Hispanic GOP strategists shocked enough by anti-Sotomayor comments to help Democrats (Lionel Sosa)

Lionel Sosa from MATT.org and other groups is an extremely ethnocentric GOP advertising consultant who worked on presidential campaigns by George W Bush and others. In 2007, he crossed over and supported Bill Richardson because, as he said at the time, "Blood runs thicker than politics".

When the Richardson thing didn't work out, he switched to working for John McCain. Not only that, but in January 2008, he hoped that the Mexican government would help fund a pro-amnesty ad campaign he had planned.

With that preface, over to Sam Stein of the Huffington Post who offers "GOP Hispanic Strategists Stunned, Outraged By Sotomayor Attacks" (huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/gop-hispanic-strategists_n_209240.html). Of those "attacks", Sosa says:

"Of course this disturbs me... I'm not surprised at Rush Limbaugh but I'm very surprised at Speaker Gingrich because he is one of the key people who knows the importance of the Latino vote to the Republican Party. He must realize how his rhetoric, if it does influence any Hispanics, how damaging it could be. This [confirmation] is something that is going to happen anyway. For a senator to have strong opposition to her, they are either not aware of the impact Latinos will have on the next election or they don't care."

Obviously, those who make stupid comments like some have made are, in effect, helping Barack Obama rather than hurting him. However, Sosa isn't exactly putting any sugar on top, is he? He's not, for instance, saying anything negative about Sotomayor, a nominee of a Democratic president and someone leftwing enough to join not just one but two far-left racial power groups. There's nothing in his quote raising any issues with her joining the PRLDEF or the National Council of La Raza. Nothing in there about both being far-left racial power groups that support illegal immigration. Nothing in there about her "wise Latina" comments, which get even worse in context and which two other Latino judges raised issues with at the same symposium (link). And, of course, his comment is in a HuffPost article designed to smear the GOP.

I don't need to tell anyone why Sosa isn't saying anything negative and is helping the HuffPost (and in effect Obama): "Blood runs thicker than politics". Allowing Sosa to speak for Republicans shows once again just how dumb the GOP leadership is. The GOP leadership completely fails to realize that playing the identity politics game is a big loser for them. They're trying to play a Dem game on a Dem field using Dem rules and Dem referees, and everyone knows how that's going to turn out.

The smart and effective thing for the GOP to do would be to dump people like Sosa and fight against identity politics and other far-left concepts and provide a real alternative to the Democratic Party rather than just trying to be a less popular version of that party. In the present case, that means having a grown-up discussion about Sotomayor's comments, rulings, and memberships in far-left racial power groups.

Also:

Former Rep. Henry Bonilla called Tom Tancredo's recent remarks comparing the NCLR to the KKK "outrageous", and also said:

"In the real world, absolutely this rhetoric matters... And that's why I think, thus far, the key leadership in Washington has been very cautious and thoughtful in their responses, and I hope that will continue... At the end of the day, people will see [these remarks] for what they are. And realize that this is nothing new coming from various opinionated people on the conservative side. It is nothing different than what comes from the liberal side."

Another strategist, Frank Guerra says:

"I think this is going to have a long-term effect... For the most part in politics, what gets said meets the immediate need but doesn't address the long-term issues. And some of this dialogue is going to really hurt Republicans in their efforts to attract and keep Hispanic voters... This absolutely matters to the community. This is a watershed moment. It is a first. A Hispanic woman on the Court."

Sat, 05/30/2009 - 06:37 · Importance: 4