For once, I agree with former RNC chair Michael Steele on something!
Those Republicans who read the census data say the current paradigm of tough talk and no outreach is troubling.
“I find it curious that no one decided to go visit or have a conversation today with 25,000 Hispanic activists and leaders gathered from around the country. We can’t afford to miss those opportunities. I get the whole thing with La Raza but people are people and we can find common ground,” Michael Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee, told HuffPost, alluding to the organization’s presumed affiliation with Democrats.
“If I listened to people tell me, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t go talk to the NAACP people,’ that is just crazy,” he continued. “That’s not what politics is about. Politics is about the art of engagement.”
Michael Steele is correct, politics IS “about the art of engagement.” Except for Teapublicans, that is. So much for increasing their share of the Latino vote in 2012; such a shame!!! LOL
You gotta love the Republican presidential candidates’ lame excuses for why they didn’t attend this important gathering of Latinos from all over America, though. Thus, Romney characteristically (pathologically?) lies and flip flops (first his campaign says he was never invited, then when confronted with proof that they declined the invitation, “the spokesperson clarified that there had been a scheduling conflict”); “Bachmann, Gingrich and Huntsman did not respond to requests for comment;” and Pawlenty blames a “scheduling conflict” (true, he’s very busy — getting his butt kicked in Iowa!). Meanwhile, President Obama does the right thing, and also the smart thing politically, by showing up and speaking to the convention. For video of that, see above. Oh, and I’m looking forward to seeing states like New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and others with large Latino populations, back in the “blue” column in 2012, 2016, and beyond!
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