Rep. Lou Barletta (R. PA) with his buddy & fellow bigot, then Senator Rick Santorum (R. PA)
I have a new calling. I want to make Rep. Lou Barletta (R. PA-11) the face of GOP anti-immigration bigotry:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) also endorsed the “immigration reform is offensive to Latinos” line in an interview with the Daily Caller published Saturday.
“What’s going on when Democrats and Republicans talk about immigration really is this battle over the Hispanic population now that is growing here in America and trying to win them over for future elections,” Barletta told The Daily Caller. “That is so misguided and also demeaning to the Latino population, to believe that that is more important to people who are here than a good job, a good education, a better life.”
In January, the immigration hardliner portrayed Hispanics and Latin American immigrants as uneducated and government-dependent and said the GOP shouldn’t bother winning over Latino voters at all.
“Anyone who believes that they’re going to win over the Latino vote is grossly mistaken,” Barletta said in January. “The majority that are here illegally are low-skilled or may not even have a high school diploma. The Republican Party is not going to compete over who can give more social programs out. They will become Democrats because of the social programs they’ll depend on.” - Huffington Post, 7/1/13
Barletta was echoing the same stupid talking point failed Governor and Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin (R. AK), was saying about immigration reform:
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the debate over the Senate-approved comprehensive immigration reform bill this weekend, saying in a Coulter-esque statement posted to Facebook that a vote for the “amnesty bill” insults Latinos.
“You’ve just abandoned the Reagan Democrats with this amnesty bill,” Palin’s statement reads, adding: “You disrespect Hispanics with your assumption that they desire ignoring the rule of Law.” - Huffington Post, 7/1/13
Of course sane and rational people know that Palin and Barletta are blatantly lying. Both Fox News Latino and the Wall Street Journal-NBC polls show Latinos overwhelming support for the immigration reform bill that was passed by the Senate. Here's the Fox News Latino poll:
http://latino.foxnews.com/...
And here's the Wall Street Journal-NBC poll:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
So yeah, Barletta and Palin are awful liars. But what do you expect from a guy who's been trying to scare the public about the "dangers" of immigration reform:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
In an op-ed Tuesday in USA Today, Rep. Lou Barletta writes that immigration amnesty, a component of proposed sweeping immigration reform, would compromise national security, do nothing to make it easier for legal residents to find a job and offer a fiscally irresponsible solution.
Barletta, a Republican whose 11th congressional district covers much of Dauphin and Cumberland counties, writes that the Tsarnaev brothers, the accused Boston marathon bombers, raised questions about the rules of asylum and “why someone would want to return to a place he had purportedly sought to escape in the first place.”
“As tragic as the Boston situation was, it also served as instruction into what is wrong with our system,” Barletta writes. “Asylum rules are obviously lax, as are those involving tracking visas. One must wonder why immigrants would seek political asylum from their native countries, only to return to the same region for months at a time. This obvious warning signal was entirely missed -- or ignored -- in the case of the Boston suspects.” - The Patriot-News, 6/4/13
Barletta is vowing that the Senate passed immigration bill won't survive in the house:
http://www.nationalreview.com/...
A member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Barletta stated that the Senate’s comprehensive bill “will have no chance moving forward” in the House. What comes out of the conference to reconcile the Senate and House bills, however, “will depend on the conferees,” he said, adding that the choice of conferees should be closely scrutinized. - National Review, 7/2/13
If Republicans listen to bigots like Barletta, they can kiss 2016 good bye:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
A poll of Hispanic voters released Monday by Latino Decisions and immigrant advocacy group America’s Voice indicates that Latinos would be more likely to vote for a Republican presidential candidate that endoreses immigration reform.
Pollsters read a prompt explaining three prominent Republicans’ pro-immigrant positions and then asked respondents whether they would vote for them. All three of them -- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush -- topped 40 percent, with Rubio scoring as high as 54 percent.
“Republicans don’t need to win the Latino vote outright, they just need to stop losing it so badly,” Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions wrote in a blog post explaining the results.
But there’s also bad news for Republicans.
When asked about several potential presidential matchups without framing the question around immigration, respondents overwhelmingly favored Democrats.
Latino voters surveyed favored former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Florida Sen. Marco Rubio by 66 percent to 28 percent. Vice President Joe Biden won by a similar margin. Rep. Paul Ryan didn’t top 25 percent. - Huffington Post, 7/2/13
I understand how gerrymandered the congressional map is in Pennsylvania but I really would love to see Democrats take out Barletta next year. Rumor has it former Congressman Chris Carney (D. PA) might move to Barletta's district and run against him. I for one would love to see that. But Republicans like Barletta are killing the GOP and we'll have bigoted clowns like Barletta to thank for another victory in 2016. But right now, people like Barletta are hurting the country from growing and becoming more diverse. The sooner he can get the boot, the better the country will be.