Republicans United Against Univision

The Democratic presidential debate on the Spanish-language Univision was a success. Republicans are still avoiding the debate. Only John McCain has agreed to appear. The candidates are using scheduling conflicts as an excuses. We have heard these excuses from GOP candidates before.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has turned down the invitation because of a heavy fund-raising schedule, Kevin Madden, his spokesman, said yesterday.

Aides to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said he had potential scheduling conflicts.

Republican candidates won't come out and say that they are afraid of being asked unscripted questions from Youtube members. They also won't say they rather stick pins in their collective faces then appear on a Hispanic network. The GOP wins elections by running wedge issues. Playing to the xenophobic portion of their base is their bread and butter. Running on Bush's mandate isn't going to get them elected.

Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy is alive and well in American politics. The problem is it is no longer working. Hispanics are the largest growing voting block. The shrill tone of the immigration debate is driving Hispanics to the Democratic Party. Not that Republicans will change course.

GOP Pollster Frank Luntz has been ostricised for telling the party how the American people view them.

Like those of Cassandra of ancient Troy, Luntz's prophecies of impending disaster have been both accurate and disregarded. Republicans have never been very comfortable hearing critics in closed conferences. He is not invited to such meetings today. "They do not want to hear the truth," Luntz told me. While truth-telling is celebrated by Republican reformers such as presidential front-runner John McCain, it is a decidedly minority view in the GOP.

The GOP truly lives in the fantasy-based community.