Memo From Middle America | Obama Campaign’s Race-Baiting Spanish-Language Ads
10/18/2012
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Immigration was brought up by a woman with a Spanish surname in the second presidential debate on October 16. GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney went on and on about legal immigration, “nation of immigrants”, his father born in Mexico, etc. etc. He did make a few remarks about stopping illegal immigration, but he left the door wide open for the DREAMers when he spoke of a “pathway” for them. He also said, in a little-noted wrangle with Obama about “comprehensive immigration reform”, that he would “get it done. First year.”

Sounds awful. And, as we’ve pointed out here at VDARE.COM again and again and again, the importance of the Hispanic vote is greatly exaggerated. Romney would be much better served by going after the white working class vote, and the white electorate in general.

Team Obama, meanwhile, continues to churn out its Spanish-language ads. Let’s look at the last two to see the unscrupulous race-baiting and shameless Hispandering that the GOP is up against.

In September, the Obama campaign released its “Pay the Bill” add. You can watch the ad here, and here is an article about it: Obama Ad Hits Romney for Opposing Justice Sotomayor,  By Devin Dwyer, ABC News, September 14, 2012.

Basically, this ad is a vengeful attack on Mitt Romney because he had the temerity to oppose the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What, you thought it was Mitt’s right to oppose any nomination to the Supreme Court? Aren’t you forgetting the fact that Sonia Sotomayor is HISPANIC? Thus opposing her (for whatever reason) is EVIL.

Watch the ad. Even VDARE.com readers who don’t comprehend Spanish, like the majority of Americans, cannot miss the arrogant, spiteful vibes put out by the ad’s narrator, Puerto Rican lawyer Nydia Menendez. [Email her]

Here’s an English translation of the text:

My name is Nydia. I am an attorney, and Puerto Rican.

I would like to talk to you about the Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor.

When she was named by Obama we all celebrated, the Puerto Ricans and Hispanics.

But Mitt Romney opposed Sotomayor.

He offended me when he declared that he rejected her nomination.

And now he wants our vote for president.

Señor Romney, the time has come to pay the bill.

Notice that there is nothing here about why anybody might reject Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court. There is nothing about her record—nothing about judicial theory—nothing about the Constitution.

For Menendez and Team Obama, the only thing that counts is that Sonia Sotomayor is Latino, thus to oppose her appointment is to oppose Hispanics. And she takes it personally.

You see where all this Hispandering is leading our country?

Ah, but Menendez is just a Democratic Party activist, right? Hispanic Republicans wouldn’t talk like that, would they?

Well, I know of at least one who did. And a very prominent Republican Hispanic—by the name of Lionel Sosa.

According to the  bio on his website, Lionel Sosa “has been Hispanic Media Consultant in seven Republican presidential campaigns beginning in 1980. He is a recognized expert in Hispanic consumer and voter behavior.”

In 2009, when Sonia Sotomayor was up for consideration, Sosa  [email him] advised Republicans not to oppose her. His reason:

"When you're anti the first Latina on the Supreme Court, you're anti-my-family. . . . I would take it that these people are anti-Latino. The worst thing the Republicans can do is oppose her."

Sotomayor nomination splits GOP, by Peter Wallsten and Richard Simon, LA Times, May 27, 2009

Did you catch that? All his years as a Republican—but where does his loyalty still lie? With whom does he still identify? Now he’s saying that Republicans shouldn’t oppose even a leftist Hispanic for fear of offending Latinos!

And, as reported two years earlier right here on VDARE.COM, the same Lionel Sosa organized a fundraiser for Democratic Latino candidate Bill Richardson, offering this rationale:

Blood runs thicker than politics. I'm not saying I would vote for a Democrat. But I'm saying I would not vote for a Republican who opposed immigration reform.

Who are these Hispanic consultants that the GOP is hiring—and what kind of advice are they giving?

In this month’s Spanish-speaking ad, the narrator is President Obama himself, speaking in Spanish, for the entire ad.

(Not that Obama can really speak Spanish, you understand. The campaign took the time to write it out for him phonetically, or something like that. But the point is, it’s in Spanish. )

This ad is called “Buen Ejemplo” (Good Example), and it’s about the “dreamers”. Here’s the ad, and here’s an article about it. Obama Speaks Spanish in New Ad, Calls Undocumented Students an Inspiration, By Elizabeth Llorente, Fox News Latino, October 9, 2012 .

Here’s an English translation of the text. Be warned, it’s nauseating:

In the young people known as the DREAMers, I see the same qualities that Michelle and I try to inculcate in our daughters. They respect their parents. They study to get ahead. They want to contribute to the only country that they know and love. As a father, it inspires me. And as president, their courage has made me remember that no obstacle is too great. No road is too long.

So just how is Mitt Romney doing with the Hispanic vote?

On the Latino Decisions website, the results of recent polling published on October 15th show Romney with a whopping 23% among Latinos. The Latino Decisions commentary, though, does contain this encouraging note for Romney:

 [E]nthusiasm among Latinos voters has slightly dropped indicating the race may have turned more into a matter of turnout rather than candidate support.

So Romney’s biggest hope for Latino voters is that they don’t all turn out!

Latino Decisions does zero in on several specific states, none of which show Romney doing well with the Hispanic demographic. Just read the titles of the articles:

The bottom line: Mitt Romney is getting trounced by Barack Obama in the Latino demographic. And no, wishful thinkers, not even Univision’s overrated exposé of Fast and Furious has helped.

It just looks like most Hispanics prefer to vote for Obama.

But that shouldn’t prevent Mitt Romney from winning the election. He should concentrate on winning the white working class vote, and go after the white vote in general.

Unfortunately, it appears that no-one in the Romney camp can count.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) recently moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual.  In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here ; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

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