Republican demagogues like Newt Gingrich are always faced with the dilemma of how to deal with reality, which as Stephen Colbert suggests, has that nasty liberal bias. Their favorite trick in recent years has been simply to invert reality on its head -- turn victimizers and predators into victims, and vice versa, make up into down, wrong into right.
So last night on Greta Van Susteren's Fox show, Gingrich -- confronted with the cold reality that Latino voters are fleeing the GOP in droves, thanks to the Republicans' championing of racist laws the just-passed police-state-inducing SB1070 in Arizona -- decided it was all President Obama's fault:
Gingrich: Well, look, I assume that somewhere after he [Obama] attacked Arizona, engaged in what I think was a racist dialogue to try to frighten Latinos away from the Republican Party, stood next to the president of Mexico and said borders don't matter because we have strong bonds, had the president of Mexico get a standing ovation from Democrats for attacking an American state, and has his own State Department apologize to the Chinese for the Arizona law -- somewhere in that process his pollster came in and said, 'You know, maybe you're positioned a little bad on this issue.'
No doubt Gingrich had a look at the grim numbers:
For the Republican Party, politically, there's good news and bad news in our new NBC/MSNBC/Telemundo poll on the subject of immigration. Let's start with the good news: The Arizona anti-illegal immigration law, passed by a GOP-led legislature and signed by a GOP governor, has been a short-term political winner. The poll shows that 61% of the public supports the law, and a Republican congressional candidate who backs the law beats a Democratic candidate who opposes it, 40%-26%. But here's the bad news: Latinos, once a semi-swing group of voters, now have swung overwhelmingly for President Obama and the Democratic Party, and younger Hispanics are moving to the Democrats in even greater numbers."
*** Latinos aren’t swing voters anymore: For example, 68% of Latinos approve of Obama’s job (compared with 48% of overall respondents and 38% of whites), and they view the Democratic Party favorably by a 54%-21% score (versus 41%-40% among all adults and 34%-48% among whites). And their views of the Republican Party? In the poll, the GOP fav/unfav among Latinos is 22%-44%. What’s more, Latinos think Democrats would do a better job than Republicans in protecting the interests of minorities (by 58%-11%), in representing the opportunity to move up the economic ladder (46%-20%), in dealing with immigration (37%-12%), and in promoting strong moral values (33%-23%). The only advantage they gave Republicans was in enforcing security along the border (31%-20%). And Latinos remain a sleeping -- yet growing -- political giant: 23% of them aren’t registered voters (compared with 12% of whites and 16% of blacks), and
*** Dropping like a rock: It didn't use to be this way. In 2004, George W. Bush, the former governor of Texas, won some 40% of the Latino vote. But in 2006, that percentage for Republicans dropped to 30%, and it was 31% in '08. And check out these party identification averages among Latinos that our Hart (D)/McInturff (R) pollsters put together from our past NBC/WSJ polls; this chart puts together the YEARLY average of all Hispanics surveyed for each year (approximately 900 respondents are included in each yearly sample):
-- In 2004, Dems held a 22-point edge in party identification among Latinos (49%-27%)
-- In 2005, it was 24 points (48%-24%)
-- In 2006, it was 26 points (50%-22%)
-- In 2007, it was 30 points (52%-22%)
-- In 2008, it was 35 points (57%-22%)
-- In 2009, it was 31 points (50%-19%)
-- And so far in 2010, it has been 36 points (58%-22%).
See, Gingrich's problem is a real-world one: Every Latino voter in the country -- which is to, every Latino citizen -- who does not live in Arizona, and particularly anyone with an accent, knows full well that if they travel to Arizona, they'll need to bring their citizenship papers or birth certificate or some other certificate proving their citizenship -- otherwise they risk being caught up in a Kafkaesque law-enforcement and potentially deported.
Gingrich and the other defenders of SB1070 keep pointing to the fig leaf of the law's wording prohibiting racial profiling -- they don't want to cop to the realities of how police go about their work, which inevitably will mean that they will catch up Latino citizens in their snares.
These defenders keep claiming that only non-citizens are affected, because only they are required to carry their papers. But Latino citizens will constantly come under suspicion for being non-citizens, and their papers demanded of them too.
Latinos are perfectly cognizant of this reality. Which is why they're fleeing Gingrich's little up-is-down Bizarro World in droves.
See, in that Bizarro World, it's only "racist" when a Democrat decries racism. Otherwise, actual racism doesn't exist.
The Republicans passed a racist law to drive brown people from the State of Arizona and Obama has called them on it. He called them a little too gently in my opinion.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Gingrich seem to think no person of color finds this shit racist until someone "tells" us to see it that way.
I've never seen change without a fire
Newt, Newt, Newt....
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
doing just fine on their own..Obama and the Dems need do nothing because the poeple in this nation see exactly what the repubs are doing to us..The party of 'NO' means NOTHNNG FOR THE PEOPLE -- EVERYTHING FOR THE CORPORATIONS!
Shameless throw backs to the 1960's south!
The Racist, ignorant, Reslug assholes just don't get it.
Southern Strategy working out for you now Newt?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
And yup, he said what I thought he said.
What planet is this?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag. Really? The GOP in AZ passed the law, stands by it, vociferously defends it, can't wait to drive it around the block, and it's Obama putting the fear of christ into Latinos?
Cheating lying criminal. Why is anyone associating with you? You should be shunned for the rest of your creeptastic life, as long as you keep up with this lying shit.
me-oww!
Those suits of Newt's are exquisitely tailored to contain every ounce of watery crap that is Newt.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
My rep, Jim McDermott was approached by a couple who had intercepted and recorded a cell phone conversation in which Newt was conspiring to break the law. My guy got in trouble and had to pay this lying, lawbreaking, family values cheating, Contract on America sack of crap a load of money for making the conversation public.
On edit: He had to pay BONER, not Newt. Boner was the other conspirator (alleged). I don't care. Each is as bad as the other.
me-oww!
What a galaxy-class, pluperfect moron! Here's a news flash for ya, Newt -- it's YOU and your racist, xenophobic, neo-Nazi fellow bigots of the radical right that are driving Hispanics (and every other sane American) away from the Republican Party. Keep it up, douche. By 2012, the GOP will be able to hold its convention in a phone booth.
Isn't Newt the one who says Obama is a fascist, while Newt himself endorses bringing in the laws of Singapore to deal with the drug war?
And, it would seem to me that when one has to prove themselves innocent, rather than the government prove the person guilty, that would seem to be a fascist like approach, which Newt supports. I see a big problem, and possibly extortion under color of law, once a citizen is arrested for not producing papers, particularly a pedestrian.
I read Arizona's law, and it looked like it was still coddling the businesses that hire illegals. The hiring honeypot in my opinion is where enforcement needs to be prioritized. And it really needs to be done at a Federal level. This notion that the Congress can't multitask, and undertake immigration reform concurrent with financial reform needs to be addressed at the polls, by supporting candidates who can multitask.
But, Hispanics can see a difference in the two political parties. In our tent, Hispanics are welcome. So are gays. In Newt's tent, opponents of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are welcome, along with the anti-intellectual groups, separatists and so forth.
Newt Gingrich is engaging on stupid dialogue to frighten sane Americans away from the GOP.
The only thing sadder than an angry teabagger is a fake angry teabagger.
almost deported in case only one person saw it (thanks to Patriot Actor by the way):
"The discussion with LANative made me realize something. Her ignorance about Latinos shows the flaws in SB 1070. If she cannot distinguish the written English of a Latino immigrant whose first language isn't English (what she thought I was) versus a 7th generation Latino U.S. citizen who speaks English as a first language and has mainly been educated in English (what I actually am), then she would have an even more impossible time distinguishing me from Latino immigrants (legal or otherwise) based on appearance alone.
My skin is on the lighter side, but my coloring in general, hair, eyes, et al., are what non-Latinos tend to associate as what a Latino looks like. What LANative is probably in the dark about too, is that Latinos come in all colors, and I personally know blondes and redheads with lighter skin than mine who are immigrants from Mexico or other countries like Argentina, or are the children of parents who immigrated from those countries. Some of them could be illegal. For all she would know, I might be illegal, but the Floreses, Marroquins and Mendozas she might mistake for Anglos.
It would be very offensive to me personally to be stopped or almost deported because of my coloring, but I would take some comfort and humor if blonde and redhead Mexicans came over illegally while some idiot was harrassing me.
Edit - One of the last times I got to visit my Grandmother, I went without my state ID and had to ride home with an uncle and aunt instead of taking Greyhound (this was right after 9/11, they were demanding a lot of ID back then), and the uncle who drove me home was teasing me about being deported. Life just happens to have imitated humor, in the case of the Puerto Rican man."
I've never seen change without a fire
Hmm, Latino Arizonans (referring to citizens here) are nervous about remaining in Arizona. Any American citizen with any characteristics that are even remotely Latino-looking is going to avoid moving to or visiting Arizona. Pretty soon the only ones left there will be the pasty-white folks who... ...say, you don't suppose that's what they had in mind, do you? : )
BTW, no point in arguing with La Native because she's been to New York and Australia and that means she knows everything about what them illegals is all about. Or something like that. If you can figure out what the hell she's talking about please let us know.
Uh-oh, someone lost their temper!
Yea Newt..the only reason we are against the Arizona racist law is because we don't want them voting Republican.
How do these people get so stupid?
when Newt talks, all I hear is:
"Hi, I'm a serial adulterer, who had to quit being a politician due to my gross ethical problems."
well, that and the sound of hot air.
And the Hispanic population of the US is growing faster than whites or blacks.
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
what I think was a racist dialogue to try to frighten Latinos away from the Republican Party,
Latinos understand exactly what this law means without the need for anyone else to point out how racist it is.
It's a law designed to harass brown people. It's racist as hell, and there's not a Latino out there that's confused about the matter to the point that someone could frighten them by suggesting it.
Idiot.
This non-credible stack of roach shit is one of America's biggest damned liars.
Just ask any of his former wives.
Hey Newt, don't forget that Obama chased us "coloreds" away from the Republican party simply by giving us "the brothaman" guilt trip.
Trust me Newt, Obama has nothing to be concerned with. Like no other political party, you authoritarian Neo Nazis have the magical ability to kick your own ass through your stupidity and flagrant prejudice. Then you have the balls to project your racist garbage on others and say it's their fault.
The ineptitude of people like you is astounding. Thanks for a laugh. Don't be surprised if you lose the Latino vote--permanently.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Disgruntled, frustrated and angry reich-winger. Bitch and whine....be for something, then against it when the Democratic administration propose it.
This pig is nothing more....a pig.
No newt, your party is doing that on it's own esse!
Is that the best you can do? I had to read that several times just to understand the context. Even after that all it added up to was stream of consciousness nonsense.
We know, you guys are the real patriots cuz you aren't nice or fair with outsiders...woopy.Dunce.
Where's YOUR vision Newt. Do you have any positive dreams of the country you'd like to share that don't involve proven failure of the past. Or is all you guys want to do is spread fear and pass the blame at every opportunity?
The flocks nation is bankrupt of leadership and values and anything else that might mean a better world for the rest of us.
Excepting, of course, for the Cuban expatriate community, who have always supported the GOP while awaiting the next (and successful) invasion of their motherland.
Here's an idea, Newt: try convincing the Republican Party to go after those law-breaking employers with serious fines and prison time, instead of continuing to go after the little people -- oh, wait ... Never mind. (I must have had a "senior" moment. My bad.)
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
No lie is too outrageous and ridiculous for Ginrich and the Repugs .All they are doing is creating as much chaos and trouble for the Obama administration and for the Dems as is possible , is their mission to do everything possible to cause Obama and this government to fail , to hell with the country and to hell with the people , it's all about their party which reminds me more and more of the Nazi party in the early years .
pushing the Latinos away from the GOP. They do not need any help from Obama.
With their massive loss in the 2008 elections, and working hard on all fronts to alienate pretty much every group except for the Christian Right, oil company execs and bank CEOs, the GOP seems to be imploding like a burned-out star. Someone should start a thread to discuss what is going to replace the GOP after it goes supernova. And how do we prepare for keeping that replacement party in check.
The DLC-controlled Democratic Party, including the Obama administration, have done everything in their power to suborn the Republican Party's platform, steal their Crony Corporatist campaign contributors, and make nice with the GOP rank-and-file in the name of bipartisanship.
Read 'em and weep -- or instead of weeping, get mad:
[ http://www.therealdifference.org/issues.html ]
Better yet, don't just get mad -- do something about it, like changing your Party affiliation from Democratic Party to an honest-to-goodness liberal progressive party: the Green Party ...
[ http://www.gp.org ]
and while you're at it, try to convince your liberal progressive State legislators AND Congressional legislators to switch Party affiliation to the Green Party as well ...
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
Gingrich is preaching to the converted. Minorities know racism when they hear it, and the idea that Obama has demonstrated racism toward Latinos, or they Gingrich would convince them otherwise, is laughable.
I hope this completely backfires on them in the midterms , that would be soooooooooo funny ( and great ) .
Newt Gingrich has all the integrity of an ethically compromised serial adulterer partisan hack.
That is actually enough proof. It's listed in the bill. I actually read it.
What if you're from out of State ?
I know that to Americans, it's a shocking thought, but not everyone drives. For that matter, not everyone is even eligible to drive.
I don't always have my DL if I'm not going to be driving.
To point out in the article that Latinos are siding more with Democrats than with Republicans as a way to prove your point just proves that you are arguring for a political side, and not so much for the rights of Latinos. At least, that's the way it appears to me. I know Newty opened up the can of worms, I'm just sayin.
that Latinos represent a huge block of unregistered voters....
then time will tell....
The GOP just doesn't have anything to offer....
I'm arguing for human rights, it's just the GOP doesn't think Latinos or Blacks are human.
don't think it needs Obama to point on the racism inherent in Arizona's law. Sounds like even policemen are opposed to it. It one of the those bandaid feel good solutions that won't really address the problem and will very likely make matters worse by escalating tension.
most of the tension I see is coming from alarmists warning about racial profiling that hasn't happened yet. Notice I said most, not all. And notice also I said yet. It probably will happen, and it should be dealt with when it does. The important thing to do is deal with it promptly as it happens, not create a problem that hasn't happened yet. Lord knows we have a hard enough time dealing with existing problems without manufacturing new ones (oil spill anyone?).
Racial profiling that hasn't happened yet? Oh, I suppose if you want to be technical, you could say that. Since the law isn't in effect yet, no one has been profiled as a result of efforts to enforce the law. But if you think that racial profiling doesn't occur, you're delusional.
I think it occurs. I stated as much in my post when I said "It probably will happen." Were you reading someone elses post when you responded, or did you just take a small part of what I said and let it get you all worked up? Calm down, take a xanax, and pay attention next time before you falsely suggest someone is delusional.
sound like a Shr'f Joe fan.
Did anyone really need to see the satistics to know this. Of course the numbers trend towards Dems, they give them whatever they need.
Equality? Funny you don't have a problem with the repubes pandering to ignorant, racist, white people.
others pull his strings and he dances.
He trying to make as much cash as he can because it gets harder and harder and takes a lot more money to be able to trade your wife in for a younger model as you age.....
and Newt is way past his expiration date for a lot of things...including politics.
We know who pays Limbaugh and we know where most of Palin's money comes from, what about Newt?
He ain't doing it for free or love of country.
You better believe there has to be something in it for Newt.
Don't trust this guy, just ask his ex-wives...oh I forgot they aren't talking...that cost him a lot of money too.
He's got an expensive lifestyle, that's why he making one last frenzied money grab before senility sets in.
Someone should tell this Southern Strategy benefactor/delusional wife cheater that he and his bigot to the core party is running out of dirt for their ditch.
that the GOP plan is to purge the party of everyone except moneyed, white chamber of commerce types, thus ensuring that they won't win any elections in any place with any diversity for a long long time.
Maybe their strategery to reclaim power doesn't really require elections.
And he's not getting better.
No Newt, it's the actual racism coming from the right that scares the hispanics away.
They secretly convince republicans to introduce racist legislature so that minorities run from the GOP into the waiting arms of the Democratic Party.
Yep, it's a good thing the Democrats were able to convince the republicans to introduce that racist piece of work, or the whole thing would have gone to shit.
"Better." It's what we should ask of ourselves and of our leaders.
What a frickin joke. Latinos sat around waiting to hear what Obama said about this before forming their own opinions? Newt should join us in the reality-based community sometime.
Will the next person who encounters this asshole out and about do us all a favor and kick him square in the nuts? Please? He has got to be the most repulsive character on the scene right now. He passes himself off as an intellectual but he is just another racist asshole.
Apparently, now if you're an illegal immigrant, you can get a college scholarship at a school funded by American taxpayers! What better way to encourage even more illegals from rushing across the border-- you can not only get free primary and secondary education, you can get a college degree too! Way to incentivize even more law-breaking.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/28/calif-co...
You must provide proof of that, and fuxnews is not proof of anything but your ignorance.
Anybody with half a brain can figure out that the Republican Party has become the Dixiecrats. They might as well rename themselves The White Bigots Party and get it over with.
If Abe Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt were running today, they would be so ashamed of what their party...the party that fought a civil war to save the union and free the slaves...has now become the party of the narrow-minded and hateful. The Tea Party is just the out-in-the-open branch of the Party that hates minorities in secret.
My late father once told me if I ever pulled a voting booth lever for a Republican, he'd kick my ass up over my shoulders, by proxy, if he had to. Well Dad, you can rest easy, you won't have to boot me in the Land of the Pearly Gates.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
They do a very good job of this on their own, they don't need the help of the president.
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