Republicans give back hard-earned Hispanic gains

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http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/opinion/article/0,1375,VCS_125_5079912,00.html

<snip>The hope is that by pandering to the hard right, people upset at Bush for other reasons will be motivated to come out and vote Republican anyway, just on the immigration issue. You can be sure, however, that the strategy is not going to motivate a lot of Hispanics to go GOP.

That same Pew Poll found 16 percent of respondents said immigration was the most important issue. Sixteen percent is not a high number, which shows Latino voters are not obsessed with the issue. Yet, they do know what they want and realize when they have been insulted.

Ninety-three percent said there should be some sort of path to citizenship, and 66 percent opposed building fences. Sixty-five percent said the debate has made discrimination against Hispanics more of a problem.

Cold comfort for GOP strategists, who haven't given up on the Hispanic vote, is that just 35 percent said Democrats have the best position. Twenty-five percent said neither, and 22 percent did not know. Since then, Bush, who just weeks ago still seemed the strongest GOP opponent of irrational immigration fears, has said he would sign the enforcement-only bill as a "first step" toward more comprehensive reform.