In Responding To Obama’s Executive Action, Top GOPers Worry About Further Alienating Latino Voters

Top Republicans worry that their party's response to the President's executive action will alienate Latinos. However, there's little they can do about that.

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While the GOP reacts, and continues to try to figure out how to respond, to the President’s executive action on immigration policy, many top level Republicans are again worrying about how that response is going to impact the party’ standing with Latino voters:

WASHINGTON — All but drowned out by Republicans’ clamorous opposition to President Obama’s executive action on immigration are some leaders who worry that their party could alienate the fastest-growing group of voters, for 2016 and beyond, if its hottest heads become its face.

They cite the Republican Party’s official analysis of what went wrong in 2012, the presidential-election year in which nominee Mitt Romneyurged Latinos here illegally to “self-deport.”

“If Hispanics think that we do not want them here,” the report said, “they will close their ears to our policies.”

“Both the president and the Republican Partyconfront risks here,” said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster. While the danger for Mr. Obama is “being perceived as overstepping his boundaries,” Mr. McInturff said, “the Republicans’ risk is opposing his action without an appropriate tenor, and thereby alienating the Latino community.”

How the two parties manage their respective risks as they battle for public opinion is likely to define the final two years of Mr. Obama’s presidency as well as the emerging race to pick his successor.

But some Republicans say their party has the greater challenge — as the White House is betting — in framing their opposition in a way that does not antagonize Latinos and other minority groups like Asian-Americans, much as Republicans lost African-Americans’ support in the civil-rights era.

Most emboldened by Republican victories in this month’s midterm elections were its hard-line conservatives, who say the results vindicated their defiant actions, including last year’s government shutdown. Their numbers in Congress will grow in January with newly elected conservatives, significantly increasing the ranks of House Republicans who have publicly said they would consider impeaching Mr. Obama.

As for immigration, many candidates took stands against “amnesty” for those here illegally with little fear of political penalty because few close contests were in places with significant Latino populations.

Consequently, the party could hardly be further from the positions on immigration that former President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain sought in the past, and that Speaker John Boehner unsuccessfully pressed on House Republicans at the start of this year.

“Clearly with Republicans not having gotten to a consensus in terms of immigration, it makes it a lot more difficult to talk about immigration as a unified voice,” said David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises House leaders. “There are some people — because there’s not a consensus — that somehow end up having a little bit louder voice than perhaps they would normally have.”

None of these concerns are new, of course. We saw similar reactions from Republican leaders in the wake of the 2012 Presidential elections, where Mitt Romney received the lowest percentage of the Latino vote of any Republican nominee in recent memory. To a large degree, and correctly I think, the post-election autopsies that were done by Republicans and others blamed a large part of the rejection of the GOP by Latinos in that election can be blamed on both Republican policy on the one issue that Latino voters seem to agree is the most important to them and their community and the way that issue was handled during the race for the Republican nomination. As you will recall, back then the eventual Republican nominee was talking about enforcing policies that would somehow force people to “self-deport” while the Governor of Texas was being attacked for advocating policies such as in-state tuition for Texas students who had been brought to the United States illegally when they were children. And it was the Governor who was being treated as the bad guy by debate audiences for his position despite pointing out that the measure had passed his state’s GOP dominated legislature overwhelmingly. Given that, it was no surprise when Latinos rejected the GOP overwhelmingly.

In response to the 2012 demographic disaster, Republican leaders, and politicians who had long had closer ties to the Latino community such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, began urgin the party to act on immigration reform. To some extent, of course, they succeeded in that there was significant GOP support for the reform bill that ended up passing the Senate. However, that momentum quickly ebbed and the matter lay dormant in the House. A big reason for that, of course, is that the political dynamics for Republicans  in the House of Representatives are far different than they are for national candidates, or even candidates for Senate. To a large degree, there are few Republican members of the House who have to worry about a large Latino vote in their districts that could threaten them at General Election time. Instead, as I have noted before, they have to worry more about challenges from the right in a primary if they stray from base orthodoxy on this or any other issue. That’s why it was always unlikely that we would see House action on immigration before the midterms, and one of the reasons why it’s unlikely we’ll see it going forward, especially in light of the fact that the President has essentially stuck a thumb in the GOP’s eye with his executive action. In short, while the Latino vote may be a concern for the GOP nationally, especially in the long term, it is of little concern to most Republicans in the House. For them, there are more incentives to resist immigration reform than there are to help their party’s national prospects. As long as that contradiction exists, the GOP is going to have a tough time getting beyond this issue.

 

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, Borders and Immigration, Congress, Race and Politics, US Politics, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. steve says:

    The House will propose reform in increments. Their first proposal will be a border fence. When they don’t get that they will claim it is not possible to do anything else. That will play well with their base and win their primaries. It will further alienate everyone else.

    Steve

  2. michael reynolds says:

    We’ve had a fairly typical Republican leadership reaction so far. The sky is falling! Dictatorship! Emperor Obama! Intolerable! Criminal! Impeachable! Followed instantly by Vacation!

    Build the hype to fleece the suckers, then belatedly realize you’ve alienated voters, slink away without ever admitting error.

    Such a simple solution: pass the bill.

    But how do you pass a bill that doesn’t crap all over brown people when your base really, really, really wants to crap all over brown people? Will Limbaugh and Roger Ailes allow the GOP leadership to hide in a corner and pretend? Will Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman let this go? How about Ted Cruz?

    Boehner and McConnell want to pretend nothing happened and they never said all those extreme things. But the Base Beast may yet awaken and foil their plans.

    Gosh, it’s a dilemma. For Republicans, I mean. For us it’s win-win.

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    Demographics is a bitch if you are a Republican.
    The missing story of the 2014 election

    The Blue Wall is block of states that no Republican Presidential candidate can realistically hope to win. Tuesday that block finally extended to New Hampshire, meaning that at the outset of any Presidential campaign, a minimally effective Democratic candidate can expect to win 257 electoral votes without even trying. That’s 257 out of the 270 needed to win.

    Arguably Virginia now sits behind that wall as well. Democrats won the Senate seat there without campaigning in a year when hardly anyone but Republicans showed up to vote and the GOP enjoyed its largest wave in modern history. Virginia would take that tally to 270. Again, that’s 270 out of 270.

    This means that the next Presidential election, and all subsequent ones until a future party realignment, will be decided in the Democratic primary. Only by sweeping all nine of the states that remain in contention AND also flipping one impossibly Democratic state can a Republican candidate win the White House. What are the odds that a Republican candidate capable of passing muster with 2016 GOP primary voters can accomplish that feat? You do the math.

    And the Senate will only be controlled by the Republicans for 2 years.

    Democrats in 2014 were up against a particularly tough climate because they had to defend 13 Senate seats in red or purple states. In 2016 Republicans will be defending 24 Senate seats and at least 18 of them are likely to be competitive based on geography and demographics. Democrats will be defending precisely one seat that could possibly be competitive. One.

  4. Ed says:

    Let’s see.

    Latinos vole 70% Democrat. Always have and always will. The GOP can never play the identity politics and professional victim game as well as the Dems no matter how much they pander.

    So should it abandon any pretense of belief in quaint notions like sovereignty and rule of law to appease the Chamber of Commerce’s desire for cheap labor and pray that maybe 35% of Latinos will vote GOP instead of 30%?

    Should it completely alienate its base, hugely expand an already monstrous welfare state, and add 20 million voters who will never, ever, ever vote for them, in hopes that leftists will scold them a little bit less?

    Hmmmmmm. Should it try to make the case that maybe, just maybe, people whose very presence on our soil is an expression of contempt for our borders and right to exist as sovereign nation shouldn’t be rewarded for coming here illegally? That rewarding these invaders is an affront to millions around the world who are trying to get here LEGALLY? That it is an affront to tens of millions of low-skilled workers with whom these largely uneducated and illiterate cockroaches must compete for jobs? That WE get to define who comes here and that the notion that anyone who wants to can come here and get the benefits of our welfare state no matter what we think about it is offensive?

    Or should the GOP reward lawlessness in a futile quest to pander to an overestimated demographic (Latinos are still only 13% of the population after all) that will NEVER, by and large support it?

    Gee. Tough call.

  5. superdestroyer says:

    The idea that Latinos are ever going to vote for the more conservative party is laughable. Instead of worrying about pandering to Latinos, why not work to end government programs that wed Latinos to the Democratic Party. If Latinos are willing to break laws and enter the U.S. by the millions, maybe the Republicans should support eliminating any minority set asides, quotas, or affirmative action for Latinos. Maybe it is time to end the economic benefits of being a single mother (since more than 50% of Latinos and more than 70% of blacks are born to unwed mothers).

    If Republicans hope to exist in the future, they can only exist as a conservative party since the U.S. does not need nor want a second liberal party. Throwing middle class whites under the bus with higher taxes, a lower standard of living, and higher living expenses in order to pander to poor third world immigrants is political suicide. The first step should not be the border fence but severe employer enforcement. Not only will it be something that President Obama has to sign but it also goes along with voter ID and the prevention of identity theft.

  6. sam says:

    I sincerely hope that your voice, Ed, is heard within the Republican Party. And your recommendations acted upon. (You might want to temper the “cockroach” thing, though. There are folks that might you accuse you of being a stone racist, and that can only detract from the force of your argument. Just a suggestion.)

  7. superdestroyer says:

    @sam:

    The dumbest thing the Republicans could do would be to listen to the progressives who are begging for amnesty and open borders. Having an immigration bill singed by President Obama while surround by very liberal Latino activist would signal the end of conservative politics in the U.S. and the beginning of the one party state. Republicans will not gain by giving the Democrats a massive policy victory.

  8. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @Ed:

    Nativism is a one way street for the GOP.

    The odd thing is that the GOP (at least the GOP portrayed in party rhetoric anyway) should be a natural fit / lock for Latinos.

    Consider the characteristics of the demographic – Strong family values, strong work ethic, deeply religious – in short the vast majority of Latinos are everything that Republicans like to say their party is about. Unfortunately for the GOP, it has a base locked up in nativism and (for many) racism, so it engages in policies that utterly repel what should be a locked demographic.

  9. Gustopher says:

    @sam: Cucaracha, not cockroach. And then it will be perfect. Because attempting to speak Spanish makes everything better — and that’s how Ed’s position will avoid offending the legal Latino immigrants.

  10. superdestroyer says:

    @HarvardLaw92:

    Latinos are actually a bad fit for a conservative party:

    1. Latinos do not have a strong family values. More than 50% of Latino children are born to unwed mothers. They get divorced at a higher rate than white.
    2. Latinos are unemployed at a higher rate than whites or Asians. Are on disability at a higher rate than whites or Asians. Failed to graduate high school at a higher rate than whites or Asians and fail to finish college at a higher rate than whites or Asians. Nothing showing that they are harder working than any other ethnic group and actually are less hard working that the median Repubican voters.
    3. Latinos go to church at the same rate as whites, more than Asians, and much less than blacks. They also donate less time and money than whites to the church when they do go. Not exactly a sign of being religious.

    The more conservative party is never going to appeal to any ethnic group with little future time orientation and Latinos demonstrate that they have less future time orientation, on average, than whites.

    Republicans do not want or need more automatic Democratic Party voting Latinos who will support politicians who want higher taxes on the wealth (read whites) and more set asides for oppressed minorities (read more quotas and affirmative action for Latinos).

  11. Gustopher says:

    @superdestroyer: Look at the first generation immigrants, versus the third or fourth generation in — to the extent that there is some truth to what you are saying about Latinos in the US, it is something that this country does to them.

    Employment discrimination, poor educational opportunities and a hostile relationship with the police will do that.

  12. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @superdestroyer:

    Source for your rantings other than Charles Murray? Your racist slip is showing just a bit (more than usual …)

  13. superdestroyer says:

    The CDC is the source of the out of wedlock data. Look it up there. I have cited it many times on OTB and yet, progressive keep demanding the same site. The BLS is the source for the unemployment rate. The Department of Education is the source for the high school and college graduation rate. If you want to entertain yourself, review the NAEP test results for Latinos versus whites and Asians across agree levels, subject, and state. I provide cites for disability claims by race here at OTB just a few days ago. The church attendance numbers I have cited here before at OTB. The church donations I leave to all of the reports of the financial problems that inner city catholic churches are having.

    Unless you have provide out data to claim that Latinos do not have a higher rate of out of wedlock kids and have a lower unemployment rate than whites, then Please, do not repeat the Karl Rove talking point that Latinos are Republicans but just do not know it. In reality, Latinos are very liberal and do know it. Why else is the Congressional Hispanic Caucus all Democratic and very liberal.

  14. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @superdestroyer:

    You misrepresent the out of wedlock data in your usual attempt to portray whites as morally superior to brown people. You sure you’re not Charles Murray undercover?

    For example, among Hispanics, the birth rate with regard to unmarried mothers in 2012 was 73 per 1,000 births. This represents a 28% drop from 2007.

    Likewise African-Americans, at 63 per 1,000 births, and whites, at 32 per 1,000 births.

    Unsaid factoid? The vast majority of all births, across all racial groups, occur to married women. Unwed mothers are the minority.

    You also leave out that the birth rate among unmarried late teens / early 20s has plummeted, while it has risen among women in their 30’s (7% increase) and 40s (29% increase). This dovetails with the general increase across the board in the US with regard to women OF ALL RACIAL GROUPS avoiding marriage altogether.

    In other words, the unmarried teenage Mexican mother living off of welfare drama that you are trying to sell without coming out and saying it is a myth.

    As for the rest, can anybody venture a guess as to why Mexicans might be unemployed at a higher rate (many of them are here illegally and therefore have more difficulty finding employment), are on disability at a higher rate (they tend to work manual labor positions, and therefore stand a higher chance of being injured on the job in the first place), or graduate at a lower rate (English as a second language? Deportations? Anyone? Anyone?)

    You, as usual, are pulling your Murray routine – trying to dress your bigotry and nativism up in the trappings of statistics. Not buying it, sorry.

  15. Gustopher says:

    @superdestroyer:

    Why else is the Congressional Hispanic Caucus all Democratic and very liberal?

    Because Republicans shit all over brown people every chance they get, and do not favor or propose any policies that will help Latinos (or anyone facing discrimination in employment, poor educational opportunities or a criminal justice system and police force biased against them)?

    Because Republicans favor a punitive immigration policy that even if it does not directly affect every single Latino, will end up affecting someone that they know?

    Because no minorities as a group actually favor Republicans? (and probably won’t until whites are a minority?)

    Because Republicans keep talking about “Real Americans” that are white, rural and love their guns more than anything else? (Whatever your view on guns, they are basically a side issue to most people…)

    I mean, that’s just a guess.

  16. Gustopher says:

    @superdestroyer:

    1. Latinos do not have a strong family values. … They get divorced at a higher rate than white.

    Conservative Christians also get divorced at a higher rate than the population at large, so Latinos really should fit right into the Republican base.

  17. Just 'nutha' ig'rant cracker says:

    @Ed: @superdestroyer: You say that the Republicans can never play the victim game as well as Democrats. I beg to differ. You two guys are splendid at being victims. Maybe you could give a seminar or something to make the rest of the party as skilled as you are.

  18. DrDaveT says:

    “If Hispanics think that we do not want them here,” the report said, “they will close their ears to our policies.”

    Unusually perceptive, for an official Republican Party finding. The real problem, though, is that if Hispanics think Republicans do not want them here, they will be correct. So what to do? You can’t change how the base feels about Latinos, and you can’t keep Latinos from figuring this out.

    ‘Tis a puzzlement.

  19. An Interested Party says:

    @Ed:

    Music to the collective ears of the Democratic Party…hopefully the 2016 GOP presidential nominee will sound as much like you as possible…by the way, very nice touch referring to human beings as such a low form of vermin…careful, though, lest such people become the ones stepping on you…

  20. Ed says:

    @HarvardLaw92: Come here illegally and expect to be subsidized by your victims and welcomed with open arms?

    Cockroach is probably too nice a word.

    Hate the “discrimination?” Hate the “poor educational opportunities?” Hate the “bad interactions with the police?”

    All understandable. This is clearly an awful place. Maybe they should just go the hell back to the utopias they came from?

  21. michael reynolds says:

    Superdestroyer, you need to work harder! Ed’s out-bigoting you!

  22. C. Clavin says:

    Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
    Super-Dooper meets Ed
    In the battle of the bigots!!!!

  23. Ed says:

    @michael reynolds:

    Yep. I’m bigoted against people who illegally enter our country, adopt fake identities and whine about the treatment they get from their benefactors.

    But that’s not all.

    I’m bigoted against rapists and armed-robbers too. And child molesters, terrorists, con-men and heroin dealers. My bigotry knows no end.

    But my dread of the shopworn cry of “bigot” DOES have an end. And millions of others are catching on, and their dread is ending as well.

    But you keep on crying “bigot.” It’s become about as intimating as crying “unicorn.”

    If a lot less original.

    Ed

  24. michael reynolds says:

    @Ed:

    Oh, dude, I’m not trying to intimidate you. People like you are manna from heaven for Democrats. Rage, rage against the browning of the white.

  25. Ed says:

    @michael reynolds: You seem kind of obsessed with race.

    White Guilt? I can’t relate. But maybe you should seek counseling.

    Good luck!

    Ed

  26. An Interested Party says:

    Come here illegally and expect to be subsidized by your victims and welcomed with open arms?

    Uh huh…

    I’m bigoted against rapists and armed-robbers too. And child molesters, terrorists, con-men and heroin dealers.

    Yes, ladies and gentlemen, people from other places coming here to make a better life for themselves and their families are no better than the most heinous criminals…

    White Guilt? I can’t relate.

    Well of course you can’t…anyone who would refer to other human beings as “cockroaches” probably feels very little guilt of any kind…

  27. Ed says:

    @An Interested Party: “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, people from other places coming here to make a better life for themselves and their families are no better than the most heinous criminals…”

    Ah yes, the eternal dishonesty of the leftist. “Coming here to make a better life for themselves.” You just can’t muster the intellectual honestly to acknowledge that we’re talking about people who come here ILLEGALLY. I.E., in violation of and contempt for our laws. You just think you can ignore that part away.

    So what if I choose not to pay income taxes so I can make a better life for myself and my family? That wouldn’t be a heinous act. I’d just be keeping my income so I could provide better for my family, right?

    And millions of people cheat on their taxes, right? What are you going to do…put millions of hard-working people in jail for trying to build a better life? And what about their children? Do you want to break up families for a nonviolent crime like tax evasion?

    Right?

    Ed

  28. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @Ed:

    Of course you’re just opposed to “illegal” Mexicans, right? You’re all filled with Christian love for the ones who come here legally and welcome them with open arms – even if they do like to speak Spanish among themselves, right?

    This country is on track to become majority minority by 2040, so seriously, like Michael said, keep beating that drum. Despite the blabbering about law & order, you aren’t much fooling anybody, and the folks you’re targeting (contrary to your dim view of them) aren’t too stupid to see it for what it is – nativism. The GOP is sowing the seeds of its own political demise by pandering to a demographic that is shrinking by the day.

    No Irish need apply, indeed …

  29. Ed says:

    @HarvardLaw92: More evidence that the left has become constitutionally incapable of discussing, you know, facts.

    All the blather here and not a single word addressing the undeniable fact that we’re talking about people who broke our laws. Deflection about demographics Deflection about race. Deflection about everything under the sun.

    But not one word addressing the idea that the rule of law should matter. That sovereignty should matter.

    I don’t blame the people here. It’s how the left has been conditioned to debate. “Racist! Homophobe! Fox News!”

    But you prove my point. Until you can address the central point that we are talking about law-breakers, you prove my point. The right wants to talk about the rule of law and the left wants to talk about race.

    Not that I blame them. It’s pretty much what their masters in the media and the universities have taught them to do. But it’s still sad.

    So…how about that pesky rule of law thing? Or would you rather just keep talking about race?

  30. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @Ed:

    Sure, I’ll address it. It’s largely the latest in a series of laws designed to get members of Congress reelected by appealing to nativism. They do it because it works – because people like you are willing to couch your biases behind the fence of the “rule of law”.

    Biases which, I note, you haven’t bothered to deny.

    That said, I have no problem with following the law. If you want to follow the law by rounding up 12 million Mexicans and deporting them, by all means, be my guest. Just be sure you do it legally – meaning hearings in the immigration courts (which actually work) that your party has consistently underfunded in favor of spending money on that ridiculous albatross of a fence – which will never work. Nobody ever did badly by appealing to the biases of the rural white voter’s bunker mentality.

    At least not for the foreseeable short term anyway. In the long-term, it’ll be the GOP equivalent of Custer trying to fight off the Indians …

    That said, once it’s done YOU get to own the economic consequences of removing 12 million consumers from the economy, YOU get to own the rise in prices that will follow in its wake and YOU get to own the closures of marginal businesses that were barely scraping by via employing illegal labor.

    You’ll simultaneously alienate moderates and Latinos, while solidifying that rural, white base of yours that is shrinking by the day. You’ll be handing us electoral power for a generation, so by all means, knock yourself out.

    Just don’t show up here after the fact whining that it didn’t turn out the way that you thought it would.

  31. michael reynolds says:

    @Ed:

    Tell you what: let’s start by arresting every single person in America who broke the law against smoking weed.

    Then, we arrest every single person who ever broke the law by lying on their tax forms.

    Then, after we’ve built those 150 million jail cells, we get started next on insisting that every letter of immigration law be enforced.

    Good, I like that plan.

  32. Pharoah Narim says:

    @Ed: So….. the invaders are being invaded. Karma’ s a slow bitch….. but she’s reliable. Your anger is delicious.

  33. jukeboxgrad says:

    Rage, rage against the browning of the white.

    We don’t pay you enough. Getting you for free is the best bargain on the internet.

  34. Anjin-San says:

    Breaking the law. Hmmm. I smoked dope for 17 years, broke the law pretty much every day. Worked most of those years and paid taxes. I’ve turned out OK, solid citizen & so on. Half the people I grew up with have more or less the same story. Really, show me anyone who never broke a law or two.

  35. Ed says:

    @Anjin-San: I agree. And laws about smoking pot are changing. Because people see it as a victimless crime. Breaking into someone’s house, though, or country, isn’t victimless.

    Ed

  36. Ed says:

    @Pharoah Narim:

    Anger? That’s funny. I live a pretty comfortable and happy life. I’m not the one pushing racial politics to justify lawlessness. Most political anger seems to come from the left. Hate “old white people.” Hate “the one percent.” Hate Christians. Hate conservatives. ESPECIALLY hate black or female conservatives. You haven’t heard hate until you hear the kind of stuff that gets said about Clarence Thomas, Michelle Maliin or Allen West – minoritieswho dare to stray from the Democrat leftist plantation.

    And I’m pretty sure I never illegally entered another country, either. Neither did my parents. My paternal grandparents did come here LEGALLY from Lithuania a century or do ago. And my wife LEGALLY from the Philippines. But no one in my family tree ever illegally entered another country as far back as I can research….So I’m not sure who your hatred is directed against here….but good luck with it!

    Ed

  37. Ed says:

    @HarvardLaw92: I don’t deny the biases you’ve conjured up in your fevered imagination because I’ve stopped playing the left’s game.

    It doesn’t work with me – or an increasing number of conservatives – any longer. It used to be that leftists hurled the old “racist” chestnut and conservatives cowered in fear. “Please don’t call me that! I’ll agree with anything you say! Just don’t call me racist!” But you guys overplayed that hand. You’re The Little Boys Who Cried Racist.

    So call me racist if you want. Call me a Leprechaun if you want. They’re equally true and cause me equal psychic scarring.

    But you do raise one good point. The businesses who employ these vermin are every bit as much to blame, if not more so, than the invaders themselves. Throw a few of them in prison – you’ll see the magnet shut down quick. The maybe American citizens can start getting hired again as construction workers, roofers, maids and road crew workers. Hell, maybe fruit pickers!

    By the way, that shrinking old white rural vote must be awfully powerful. 32 GOP governors. 250 or so House members. 20 or so state houses with the GOP in complete control (the solvent states for the mat part).

    The left’s faith in its inevitable assumption of power through demography is amusing. At the rate Democrats are hemorraging the white vote, it’s no wonder they’re so eager to import more clients of the welfare state. If they don’t hurry they’ll never win another governorship outside of California and Massachussetts.

    Oops. Make that just California.

    Ed

  38. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Ed:

    Breaking into someone’s house, though, or country, isn’t victimless.

    I am sure the vast majority of surviving Native Americans would agree with you and ask you to please self deport. Or is that not what you mean?

  39. James Pearce says:

    @Ed: Just saying, you’re claims of “not a racist” are a bit hard to buy when you can’t even resist calling the people you hate “vermin.”

    What makes you so different from the lefties you condemn?

  40. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @James Pearce:

    What makes you so different from the lefties you condemn?

    Everything?

  41. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @James Pearce: I got it, a basic level of humanity. He has none.

  42. Gustopher says:

    @Ed:

    You haven’t heard hate until you hear the kind of stuff that gets said about Clarence Thomas, Michelle Maliin or Allen West – minoritieswho dare to stray from the Democrat leftist plantation.

    Plantation. Awesome.

    I know I’ve heard that before — I think Superdestroyer pulls it out every once in a while — but I don’t know who popularized it on the nativist right. It’s a good one, sort of like a subtle tribal marker, but more of an in-your-face racist comment. It’s like “culture of dependency” but bringing a visceral image of slavery and an unspoken hint of n****r.

    Anyway, so anger. Much racist. Etc.

    I know, you’re not really racist, you’re just calling a spade a spade.

  43. Tyrell says:

    Surveys have showed a majority favor immigration reform (which includes stronger borders), but less than 50% approved of Obama’s action. Studies show immigration reform is not a high priority for most Americans.

  44. wr says:

    @Ed: “You seem kind of obsessed with race.White Guilt? I can’t relate. But maybe you should seek counseling.”

    Let’s see… in the last few messages, “Ed” has talked about how being called a “raaaaacist” — sorry, “bigot” this time,– is now a badge of honor, he’s turned around and accuses MR of doing exactly what he is being accused of in some nonsensical manner… does he have to start calling people “cupcake” before everyone catches on?

    Not that I’m calling anyone a sockpuppet. It’s quite possible there’s a “Trolling for Morons” book out there and they’ve all studied it assiduously.

  45. superdestroyer says:

    @Gustopher:

    I have never used the plantation analogy. However, there is no question that over 90% of blacks are automatic Democratic Party voters. Look at the career of “mayor for life” Marion Barry. No matter how corrupt and inept he was, he always received the vast majority of black votes. One can make the argument that Barry was better than the alternatives but another way to look at it was that Barry destroy any chance of DC becoming a state for the next few decades. Look at how Detroit kept electing Coleman Young and then Kwame Kilpatrick. See how Jesse Jackson Jr received over 75% of the vote after his leave of absence and his criminal indictment.

    The idea that the more conservative party can ever appeal to blacks is laughable. And since 95% of blacks will automatically vote for the Democrats in the next election, that makes any conservative party look racist. The only question for Democrats is what happens to the poltiics, culture, and economy of the U.S. when demographics have changed enough that the U.S. will be as much of a one party state as current day D.C., Detroit, or Chicago. Will it really be the progressive paradise that so many white, elite Democrats predict?

  46. superdestroyer says:

    @Just ‘nutha’ ig’rant cracker:

    If the Republicans are victims, they are victims of their own stupidity. Look at how idiot cheap labor Republicans keep repeating the stupid talking point that Latinos are really conservatives and the Republican Party can get their votes. Look at how short term the Republicans are by supporting deficit spending when such spending encourages people to want more spending and a bigger government? Look at how stupid the Republicans are for supporting crony capitalism in the U.S. and want to use the government to reward their friends instead of helping the people who actually vote for them.

  47. stonetools says:

    @Ed:

    So call me racist if you want. Call me a Leprechaun if you want. They’re equally true and cause me equal psychic scarring.

    Why, thank you , I will. I always want to label people what they truly are, although I doubt you actually have a pot’o’gold.

    As to calling people vermin, let me guess what your favorite documentary film is. Would it be this one?

    The film utilizes a montage that juxtaposes these images of ghetto Jews with images of rats to draw an analogy between the migration of Jews from Eastern Europe with the migration of rats. For example, one of the shots shows a pack of rats emerging from a sewer, followed by a shot of a crowd of Jews in a bustling street of the Łódź Ghetto. Close-ups of those in the crowd reveal sickly, malformed facial features. The narrator states that, as rats are the vermin of the animal kingdom, Jews are the vermin of the human race and similarly spread disease and corruption.

    (Despite Godwin’s Law, I do think the analogy here is apt.)

  48. HarvardLaw92 says:

    @Ed:

    You guys are positively charming when you drop your facades

  49. LaMont says:

    @Ed:

    By the way, that shrinking old white rural vote must be awfully powerful.

    You are absolutely correct. Of course, that has more to do with the fact that money has poisoned the legislative branches of government in this country. How much are you willing to bet against the reality that “old white people” and “old white” owned corporations put more money into the pockets and campaigns of political leaders than any other class of people or organization? At the same time, billions are spent to keep people ignorant – theres money in that too (i.e. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc.) In this country, he who has the money also has the power. Its been that way for over a 100 years now and it has only gotten worse. Yet, as demographics change there will be a huge price to pay for it. It may not have come into fruition yet but as many commentors already noted, the writing is on the wall. Positions will have to change or be rendered useless.

  50. An Interested Party says:

    They’re equally true and cause me equal psychic scarring.

    Actually the thing that really seems to cause you psychic scarring is all of those Mexicans crossing the border into this country…

  51. al-Ameda says:

    @Ed:

    Come here illegally and expect to be subsidized by your victims and welcomed with open arms?
    Cockroach is probably too nice a word.
    Hate the “discrimination?” Hate the “poor educational opportunities?” Hate the “bad interactions with the police?”
    All understandable. This is clearly an awful place. Maybe they should just go the hell back to the utopias they came from?

    Why would those people hate you?

  52. Ed says:

    @al-Ameda: “Why would those people hate you?”

    Same reason the 30 year-old kid living in his parents’ basement resents his parents. They’re living examples of his failure and dependence.

    Ed

  53. Ed says:

    @An Interested Party: @LaMont: @LaMont: ” At the same time, billions are spent to keep people ignorant – theres money in that too (i.e. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc.) ”

    Let’s see. The left has ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, Hollywood, The New York Times, Washington Post…and nearly every major metropolitan newspaper for that matter. Throw in the university faculties and unions and you’ve got a whole lot of thought control there.

    The right has Fox News and some radio yakkers.

    And those two lone dissenting outlets drive leftists to absolute distraction. You can’t talk to a leftist for two minutes without hearing him rant about Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc. They mount campaigns to get various radio show hosts fired, dedicate entire websites to bashing Fox News, and go on endlessly about these two dissident voices.

    What is it about the left that it can’t stand even a modest voice of organized opposition? Leltwing billionaires like George Soros, Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg can finance all the campaigns and front groups they like…..but only the EVIL KOCH BROTHERS drives lefties to distraction.

    Until the late 80’s or so, the left had 100 percent monopoly on the airwaves. Then radio talk show hosts started sprouting up….then Fox News. Now the left is like a teenager who has been an only child his whole life and now has to contend with a sibling. It can’t understand why it has to compete for attention.

    And it pretty much acts like you would expect a spoiled child to act.

    Ed

  54. Stan says:

    @Ed: Asian Americans voted heavily for Obama, see http://tinyurl.com/ca4uq83, and they’ll probably vote heavily for Hillary Clinton or for anybody the Democrats nominate in 2016. They don’t fit your category of the type of minority voter that supports the Democrats. The same is true of American Jews. Speaking as a member of the latter group, I can tell you that I know where I came from, and I’ll never vote for anybody I perceive as a bigot, even if their bigotry isn’t aimed at me.

  55. al-Ameda says:

    @Ed:

    Same reason the 30 year-old kid living in his parents’ basement resents his parents. They’re living examples of his failure and dependence.

    So exactly how are those people who leave Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua or wherever, in order to get jobs and live better lives here in America analogous to the guy who lives in mom’s basement?

    Those people are not parasites, and increasingly they are not future Republican voters.

  56. jukeboxgrad says:

    Michael Reynolds, yesterday:

    But the Base Beast may yet awaken and foil their plans.

    Ed, exactly two comments later:

    … these largely uneducated and illiterate cockroaches

    In a world where few things are perfect, I was stunned to see Michael’s colorful, original phrase be so perfectly illustrated so quickly. If Ed was Michael’s sockpuppet the illustration could not have been more perfect.

    Michael, admit it. Ed is a character you created, right?

  57. James Pearce says:

    @Ed:

    The left has ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, Hollywood, The New York Times, Washington Post…and nearly every major metropolitan newspaper for that matter.

    Oh God….this again.

    You keep typing, Ed. We’ll keep laughing.

  58. jukeboxgrad says:

    Immigrants are going to save this country by exposing the hate at the heart of the GOP. That hate is getting harder and harder to disguise; the current confrontation with Obama is forcing the mask to slip. Good.

    The conservative entertainment complex makes tons of money pandering to the Base Beast (to use Michael’s memorable phrase). The drive to chase that money is irresistible, so the pandering will continue even though the ultimate result is electoral suicide for the GOP. Good.

  59. michael reynolds says:

    @jukeboxgrad:
    Hah! Some predictions are easy.

  60. jukeboxgrad says:

    Easy for you.

  61. Ed says:

    @jukeboxgrad:

    ” even though the ultimate result is electoral suicide for the GOP. Good….”

    Surrrre. Let’s do a little recap, shall we? We all know about how the U.S. House and Senate stands. But let’s take a look at what probably matters even more….the statehouses:

    “Here are the summaries of the results, reported by the Washington Post:
    1.Net gain of 8 legislative chambers, increasing from 59 to 67 out of a total of 98 (Nebraska is technically unicameral, but it is dominated by Republicans as well).
    2.This sets a record for the modern era, breaking the one in 2012.
    3.Republicans now have total control of 24 states, controlling legislative chambers as well as the governor’s office.
    4.Republicans have supermajority status in 8 states.
    5.Control is split in 17 states (3 of whose governors flipped from Democrat to Republican).
    6.Republicans now have four lieutenant governorships due to defeating Democrat incumbents.
    7.Democrats have total control in 6 states.

    https://www.ijreview.com/2014/11/198404-ok-enough-house-senate-governors-races-happened-state-legislatures/

    Or to use the one word response a football player might offer to a trash-talking opponent whose team is on the losing end: “Scoreboard.”.

    So you keep telling yourself all about how the GOP is in terminal decline. Keep telling yourself that next year or in 20 years the left will triumph. That it’s a demographic certainty. I like that. It keeps you living in fantasy land with your leftist friends at The Nation and MSNBC.

    You sound like that Knight in Life of Brian screaming that he’s only suffered a flesh wound as his arms and legs are cut off. “Come back and fight you coward!”

    There’s a reason the Dems are desperate to legalize these criminals. They need the foot soldiers. Labor unions are in steep decline. “Community organizers” are discredited and only of use in the most urbanized leftist-dominated areas. And above all, the right has learned to fight back. The days of the Bob Michel go-along-to-get-along milquetoasts are gone. We fight back now.

    So you wait for that demographic thing. We’ll keep electing governors.

    Ed

  62. Grewgills says:

    @Ed:
    You say your anger is about their law breaking rather than nativism, bigotry or xenophobia, yet you reserve terms like cockroach (too good for them) and vermin for this one particular brand of lawbreaker. Tell me Ed, do you have contempt for the law when you exceed the speed limit to get somewhere faster? Are you a vermin or a cockroach when you express your contempt for the law while doing so? When an 18 year old drinks a beer at a party or anyone in most states smokes a joint are they then vermin? What if they misrepresent something on their tax filings, are all of them vermin? Or is there something special about overstaying a visa or hiking across the desert to wash dishes or pluck chickens that makes them vermin while other lawbreakers are fine?

  63. Ed says:

    @jukeboxgrad:
    ” the ultimate result is electoral suicide for the GOP. Good.”

    Ummm… Right.

    We all know how the U.S. House and Senate elections went. But let’s look at what’s probably even more important: The statehouses.

    “Here are the summaries of the results, reported by the Washington Post:
    1.Net gain of 8 legislative chambers, increasing from 59 to 67 out of a total of 98 (Nebraska is technically unicameral, but it is dominated by Republicans as well).
    2.This sets a record for the modern era, breaking the one in 2012.
    3.Republicans now have total control of 24 states, controlling legislative chambers as well as the governor’s office.
    4.Republicans have supermajority status in 8 states.
    5.Control is split in 17 states (3 of whose governors flipped from Democrat to Republican).
    6.Republicans now have four lieutenant governorships due to defeating Democrat incumbents.
    7.Democrats have total control in 6 states.

    So keep telling yourself that demography will lead to your ultimate triumph. That you’ll get your manna in heaven. You sound like Monty Python’s Black Knight, screaming that you’re invincible and have only suffered a “flesh wound” as your arms and legs are chopped off.

    Or as a football player might respond to a trash-talking opponent whose team is trailing by 30 points: “Scoreboard.”

    I like the fact that leftists live in such an echo chamber of delusion though. You keep believing that. Keep thinking you just have to wait out the death of enough conservatives….that’ll work well. Honestly. Please don’t throw us in that briar patch!!

    Ed

  64. anjin-san says:

    @Ed: ‘

    Breaking into someone’s house, though, or country, isn’t victimless.

    How about when we stole California from Mexico – was that victimless?

  65. anjin-san says:

    @Ed:

    Same reason the 30 year-old kid living in his parents’ basement resents his parents. They’re living examples of his failure and dependence.

    Perhaps you should try and work out your issues with your parents in private.

  66. jukeboxgrad says:

    Grewgills:

    You say your anger is about their law breaking … yet you reserve terms like cockroach … and vermin for this one particular brand of lawbreaker

    It’s not just that people like Ed don’t call all lawbreakers “vermin.” It’s that they treat outlaws they like as heroes. Exhibit A: Cliven Bundy.

  67. anjin-san says:

    @ Ed

    Tell me – since you feel so strongly about this issue, how long have you been boycotting US farm products harvested with migrant labor?

  68. LaMont says:

    @Ed:

    The fact that you believe news outlets like PBS and NPR are left leaning news organizations confirms my suspicion that you are ignorant. Never mind the fact that you chose not to debate my initial point…

  69. stonetools says:

    The left has ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, Hollywood, The New York Times, Washington Post…and nearly every major metropolitan newspaper for that matter

    Sigh-Would that this were true. Sadly, I think some liberals actually believe this. I think Obama half believed it-which is why he was taken aback when they wouldn’t condemn the Republicans’ scorched earth tactics. Instead they were and are being so busy trying to pretend to be evenhanded, they bend over backward not to tell the truth. Chuck Todd on the ACA:

    Somebody decided to troll w/mislding headline: point I actually made was folks shouldn’t expect media to do job WH has FAILED to do re: ACA…
    I was NOT saying it isn’t job of journos to call out lies, I said it was not job of media to sell WH’s health care message, it is WH’s job

    This is clearly not the position of a media personwho thinks his job is help Obama, and by and large, they haven’t helped him.

    OTOH, Fox News has simply and unapologotetically been the voice of the Republican Party, pure and simple. Its part of the Democrats’ huge messaging problem-they don’t have the GOP’s reliable megaphone.