Jorge Ramos, Univision anchor and the "Voice of Latino Voters"
Now for the next installment of GOP wishful thinking, brought to you by GOP spokesman, Sean Spicer. Background: The
New York Times did
a profile of Jorge Ramos, a high-profile Univision anchor who is rightfully tagged the “Walter Cronkite of Latino America” in the piece. Anyone who knows anything about the man knows this: You don’t mess with Jorge Ramos. President Obama found that out the hard way.
But since Obama has finally started to deliver on some of his campaign promises to the immigration community, Ramos says, “Now is the turn of Republicans.” It's kind of like a reporter's 'Terminator-esque' equivalent of, “I’ll be back." Enter GOP spokesperson Sean Spicer. In the piece, he downplays the importance of a community hero as only an insular Washington hand could.
But Sean Spicer, communications director for the Republican Party, suggested that because Mr. Ramos had become such an activist on immigration policy, “he’s now taken with a grain of salt.”
“There’s no question that he’s important and that he has a lot of influence, but I think that people now have sort of recognized that he’s more of an advocate than a journalist,” Mr. Spicer said.
He echoed a point that Mr. Romney made in November to Mr. Ramos’s co-anchor at Univision, María Elena Salinas: Latino voters care as much or more about education, health care, jobs and the economy as they do about immigration.
Excellent point, Spicer. Romney and the Republicans did so well among Latino voters in 2012; clearly, they’ve got their finger on the pulse of the Latino community.
The only people taking Ramos with “a grain of salt” are Republicans. They’re also the only party daft enough to tell Latino journalists what their audience really cares about when asked a question. Hopefully, Republicans will just continue living in that bubble, thinking they know better what Latino voters care about. Ya know, because they’re polling is always so accurate.