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Romney has shot himself in the foot with Hispanics.

By: Griffin@griffinelection (Diary)  |  October 4th, 2011 at 09:55 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Yesterday, Romney, aka, Mr. Centrist, released his immigration plan which is meant as a counter point to Rick Perry.  Rick Perry, being a governor of the largest border state, says that it would be almost impossible and extremely expensive to put a fence all the way across the border.  Perry says that even if you had a fence, you would still need “boots on the ground” to patrol the fence.  Mitt Romney, who was the governor of a state that shared no border with Mexico says we need a fence. 

Perry, as governor of a state that has illegal hispanics flooding their state, signed a bill that gave the same tuition benefits to sons and daughters of illegals as other Texas citizens.  Mitt Romney, the governor of a state with .05% hispanics, chose not to.  Now he wants you to think he has guts.  Too bad he didn’t have the guts to veto Romneycare.

In any case, aren’t these stark contrasts between Perry and Romney?  That is what the Romney camp is preaching and what they want you to believe.  But the only stark contrast between these candidates, isn’t so much what they believe, but where they have come from. 

Mitt Romney is someone who has never had to deal with immigration.  It is easy for him to defend his record from Mass., he began running for President half way through his first term.  But Perry wasn’t running for President until THIS year.  He had people that he had to deal with in Texas and a political talking point wasn’t going to do them justice. 

Perry had a large population of hispanics he had to look out for, and he did and I am ok with that.

Romney had a large population of liberals he had to look out for, and he did and I am NOT ok with that.

Romney has just lost the hispanic vote in 2012.  Rick Perry still has a chance to WIN the hispanic vote.  Obama is weak on this issue.  He has done nothing for hispanics.  George Bush tried harder for them than Obama did.  They are a generation of voters ripe for the republican picking.  Let’s face it, conservatives should be embracing hispanic voters not scaring them away.  This will be the largest voting demographic very soon.  These people’s sons and daughters were born here and are citizens that are growing towards he age of 18, voting age.  These people are here.  We don’t need to take a hard stand AGAINST them.  We need to stand WITH them and make sure this never happens again. 

As for Mitt Romney, he is like this tall piece of grass blowing in the wind.  Is there one person out there that thinks Romney would be taking this position if Perry wasn’t on the other side?

Let me be clear:  Mitt Romney will PROBABLY lose to Barack Obama in 2012.  People cannot trust this guy.  Republicans will hold their nose and vote for him.  Conservatives may not vote for him in droves.  Independents may return to Obama with such a weak candidate.  I wouldn’t even buy a used car from Romney because he would tell me whatever I wanted to hear and people can see that. 

When “independents” start going toward Obama again and people wonder why, it will be because there is something about Romney that seems insincere that they will be unable to put their finger on, but will be there nonetheless. 

I applaud Perry standing firm.  Just when you thought Romney had pandered on every issue, he took it up a notch.  I am ashamed of Romney doing more pandering.

 
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  • sunshinek67

    is not going to work. What a waste of debate time listening to these candidates talk about border patrol, border security when they are 1,000′s of miles away and have never dealt with our Mexican neighbors in a way that Governor Perry has. And they ARE our neighbors, not US citizens true, but neighbors nevertheless. A vulnerable border, one which the Federal Government has failed to secure, is the biggest magnet of all. Federal Law does not round up these illegals and deport regularly, so these folks are here for a time indefinitely. Makes good sense to me, as a native Texan, to offer a cheaper path to higher education for the kids who have already graduated from high school and on their way to citizenship. So, if they are citizens they should receive instate tuition. Our welfare numbers are high enough. These illegal families pay taxes (State Universities). It is a sensible strategy. Too bad some folks in Iowa or Florida find that offensive. It’s a State issue.

    Scary to think of a President Romney and his anti-Hispanic message. Fail to see how placing Rubio on the ticket helps. Don’t vote for #2 guy. Big disagreement between the two anyway, Rubio supports instate tuition.

    Perry needs to come out with a policy plan, on a national level beyond Texas. He has spent the better part of his almost two month old candidacy focusing on his great economic & jobs record in Texas and how he will extrapolate that to the rest of the 49 States. That’s fine Governor, but how?

    Ridiculous how the tv reality world has transcended into politics. Candidates that are well scripted and well rehearsed get the nod it seems. Didn’t we learn from electing that the last time? Folks in Right America seem to be changing their minds faster than they change their underwear. Perry’s candidacy is ONLY SHY OF TWO WHOLE MONTHS! To write him off as some of the higher profile “journalists” have done on other forums is a bit premature I think. He’s only been in the race for almost two months!

    What we as Team Perry supporters are witnessing is an extensive (painful) vetting of our candidate on a national stage. through the ruthless mainstream media. That sleaze offering from WAPO over the weekend a great example. Perry can overcome this, regardless of the Stephanie McCrummen drive bys. Journalism is a long lost art.

    Keep in mind that Perry still raised an awful lot of money in just a short time, 15 million. Hope he uses that stash to clean Romney out. Unleash on him. That’s what I want to see in Perry, a guy unrehearsed and unhinged. My wish is for him to look Romney in the eye next debate, Well Mitt explain to everyone what went down at Bain Capital, you & your investors got rich while thousands of workers lost their jobs. Well Mitt, Romneycare has been a jobskiller for your state, drained the state treasury. Well Mitt, explain to everyone why you took advantage of illegal Guatemalans to manicure your expansive lawn, wouldn’t that be considered a “magnet” offering gainful employment to a bunch of illegals? Well Mitt, why is there two versions of the same book that you wrote….or Mitt, which version do you recommend the hardback or paperback? There is a litany of flops on this guy Romney. This guy is just one expensive suit full of rehearsed lines. Isn’t there a place for him in Hollywood?

    All Perry needs is just one whopping debate slugfest on Romney to put him in his place and get these fickle fence straddlers to hop on board. The guy has been a 7 year+ candidate for President and has never polled over 25%. I suppose his camp is just hoping to get the nomination by default. O will surely see another 4 years. The story will unfold how the independents (many of whom are Latino) helped push O back into the Oval Office. O’s first term has not done much for the Latino, however, think about it, on election day, not even plausible that Sanchez goes into the voting booth with anti-Hispanic message Romney on his mind.

    • griffinelection

      I wish Perry would ask him to recommend the paperback or hard cover. That would be hilarious!!lol

  • redmymind

    Yes, I agree with the author of this post. It’s a supreme irony that even President Obama can brag being less of a flip-flopper than Governor Romney, because the former is not abashed to wear the liberal ideologue label. Governor Romney, on the other hand, seems to have more viscosity-stretching polymers in his words than a quart of 0W-30 motor oil . . . ever changing and shape-shifting, depending on the amount of heat he is subjected to. Governor Perry may have taken a lot of pounding during the debates and recently too, but I admire him for standing his ground and sticking to his principles. I don’t think any of the other candidates could take that much punishment from all sides and still stand strong no matter what. That’s the kind of Commander-in-Chief we need! One who will stand his ground for America no matter what the “venerable” world community thinks or says. Forgive this little digression from the theme of Hispanic votes, but what the author essentially says is very true. People would prefer President Obama to Governor Romney, because they would at least know where the former stands.

  • izoneguy

    Didn’t think so – Obama (Light) won’t ever build a fence. No one will because the feds are broke and they will always say the border is protected. The feds would rather keep everyone fat, dumb & happy if it means staying in office.
    With Obama and Obama (Light) it will all be more of the same.

  • freentn

    control.

  • windwaker24

    for these pro-fence candidates to tell me how they plan to build a fence in a river. Santorum actually said he went to the border and he still wants to build a fence all along the border. I wonder what he was actually looking at. I haven’t been to Texas, but I’ve seen pictures of the Rio Grande. That’s a BIG river!

  • sunshinek67

    I have already reached out to these candidates on other forums to take some time and come down to Texas and check out this border in its entirety and then hop back on stage and talk about this magical fence that will rid Americans of these infiltrating unwanted illegals. This whole immigration argument is just plain silly coming from mouthpieces that haven’t a clue what they are talking about.

    I sure would like to see the debate between just the top tier candidates. I believe that in essence of time, the lower rung of wanna-be’s should bow out and stop wasting air time.

  • snowshooze

    Some places.. a fence? Are you serious?
    It is just unrealistic. I was just over the weekend hunting Moose on goound so bad, you could barely stand on it.
    Really.

  • rechts

    …but Perry shot himself in the foot with conservative and centrist voters who favor immigration enforcement — the vast majority of American voters according to any poll done in the past decade. Whoops.

  • sunshinek67

    coming from this silly immigration debate is that it truly distinguishes Perry from Romney in that he does not back down and flip flop from his beliefs. It’s a state issue, and one in which 10-12 others have the exact same policy. Google states that have instate tuition for kids of illegal immigrants. Texas, a border state, is not alone. These kids have graduated from high school and are on the path to citizenship. The real “magnet” is an unprotected border that the Federal Government has failed to secure & has a policy of not deporting illegals expeditiously. So these families are here for a time indefinitely.

    Problem is, this has put an unnecessary wedge on a good jobs & economic candidate that actually has compassion for people & diversity. This stigma in Right America to be racist and anti-assimilation is what ignites the Democratic base and will inadvertently help O in his bid for re-election. Understand that this anti-kids of illegal immigrants tuition debate helps Mr. Sanchez in the voting booth on election day make a decision, “should I vote for Mr Big Suit with no compassion for these innocent kids, or should I give O another 4 years”. Huh~

  • retire05

    Texas has a very interesting history with Mexico. We have been neighbors, who traveled back and force without passports, for generations. Mexicans, called Tejanos, fought at the Alamo, Goliad and San Jancinto for Texas independence. The Anglo/Mexican connection is strong to this day, with out towns and counties named after Mexico heroes who fought for our indenpendence.

    Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in our national society. For the most part, they are religioius, family centric and as shown by our own military, patriotic to this nation. They are the untapped source for the Republican party.

    But being a Texan, where my county GOP that has a lot of Hispanics as members, I can tell you that they did not view the debate as pro-law, but as anti-Hispanic. They felt they were being singled out when there are well over 1 1/2 million illegal Chinese in this nation. The one thing they care about the most, as shown by Pew Hispanic Center, is that they value education for their children above all other issues. Their disgust toward Santorum, Romney and Backmann is palatable.

    Perry has basically taken Santorum’s own bill (S. 3564 109th Senate) as his own with strategic fencing and boots on the ground. Santorum is currenly running from that legislation. Romney is doing exactly what he did to Rudy Guiliani and Mike Huckabee, attacking Huckabee in a campaign ad because Arkansas gives in-state tuition to the children of illegals. Same attack, different year. Wonder when Romney will fess up to being busted by the Boston Globe, not once, but twice, for hiring illegals to take care of the lawn and tennis courts on his tony estate?

    Rick Perry realizes that 21.3 million registered Hispanic voters can be ignored. And he understands that the percentage of Hispanics voting Republican have been steadily increasing, from 30% in 2008 to 385 in 2010.

    And for anyone who wants to be hardline on these kids, who are basically not taking slots at the University of Texas but attending local community colleges, I would remind you of this; had the laws been the same for Cubans, and we not had the Wet Foot/Dry Foot rule, Marco Rubio would have been a child of illegals.