied to Congress about when he knew about "Fast and Furious", which led to Obama invoking executive privilege on documentation related to Fast and Furious.
Why am I bringing this up?
Shortly before Fast and Furious started, Hillary Clinton made an incorrect statement that over 45% of gun deaths in Mexico were because of guns made in the U.S. She was fact checked and proven wrong (it was more like 22% or something along those lines), and had to issue a retraction. There are many in Washington who believe Fast and Furious was an attempt to push guns deep into Mexico, knowing they'd eventually be used, and that they'd be traced back to the U.S. It would have paved the way for more pressure on new gun control laws. I do not know if I believe this or not - but the alternative explanation is that this was just the most moronic, idiotic experiment in the history of mankind.
So while there is valid criticism for Mitt Romney and the Republicans and their communications with Hispanic Americans, the current administration has Hispanic blood on their hands from their actions, and their attempts to cover it up. Remember that many House Democrats walked out of the hearing that cited Eric Holder for contempt for the role he played in covering it up after he learned about it. Do you see where I'm going with this? :)
