The brain trust at CNN have truly come up with real winners with a slew of recent articles. We have Reihan Salam arguing that Romney is losing because he hasn't taken on enough conservative ideas to Navarrette's gem on Ted Cruz and the new face of Latinos in politics. His article is pretty much quintessential Navarrette: "I'm Latino, but since so many Latinos vote Democratic, voting with them would make me not special. And we cannot have that."
He begins with of course, the obvious:
Many Mexican-Americans -- who along with naturalized Mexicans, represent nearly 70% of the Latino population -- would never think of voting for a Republican. And the GOP doesn't do much to win them over with its ham-handed approach to immigration. Meanwhile, by putting the spotlight on Castro, Democrats may have clinched the Latino vote for the next decade.
That and joking about having electrified fences to fry illegal immigrants, standing behind Sherrif Joe Arpaio, Birther and murderer extraordinaire, and wasting people's time with
English only legislation. Jobs, jobs, jobs! The Latino vote is much like the Black vote in the respect that it's clear what each party thinks its base wants to hear. The Republicans are masters of scapegoating and fear mongering, so Latinos and Blacks feel that because the Republican base doesn't lift a finger to repudiate the rhetoric, they must tacitly agree or at the very least are not bothered by it. And let's not forget President Obama's support of the DREAM Act, allowing undocumented children to stay and not be deported, and the fact Democrats speak out against the "Papers please" laws.
Even if the last part weren't true, there is something to be said for, "Their party is the party that wants to electrocute you, and we're the party that doesn't," strategy that has thus far been working.
Besides, Latinos are never going to get ahead politically in this country until they learn to split their votes between the parties to influence Republicans and Democrats. Cruz can help with that.
I almost fell out of my chair at this level of idiocy. The Tea Party is at the forefront of the "Papers, please" laws and English only legislation. What would Latinos gain by joining the Republican Party, when they'd probably go the way of the Log Cabin Republicans, who are now trying to petition to have Marriage Equality on the party platform but are
going to hit a wallwhen they go head to head with the social conservatives? "We're Republicans who happen to be Latinos!" would be their battle cry?
His opponent Dewhurst had waged a nasty campaign that was borderline racist in suggesting that his Latino opponent was soft on illegal immigration, with no evidence to back that up other than Cruz's Spanish surname. He deserved to lose, and I'm glad he did. It sent a message to other politicians not to waste their time engaging in this kind of ethnic demagoguery.
Being borderline racist, or just
full blown racist, is a big part of any Republican primary, so acting as if it's not par for the course shows a level of ignorance I reserve for people like Navarrette. When two Democrats use racial caricatures in TV advertisement to beat out their opponent, and then win, call me. Besides, Ted Cruz just labeled his opponent with the mark of "Moderate" which will incense any card carrying Tea Partier. The Lt. Governor didn't lose the primary because he said that Cruz supported amnesty and somehow insulted the racial sensibilities of the far right, he lost because he was shown as having compromised with the enemy.
Fareed Zakaria, move to Europe or join a new network. Don't waste your talent and the best years of your life sitting near these people.