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February 16, 2012 in Opinion
Latino snub will cost GOP
WASHINGTON – When it comes to Latino voters, Republicans must have un impulso suicida.
What else but a death wish could explain the party’s treatment of the fastest-growing voting bloc in the nation? First was the wave of Arizona-style immigration laws. Then came the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the GOP presidential candidates. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans roughed up Adalberto Jose Jordan – because, well, just because they could.
Jordan is the very picture of the American dream: Born in Cuba, he fled with his parents to the United States at age 6 and went on to become a lawyer and clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. With the support of his home-state senator, Florida Republican Marco Rubio, a fellow Cuban American, Jordan was nominated to become the first Cuban-born judge to serve on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
There is no serious objection to his confirmation – which makes the hazing he has experienced all the more inexplicable. Republicans slow-walked his nomination (he was approved unanimously by the Judiciary Committee last year), then filibustered his confirmation vote on the Senate floor. Even when the filibuster was broken Monday night (by a lopsided 89-5), a lone Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, used a procedural hurdle to postpone the confirmation vote.
Congressional staffers I checked with couldn’t recall a similar instance of blocking a confirmation even after a filibuster had failed. This would seem to be a unique humiliation for a man hailed by the Hispanic National Bar Association because of “the positive message this nomination sends to the Latino community.”
Paul, whose home-state Hispanic population is just 3 percent, had a different message. He used his senatorial prerogative to leave Jordan twisting in the wind – because Paul wanted to use him as leverage to secure an extraneous amendment (rescinding foreign aid to Egypt) to an unrelated bill (transportation).
“Some senators are concerned that I may be delaying a vote in the Senate. This is not true,” Paul said on the floor Tuesday morning, in direct contradiction of the facts. He complained about assistance going to the Egyptians, who “now hold 19 U.S. citizens virtually hostage.”
Republican leaders couldn’t – or wouldn’t – defy their colleague. Asked about the holdup, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said only: “I’m a great admirer of the junior senator of Kentucky.”
Democrats started reminding Republicans of their tone-deafness. “He’ll be the first Cuban-born judge to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, standing alongside a poster of the nominee. Leahy complained that if the biblical Moses were nominated, there “would be some on the other side who demand to see Moses the Lawgiver’s birth certificate to make sure he wasn’t born in Kenya.”
Republicans should be sensitive to the tweak. The party’s presidential candidates have done long-term damage by vowing opposition to the DREAM Act (legalization for illegal immigrants who serve in the armed forces) and by trying to paint each other as too soft on immigration (highlighted by Herman Cain’s call for a lethal electric fence). Rubio and Jeb Bush have called for an end to what Rubio called “harsh and intolerable” rhetoric.
The Hispanic population is expected to double – to 30 percent of the United States population – in the coming decades. So if Latinos continue to vote 2-to-1 for Democrats, the Republican Party will become irrelevant. Zoltan Hajnal of the University of California, San Diego, an authority on racial politics, sees a parallel with the Republicans’ alienation of African-Americans in the 1960s. “The image of the party is pretty clear to most Latinos,” he said, “and once party images are built, they get passed on from parent to child in a process that’s very resistant to change.”
The party simply can’t afford self-inflicted wounds such as the Jordan debacle. “He’s an integral part of our community,” Rubio told his colleagues.
But Republicans didn’t care enough about that to stand up to Paul. Through the “debate” on the nomination, one senator after the other came to the floor – and ignored the delay.
Some spoke about transportation. Others spoke about the budget. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke about the wonders of his state. “The lettuce in your salad this month almost certainly came from Arizona,” McCain said. “It’s also believed that the chimichanga has its origins in Arizona.”
The chimichanga? It may be the only thing Republicans have left to offer Latinos.
Dana Milbank’s email address is danamilbank@washpost.com.
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
Arch_Druid on February 16 at 10:40 a.m.
My “salad” may not even get imported from Arizona but rather from Mexico itself. Right along with the tomatoes. Besides the fact that McCain is starting to demonstrate a whole lot of ignorance, that in itself can make the GOP highly irrelevant.
The chimichanga is something that Taco Bell imagined Mexican food to be. Good stuff, but I don’t know that Mexicans had actually invented it. LOL! I’ll be happy to stand corrected on this if necessary.
The GOP are so busy just hating Obama that they are even prepared to commit hari kari.
valleyman on February 16 at 11:47 a.m.
Funny that the majority of Hispanics are practicing Catholics and Obama’s latest swipe at Catholics will neutralize any issues with the GOP and immigration… Typical liberal hysteria.
misjustice on February 16 at 1:07 p.m.
Funny, speaking of catholics; the Pope can’t even “control” the women in the catholic church, many members use birth control despite the church’s stand on the issue.
How the hell is the Pope and his minions going to “control” the rest of us? Answer, they AREN’T!
The public, even catholics, are on the President’s side in the birth control debate; not the Pope’s nor the church’s. Oh, and the GOP over reached on the bc issue just like they have done on immigration.
The GOP is small tent politics; Latinos and women, and other “minorities” get it!
Diana on February 16 at 1:33 p.m.
The GOP has managed to insult and alienate women, Latinos, African Americans, gays, the unemployed, the elderly, teachers, union members, students and independents.
If you want to see some typical liberal hysteria, wait until election day and watch us vote.
valleyman on February 16 at 2:06 p.m.
We shall see… I called who would be the first to jump on my comment by the way… Two of our three resident “we speak for all women” women…
misjustice on February 16 at 3:27 p.m.
Funny, we called who would be the first non-latino male to jump on us for our comments, even though they weren’t directed at anyone in particular, and it was one of the “I-claim-to-know-it-all-I-speak-for-everyone” everyones!
Weird, huh?
Diana on February 16 at 3:34 p.m.
Misjustice, I know, right? Look who’s talking!
misjustice on February 16 at 3:49 p.m.
I KNOW, Diana!
Weird, and by that I mean, parallel universe the catholic church can’t control its wimens Mars in retrograde kinda weird!
; )
Diana on February 16 at 4:03 p.m.
If only the catholic church had been as concerned with controlling its priests.
stitch on February 16 at 4:05 p.m.
Valleyman: Not often you see the ladies gangin up like this.. Would attempt to help my brother out, but but but, I just can’t help but agree with them.. Dang women anyway..
Thayne on February 16 at 6:05 p.m.
Good Job! Msjustice and Diana you nailed it. The other blogger (not arch druid or stitch) is almost as bad as hawken was. He does like bloviating just as much. The GOP have their collective heads stuck somewhere and it’s not in the sand. I always get a good laugh when “christians” start crying about their rights being trodden on. It’s ok for them to tell people what to do because the “bible” said so. It’s amazing how they can find a passage to portray their ideology.
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 16 at 7:53 p.m.
@Valleyman
It isn’t wise to argue most issues pertaining to the female gender with females.
Odds are they will be much more equipped for the battle.
It is apparent to me they have once again proven that here.
I too must agree with them though.