Republicans Brush Off Hispanics

Further proof that the GOP plays up to xenophobia. Only John McCain accepted the invitation to debate on the Spanish language Univisión. The other Republican presidential candidates turned down the offer. The September debate has been cancelled.

Jose Cancela does not understand the political party he is affiliated with.

That would be significant enough for most historians. But the debate is also offering overwhelming evidence that the Republicans -- with the notable exception of John McCain -- are willing to squander a quarter-century of concerted GOP efforts to attract Hispanics. Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave.

Reagan was against the civil rights movement and supported apartheid in South Africa. The Gipper's first 1980 campaign stop was Philadelphia, Mississippi. Reagan openly declared his support for "states' rights." The symbolism was impossible to miss. Civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered in the town in 1964. The Gipper also enjoyed sharing racist jokes with Trent Lott.

The Republican Party is not a big tent. They get the table scraps of intolerant idiots the Democrats don't want. Their bread and butter is condeming people that are already marginized by society. It can hardly be considered courageous to go after gay people and Hispanic migrant workers. Wiilliam F. Buckley used to wax poetic about the (imaginary) evils of segregation.

Reagan is sleeping like a baby.