Puerto Rican Americans

Gender, Racial And Ethnic Diversity Of Republican Presidential Candidates Will Not Affect Voting Patterns In 2016 Presidential Election!

Ronald 11 Comments

The Republican Party, which has done very little to promote gender, racial or ethnic civil rights is now bragging that they are a “diverse’ party with Presidential candidates of gender, racial and ethnic identity.

It is true that Carly Fiorina is female; that Dr. Benjamin Carson is African American; and that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are Hispanics of Cuban ancestry.  It is also true that in the 2012 Presidential election cycle that Michele Bachmann was female and Herman Cain was African American.

Having said that, none of these candidates in 2012 or 2016 represent the interests of their “groups”!

The vast majority of women would not have backed Michele Bachmann and will not back Carly Fiorina, if somehow, she was to win the Republican Presidential nomination.  She is totally against the kind of issues and legislation that most women want and expect, and most women will back Hillary Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee.

The overwhelming number of African Americans will, most certainly, reject Dr. Benjamin Carson were he to become the GOP Presidential nominee, as he has no concern about the plight of lower middle class and poor people of his race, and has sold out to the “white Establishment.”  And the same applies to Herman Cain in 2012.

And neither Ted Cruz nor Marco Rubio would do well among Latinos, as only three and a half percent of people of Spanish ancestry in America are of Cuban origin, while about 65 percent are Mexican Americans and 18 percent are Puerto Rican Americans. Neither group nor other Hispanics of other national origins would support these two Senators with their harsh, hard line attitudes on immigration reform.

So the GOP can “brag” all they want about their “diverse” pool of candidates, but it is all a facade and an insult, really, to women, African Americans, and people of Hispanic ancestry in America!

The Republican “Appeal” To Hispanics/Latinos Of Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz: Greatly Exaggerated!

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A lot of propaganda is going around stating that Republicans have a real chance to gain the backing of Hispanics/Latinos in the 2016 Presidential race! Really?

The Republican Party has done everything possible to alienate Hispanics/Latinos, including opposition to the DREAM Act; unwillingness to change immigration policy; insulting statements about Hispanics/Latinos from many Tea Party elements; and hostile policies toward issues that matter to Hispanics/Latinos in states, such as Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina.

So the argument goes that Jeb Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush, can, somehow, win the vote of Hispanics/Latinos because, after all, George W. was able to do so, and also, Jeb’s wife is Mexican-American, and Jeb speaks good Spanish.

Also, it is said that Marco Rubio, who speaks fluent Spanish, can appeal to Hispanics/Latinos; and that Ted Cruz, who does not speak Spanish, can also do so, simply because they are both Hispanics, of Cuban ancestry.

This assumption is totally false, as more than 70 percent of Hispanics-Latinos voted for Barack Obama in 2012, and neither George W. Bush nor John McCain could gain more than 40 percent of their vote, and both George W. and McCain were supportive of, and sympathetic to Hispanic/Latino issues.

What has the GOP done since 2008 to appeal to Hispanics/Latinos? Absolutely nothing, and the assumption, somehow, that the Republicans can, somehow, transform reality, is based on the false assumption that Rubio and Cruz, being Cubans, can appeal to Mexican-Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, and to other Hispanic/Latino groups from other nations of Latin America.

Only Cubans, who are about 3.7 percent of all Hispanics/Latinos have consistently voted Republican, and even their percentage voting Republican has changed over the 55 years since Fidel Castro came to power, with younger Cuban-Americans starting to wander from the commitment to Republicans that their grandparents and parents have had.

Mexican Americans, numbering about 64 percent of all Hispanics/Latinos, have never cared about the Republican Party, and neither have Puerto Rican Americans, who number about 9.4 percent, nor 3.8 percent who are from El Salvador, or 3.1 percent who are from the Dominican Republic, or any of the other smaller numbers of people from other nations in Latin America.

Diversity In The Presidential Race? Not Really As Much As Advertised!

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The Republican Party, which has gained a reputation of being anti black, anti Hispanic immigrant, anti women is trying to convince Americans that they are really a diverse party, when it comes to the Presidential competition for 2016.

So they will point out the following:

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is Cuban American.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is Cuban American.

Pediatric surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson is African American.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is Asia American (India)

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is female.

Many potential GOP candidates are Catholic, including Rubio, Cruz, Jeb Bush, and Rick Santorum.

But of course, the fact that Rubio and Cruz are Cuban Americans means they represent about three percent of the Hispanic community, and it is highly unlikely that Mexican Americans (65 percent) and Puerto Rican Americans (about 25 percent) would support them in large numbers, with both groups being heavily Democratic.

And the odds that any of the above will be the Republican nominee for President is extremely low, other than Jeb Bush, who has switched his religious beliefs to Catholicism.

But the Democrats, in a much shorter list of potential candidates, also have diversity.

Hillary Clinton and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are females.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is Jewish.

Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are Catholics.

If Hillary Clinton were not a prohibitive favorite, it would be likely that New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, both African Americans; and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a female, would have entered the race.

Does Marco Rubio Represent The Hispanic-Latino Community, One Of Six Americans? NO!

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A lot of attention has been paid to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in the past 18 months since he was elected to the US Senate by the Sunshine State’s voters.

Rubio, just about to become 41 next month, is seen as the “shining star” of the Republican Party’s future, often called the “Cuban” Barack Obama!

Rubio is handsome, charismatic, dynamic, and has an attractive family, and he is loved by the right wing conservatives in the Republican Party. He promoteds the conservative cause in an effective fashion, and is remembered for his Florida state legislative career, including a stint as the House Speaker. He is someone who is likely to be a star figure in the party for decades to come, and he is seen as extremely ambitious, sometimes imagined as the first Hispanic President of the United States.

Rubio has been the center of attention for many months, as a front runner for the Vice Presidency, and many think Mitt Romney will select him. But before any such event happens, which is certainly possible, let us look at the unvarnished facts about Marco Rubio.

The idea that Hispanics and Latinos will rush to support Mitt Romney, if he selects Rubio for Vice President, is laughable!

Polls show that Barack Obama is favored in Florida, and that if Rubio is added to the Romney ticket, the lead for Obama grows wider!

Just because in a Senate race Rubio is able to win, does not mean he would help the Romney candidacy.

Rubio would outshine Romney on the campaign trail, and the question is does Romney really want that?

Also, Rubio would not be a good Number Two, as his ego and personality would make him a bad supporting team member.

The questions surrounding his ethics would get in the way, including expenditures while House Speaker in Florida, and the misleading campaign story that his parents escaped Fidel Castro, when they actually migrated from Cuba two years before Castro came to power.

Rubio’s hypocrisy regarding the DREAM Act stands out too, as he has always been opposed to the allowing of children of illegal immigrants to become citizens by military service or graduating college, but now wants a substitute DREAM Act, which allows those activities, but does not give citizenship automatically, an obvious campaign ploy!

Above all, though, is the issue whether Marco Rubio can represent the Hispanic-Latino community as a son of Cuban immigrants who came legally in the mid 1950s.

One needs to realize that only 14 percent of Hispanics and Latinos, in a recent poll, support Mitt Romney, and no matter what he does, that number will not probably rise even to John McCain’s 31 percent in 2008, and certainly not George W. Bush’s 44 percent in 2004. With the hard line on immigration reform supported by Romney and Rubio, why would any larger number support Romney because of Rubio?

And also the fact emerges that Cuban Americans number only about 1.8 million out of a Census figure of 50.5 million for Hispanics and Latinos, meaning only about 3.5 percent of this group are Cuban. What makes anyone think that Mexican-Americans, about 64 percent of this total, and Puerto Ricans, about 10 percent, and all of the other myriad groups of Hispanics and Latinos, are going to relate to someone who is only one out of about 30 members of the broad based group in this nation?

Romney would gain little from selecting Rubio, but Rubio would become the automatic front runner for 2016 if he ran with Romney, even on a losing ticket. Keep this in mind as Rubio acts as if he does not want the Vice Presidential nomination, but at the same time, is acting as if he does!

Barack Obama’s Puerto Rico Visit: The Politics Of 2012

Ronald 1 Comment

President Barack Obama paid a visit to the island of Puerto Rico this week, the first such visit since John F. Kennedy fifty years ago.

Puerto Rico has a 20 percent unemployment rate, far greater than the mainland, but Puerto Rico cannot vote for President, although it can participate in the nomination contests in the primaries and at the conventions of the major political parties.

But Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic group in America behind Mexicans, and their voting bloc can make a dramatic difference in the Presidential Election of 2012.

IF they vote in large numbers for Obama, they can swing the vote in many states in his favor.

So the emphasis of the President is to insure that the Hispanic vote, of both Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans and other Hispanic and Latino groups, is mobilized to help the Democratic Party win back the House of Representatives, keep the Senate Democratic, and reelect the President.

Certainly, the Hispanic vote would be wise to realize that the Republican Party does not have its interests at heart, and that, therefore, the need to support the Democrats, rather than sit on the sidelines, is urgent!