As we know the GOP has been drumming up support among the Hispanic community for quite some time, with Bush in particular courting the Latino population. It paid off in 2004 with relatively large gains among the demographic.
But now apparently Hispanic leaders of the right -- incl. Senator Mel Martinez -- are also showing signs of disappointment with Bush's two SCOTUS picks... Another case of promising something between the lines and then not delivering.
The case for calling this administration "pathological" gets stronger each day -- with more and more segments of the populace becoming willing to actually hear it. (You can call someone something til you're blue in the face, but if folks aren't ready to believe you then the words fall on deaf ears. Make sense? It's part of basic framing: Step 1 before Step 2.)
The conservative Chicago Tribune ran a front page story on this under the radar issue this morning (exerpts below fold).
Court picks rile Hispanics
President raised expectations in both campaigns
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
Chicago Tribune
Published October 7, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's decision to pass for a second time on the opportunity to nominate the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court is prompting biting criticism from Hispanic leaders, who call his decision a "missed opportunity" to make history for the nation's fastest-growing minority group.
The president energetically courted the Hispanic vote in his two presidential campaigns. A former Texas governor, Bush often spoke of his close ties to Mexico and frequently dropped Spanish phrases into his speeches, and he made significant gains among Hispanic voters in 2004.
At the same time, the Republican Party has targeted more culturally conservative Hispanic voters, trying to offset the traditional Democratic advantage among Latinos. Against that backdrop, many Hispanic leaders avidly hoped Bush would come through with a Supreme Court nomination. Instead, the president nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers on Monday.
"I think there was a missed opportunity to get a qualified Hispanic on the Supreme Court," Michael Barrera, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview Thursday. "This was an issue important to a lot of Hispanics," Barrera added. "This is something they cared about, getting a Hispanic on the Supreme Court, and obviously Alberto Gonzales is well known in our community and they would have liked to see him appointed."
-snip-
Should the president face a third chance to put someone on a court where blacks and women have won seats, Barrera said, he must pick a Hispanic. "We're expecting it," he said. "We are at a point now where we expect to be there."
-snip-
[Sen. Mel] Martinez, a Cuban-born attorney who served Bush as housing secretary before his election to the Senate last year, suggested Thursday that ethnicity should not be a "litmus test" for the high court, but he also said it's clear what the president must do if he gets a third pick.
"The next one, I think has to be a Hispanic, whether it's this president or the next president," Martinez said. "At this point, it's tough not to acknowledge the largest minority group in America. I think it's time now."
For Bush, nominating a candidate such as Gonzales--a onetime justice on the Texas Supreme Court, Bush's White House counsel and now the first Hispanic to serve as the nation's top law-enforcement officer--could help the GOP appeal to a key voting bloc.
One in eight Americans is of Hispanic heritage, and the Hispanic community numbers more than 37 million, including more than 15 million immigrants.
-snip-
The expectations of the Hispanic community have been raised in part by a Republican president's direct and often successful appeals for support from voters who largely have voted Democratic.
Success with voters
By a 2-1 ratio, Hispanic Americans who identify with a political party choose Democratic over Republican, according to surveys by the Pew Research Center. But between the 2000 election and 2004, Bush increased his share of the Hispanic vote, according to exit polls. Bush carried 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2000 and raised that to 40 percent last year.
-snip-
Bush also campaigned for re-election with a televised Spanish-language advertisement whose message resonated among Hispanic voters, Republican and Democratic strategists agree. In the ad, he promised people a share of the American dream with more home ownership, education and better lives for their families.
The Bush campaign succeeded in defining its candidate for Hispanic voters in ways that the Kerry campaign failed to do, suggested Maria Cardona, a Democratic consultant. Cardona was part of a television campaign that ran pro-Kerry Spanish ads in swing states, including Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona.
"Everybody understood the importance of reaching out and talking to the Hispanic community," Cardona said. "Everybody knew that the Republicans were doing it. In the states where we didn't pay attention, Bush grew his percentage."
Joe Garcia, a Democrat and former executive director of the Republican-leaning Cuban-American National Foundation, said Bush's success with Hispanics stems from a personal comfort that Bush has with the culture, thanks to his Texas upbringing.
-snip-
[Garcia said:] "In the same way that people used to say that Bill Clinton was the first black president, this is the first macho president. The way he throws back his shoulders and walks up to people, this is perfect."
Yet, there is something that Bush doesn't get, Garcia says: the importance of recognizing support from a community that counts on him to follow through.