Impacto Latin News ™

by Bob Quasius

Ann Coulter has made a fortune writing and selling books excoriating liberals, also called progressives, for a range of offenses, often mocking liberals in the process.

Unfortunately, despite extensive research and writing on the subject of liberalism, Coulter is not always able to spot a liberal. In the blog Only One Candidate Is Right on The Two Most Important Issues posted December 28 on Townhall.com, Ann Coulter proved she can be hoodwinked by liberals. Coulter claims:

In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration. If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently.

She’s right about ObamaCare, which would unquestionably lead to a complete government takeover of health care. However, Coulter then goes on a diatribe about illegal immigration:

But capitulate on illegal immigration, and the entire country will have the electorate of California. There will be no turning back.

and

Just as Americans ought to be able to learn the perils of a welfare state by looking at Greece, we ought to be able to learn the perils of illegal immigration by looking at California.

Massive legal and illegal immigration has already so changed the California electorate that no Republican can be elected statewide anymore. Not so long ago, this was a state that produced great Republican governors and senators like Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, S.I. Hayakawa and Pete Wilson.

A short history lesson of California for Ann Coulter is in order. The GOP used to be competitive in California. Then, incumbent Republican governor Pete Wilson, trailing far behind in the polls, jumped on the Proposition 187 anti-immigrant bandwagon to revive his lagging campaign and win reelection. Once elected, proposition 187 was quickly overturned by the courts, to no one’s surprise since immigration is a federal power. Wilson won reelection playing the race card, but once prop. 187 enthusiasm passed the GOP lost legions of conservative Hispanic voters who were appalled at proposition 187 and became Independents or Democrats. The Field Institute analysis of the 1994 California elections found:

An analysis of Republican Governor Pete Wilson’s 55% to 41% reelection victory over Democrat Kathleen Brown shows that Wilson ran strongest among these voter subgroups: those living in San Diego/Orange, the Inland Empire, and the North Coast/Sierra regions, Republicans, conservatives, white non-Hispanics (especially white men), older voters, those with incomes of $60,000 or more, Protestants, and supporters of Prop. 187, the illegal alien initiative.

and

Proposition 187, the illegal alien initiative, which passed statewide by a 59% to 41% margin, carried in all major regions of the state except the San Francisco Bay Area. Support for Prop. 187 was extremely high in the Inland Empire (+40 points), the North Coast/Sierras (+36 points), San Diego/Orange (+34 points) and the Central Valley (+32 points).

Proposition 187 was spearheaded by John Tanton and the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, and bankrolled with millions in financing from the Pioneer Fund, whose purpose is “to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences“, in other words scientific racism. John Tanton’s own writings show he’s an ardent eugenics supporter, an environut, and population control enthusiast with deep ties to planned parenthood. Tanton’s resume shows he’s not conservative at all but an ardent liberal, the kind that Coulter regularly bashes in her books and columns!

Amazingly, Coulter relies on NumbersUSA, founded by uberliberals John Tanton and Roy Beck, for her source of information on immigration, grading of candidates, etc. Roy Beck is the current leader of NumbersUSA, who was previously publisher of The Social Contract, infamous for publishing racist books and publications such as The Camp of the Saints, among others. For decades Beck has warned of us of the dire consequences of overpopulation of the U.S. If we took his rantings seriously, the world would have starved to death several times over by now!

Tanton, Beck, and their allies have been manipulating both liberals and conservatives for decades. A great example is this “smoking gun” letter from John Tanton’s own papers, donated to the University of Michigan library, in which Tanton brags:

Roy Beck and I think we have come up with an idea that can actually move the battle lines on the immigration question in our favor. While we are working on other ideas to move Democrats, this one involves using the recently released census data to show Republican members of Congress, the Administration, and the party’s leadership how massive immigration imperils their political future. The goal is to change Republicans’ perception of immigration so that when they encounter the word “immigrant,” their reaction is “Democrat.”

and

Our plan is to hire a lobbyist who will carry the following message to Republicans on Capitol Hill and to business leaders: Continued massive immigration will soon cost you political control of the White House and Congress, given the current, even division of the electorate, and the massive infusion of voters about to be made to the Democratic side. We are about to replay the Democratic hegemony of 1933-53, fueled back then by the massive immigration of 1890-1924.

Contrary to Coulter’s assertions, there’s no reason why the GOP cannot be competitive among Hispanics. According to PEW Research:

Among Latino registered voters, 35% describe their political views as conservative, 32% describe them as moderate and 28% describe their political views as liberal.

67% of Hispanics are center-right ideologically, which is a complete disconnect from recent voting trends, which show Hispanics voting Democrat by nearly a two to one margin, yet President Bush was able to gain over 40% of the Hispanic vote! Note the trend:
Year       Democrats Republicans Gap
1999               58           25                 33
2002              56           25                 31
2004              55           28                 27
2006              49          28                 21
2007              57           23                 34
2008             67           31                  36
2010              65          22                  43

Each year, as Bush engaged Hispanics and made a serious effort to reform immigration, self-identified Hispanic voters increased. With the failure of immigration reform and harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric from some conservative Republicans, no doubt influenced by John Tanton and Roy Beck, starting in 2007 the trend quickly reversed. A recent poll by Latino Decisions shows GOP support among Latinos at 18%, with 31% of Latinos perceiving the GOP as hostile. 14% of Latinos support deportation of all unauthorized immigrants, so a support level of 18% for the GOP shows just how polarizing the immigration issue is to Latinos. If you’re Latino and don’t support a “deport them all” strategy, you’re unlikely to vote Republican!

Assuming Latinos invariably vote Democrat is a self-fulfilling prophecy, with many Republicans failing to make a serious outreach effort, and don’t pause to think how their rhetoric alienates Hispanic voters. However, Bush proved Hispanics can be wooed, a process started by Ronald Reagan, who quipped “Latinos are Republican. They just don’t know it yet.” No wonder John Tanton and Roy Beck have gone to such lengths to convince many Republicans that Latinos invariably vote Democrat!

Bob Quasis is founder of Café Con Leche GOP -
Republicans who want America and the GOP to be more welcoming to immigrants

To read more from Café Con Leche GOP

http://cafeconlecherepublicans.com/blog

Twitter handle: @CafeConLecheGOP