ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: On Republicans NOT Coming Across as Anti-Hispanic

In politics, if you swim against increasingly strong tides, you're not going to get anywhere -- and may end up drowning.

The post beginning in the next paragraph (italicized) appeared in BattleBornPolitics on November 12, 2007 in a column entitled "Fighting for America in Nevada 101." The author is Mark Noonan and the post is in the support of Republican Edward Hamilton in his effort to gain the 1st Congressional seat in Nevada. I’ll be writing about the subject of illegal immigration today (Tuesday and Wednesday). I’m soliciting comments, pro and con, but I don’t want any of them to be “Anonymous” or of the “I-hate-Mexicans” variety.

“Edward Hamilton has decided to take on the long odds and fight to oust Shelley Berkeley from Nevada's first Congressional district."

"Naturally, this is mostly a Nevada issue, but with the House of Representatives up for grabs in 2008, it is worthwhile to ensure that as many Democrats as possible face a strong challenger - and on immigration and border security, Mr. Hamilton has Berkeley cornered:"

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley co-sponsored the illegal friendly “American Dream Act.” She voted against funding a border fence. She voted against border officer training. She voted against border enforcement. She voted against condemning sanctuary city practices four times."


Las Vegas Republican Ed Hamilton strongly opposes any form of amnesty. He favors a border fence, border troops, and he strongly opposes sanctuary cities and their practices. Please support Mr. Hamilton with a donation of $20.50. Support [Democratic] Congresswoman Berkley and by 2050, you may not recognize America."

Make Checks Payable to:
Ed Hamilton for Congress
5751 East Hacienda Avenue
Suite 193
Las Vegas, NV 89122

"I'll be sending a donation, and I hope you will, too.” (Mark Noonan)


Steve’s comments: I spoke to the Republican consultant (RS, from Ohio), who supplied the italicized material above as a fund-raising, support-gathering tool. I told him I thought this approach was a bad one that could end up hurting Republican candidates in upcoming election -- and especially in the future.

The reference to the year “2050” (in regard to the requested donation of $20.50) is rather mystifying without context. What it refers to is the belief that somewhere around 2050 (although 2060 or 2065 appears more likely) a majority of people in America will be of Hispanic descent.

I enquired of the Republican consultant what will happen when candidate Ed Hamilton gets asked what exactly he means about 2050. Is he going to respond, “Well, I mean that by 2050 there’ll be a whole lot of Mexicans running around?” How is he going to avoid being characterized as a racial demagogue?

And there’s the essence of my problem with the piece in Battle Born? Because we Republicans are putting ourselves in a political trap with our strident comments about "illegals". Yes, it’s true that Hispanics – and I’m talking about LEGAL Hispanics -- are the largest minority group in the country.

In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush could not have won the presidency without strong support from Cuban Americans in Florida. In 2008, the Republican candidate for President must win Florida if he is to prevail.

Frankly, the Democrats are not holding their national convention in Denver, Colorado, for no reason. They want to win the electoral votes in Colorado, and early polling shows that they probably will. Colorado already has one Hispanic-American Senator, Ken Salazar, and he probably won't be the last.

Democrats also want to win the electoral votes in other states with significant numbers of Hispanic voters, including: Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. Right now, the smart money has the Democrats winning the presidential race in most or all of those states.

What’s more, a strong showing by the Democratic presidential candidate in those states could cost Republicans several seats in the House and the Senate, including the race in New Mexico where Heather Wilson probably will be the Republican candidate to replace Sen. Pete Domenici.

Heather Wilson, the only female veteran ever elected to Congress, has won several times in a district (Albuquerque) that's 43% Hispanic. If she can do that, so can other Republicans, but not with the approach advocated by consultant RS and candidate Hamilton.

Losing the presidency and Western congressional seats is not going to advance the Republican effort to secure our borders. If we come across as strident on immigration issues, Hispanics are going to desert us in large numbers -- just as African-Americans did a generation ago.

In 1960, Richard Nixon won one-third of the BLACK vote in his race against John F. Kennedy. Now, because most Blacks consider Republicans unfriendly to their causes, we’re luck to get 8% of the African-American vote in presidential elections. That means it's unlikely we'll win several large states (such as New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois) that have large Black voting blocs.

Do we want the same to happen with Hispanics? Frankly, there aren’t enough white, male voters to overcome our deficits with a growing number of voting groups. If we come across as anti-Hispanic, we may end up “solidifying” our status as a permanent minority Party.

Steve Maloney
http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com
http://murthamustgo.blogspot.com
E-Mail: TalkTop65@aol.com