On the same day that an influential, bipartisan Latino group convenes its annual convention in Florida without a major Republican presidential candidate in attendance, former special-interest lobbyist and actor turned presidential candidate Fred Thompson – who is known for his affection for Cuban cigars – slammed Cubans, suggesting that they come to America not in search of freedom, but to bring "suitcase bombs."
The Associated Press reported the following just hours ago: "In his speech, Thompson... expressed his opposition to the immigration bill in Congress and decried the flow of illegal immigrants from Cuba, saying: ‘I don't imagine they’re coming here to bring greetings from [Fidel] Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb.’" [AP, 6/28/07]
"Republicans continue to use Latinos as their punching bag in an attempt to woo right-wing GOP primary voters. They saw their support among Latinos head into a downward spiral in 2006, and now it’s on the verge of bottoming out," Miami-Dade Democratic Chairman Joe Garcia said. "No other ethnic group has been as blindly loyal to the Republican Party as Cuban-Americans have and their reward from the Republican Party is to be equated with terrorists. If either Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney becomes the Republican nominee, Florida will end up going very Democratic in November 2008."
Thompson is not the only Republican presidential candidate who has made it clear he has no understanding of the challenges confronting the Cuban people under the oppressive Castro regime, nor those who flee in search of freedom and opportunity. In March, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney used a well-known slogan made famous by the tyrannical dictator Castro, called the Republican Cuban-American Speaker of the Florida House ‘Mario’ instead of ‘Marco’ Rubio, and mispronounced the names of Republican Cuban-American Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
All of the national Republican presidential candidates have rejected invitations to speak to NALEO when it meets for its annual meeting in Orlando this month. However, the major Democratic candidates, fully recognizing the importance of the Latino community in the Florida and nationally, have all accepted the invitation from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd, former Sen. John Edwards, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Barack Obama, and Gov. Bill Richardson will all attend and participate in the convention to be held in Orlando June 28-30 to discuss the most pressing issues affecting the Latino community of the United States.
Historically, the annual NALEO conference is one of the most powerful and visible platforms for the candidates to discuss the pertinent concerns of the Latino community.
"’The Republican presidential candidates turning their back on this event is kind of shameful,’ said [Republican State Rep. Juan Zapata of Miami], who represents a heavily Republican Cuban-American district. ‘Politically, it could have been huge for us. I want to know why they’re not coming.’" [Miami Herald, 6/11/07]
"...Zapata, a board member of NALEO and chairman of the state’s host committee for the conference, has lobbied for three years to hold the conference in Florida. ‘To go through all that and then see all the Republican candidates are a no-show, it's a huge loss for the Republicans,’ Zapata said... Zapata said the Democratic orientation of most Hispanic political figures ‘is not going to change if the Republicans don't engage.’" [Tampa Tribune, 6/25/07]
Latinos in Florida, who used to vote Republican, swung to the Democratic Party in 2006 and 2007. In Little Havana, Luis Garcia, a Cuban-American, won a formerly Republican-held state House seat in 2006, and was recently appointed Vice Chair of the Florida Democratic Party by Chairwoman Karen Thurman. In April of this year in Central Florida, Democrat Darren Soto, of Puerto Rican descent, beat a Latino Republican in a special election in which a Republican had resigned.