In her latest insult to Latinos, Ann Coulter claims Latinos don’t have the family values which long have been part of Latin American culture.

The “facts” Ann Coulter cites are either blatantly untrue, or she cherry picks facts in isolation of other relevant factors, favorite tactics of her accomplices Charles Murray and Heather Mac Donald. Murray is also the author of the book “The Bell Curve”, which claims whites have higher IQs than minorities and will remain that way, which has attracted criticism from other researchers and others who claim Murray massaged his data, just as he massaged the statistics Ann Coulter now uses!

Lie #1 – Ann Coulter Claims Immigrants Don’t Assimilate

Through out her op-eds, Coulter emphasizes Nativist claims that immigrants, especially from third world nations, don’t assimilate, drop out of high school, become dependent upon welfare, commit crime, vote Democrat, etc. Nativists always bitterly complain about the 1965 immigration reforms, which eliminated blatantly racist per-country quotas dating from the 1920s that were intended to bar non-European immigration altogether, and severely restrict immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Not surprisingly, eliminating the 1920s immigration quotas has allowed many more non-Europeans to immigrate legally to the U.S. This chart, from a scholarly paper, compares immigrants in 1980 and children of immigrants in 2005 to native born whites in: high school completion (HS+), college completion (BA+), high earning occupation, above poverty level, and lastly home ownership.

In every single category, Latinos show dramatic improvement from the first generation in 1980 to the second generation in 2005! Over 85% of the children of immigrants live above the poverty line, almost equal to white native-born Americans, hardly evidence of a permanent underclass that Ann Coulter and her fellow Nativists constantly whine about.

Lie #2 -Hispanics Don’t Work Harder

Ann Coulter wrote: “Hispanics actually work about the same as others, or, in the case of Hispanic women, less.” Charles Murray selected the 30-44 age group to make this claim, but the median age for Hispanics is 27. Raoul Lowery Contreras debunked that in his recent op-ed “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the 2012 Labor Participation Rates for men 20 and over are—Hispanics 81.7% and non-Hispanic Whites only 73.9%. Murray purposefully excludes a huge working cohort of the 18-29 age group to make Hispanics look bad.”

Lie #3 – “Hispanics are less likely to be married.”

47.8% of Hispanics are married versus 51.4% in general, a 3.6% difference. 56.2% of Hispanic immigrants are married , and 38.8% for native born Hispanics. What Murray and Ann Coulter don’t tell you is that Hispanics, especially native-born Hispanics, are much younger than our general population. The median age for Hispanics is 27, versus 42 for whites, 32 for blacks, and 35 for Asians. Hispanic couples are also more likely to marry after having an illegitimate child, and fewer Hispanics are divorced (8.9%) than for whites (12.2%), or blacks (12.9%).

Lie #4 – Hispanics are “less likely to go to church.”

According to Pew Research, 68% of Hispanics say religion is important in their lives (60% for whites), and 44% attend church weekly (40% for whites). Among evangelical Hispanics, the fastest growing religious grouping among Hispanics, the same statistics are 85% and 70%.

Lie #5 – Hispanics are “less likely to call themselves “conservative” than other Americans. “

According to Pew Research, 34% of the general population describe themselves as “conservative” versus 32% of Hispanics, but 35% of Hispanic immigrants describe themselves as “conservative.” Young adults usually are more liberal in their views, and since Hispanics are a young demographic with a median age of 27, we can expect Hispanics to trend conservative in their views. Technically she’s right about Hispanic self-identification as conservatives, but 2% is not significant. These small gaps in self-identification don’t explain the 50% or so margin of victory for Obama this election, as Ann Coulter would have us believe!

Lie #6 – “In 1980, Hispanics were only 2 percent of the population,…”

As Raoul Lowery Contreras pointed out, “According to the Census, 6.4% of the 1980 American population was Hispanic“, not 2%. Anybody who can Google can find that statistic in seconds. Another lie!

Lie #7 – “More than half of all babies born to Hispanic women today are illegitimate.”

Ann Coulter then adds insult to injury with her most egregious lies “More than half of all babies born to Hispanic women today are illegitimate. As Heather MacDonald has shown, the birthrate of Hispanic women is twice that of the rest of the population, and their unwed birthrate is one and a half times that of blacks. That’s a lot of government dependents coming down the pike.”

Unwed birthrates for all native born are 41.4%. According to Pew Research, Hispanic unwed birthrates are 45.1%, and the rate for blacks is 71.4%. Ann Coulter claimed the Hispanic unwed birthrate is over half, and the unwed birth rate for Hispanics is 1-1/2 times that of blacks. CDC says 53% preliminary data for 2011, somewhat higher than Pew’s stats based on 2009 data, but even 53% is barely half, and far less than CDC’s 72.5% unwed birthrate for blacks.

Nativists like to pick on Mexican immigrants, but their unwed birthrate of 36.3% is 5% less than native born Americans (41.4%).

Pew Research reports that 8.1% of Hispanic women gave birth in the past year, as compared to 6.5% overall, 5.9% for women, 7.0% for blacks, and 6.4% for Asians. Birth rates for Hispanics nowhere near twice as Ann Coulter claims. Another lie!

Ann Coulter would like you to think birthrates among Hispanics are due to their third world origin, but in truth the reason birthrates among Hispanics are higher is simply that Hispanics are much younger, and younger women are more fertile. This chart shows the population distribution by age, and clearly Hispanics, especially native born Hispanics, are a very young demographic.

Summary

Ann Coulter, with help from her accomplices Charles Murray and Heather Mac Donald, has libeled Latinos, the large majority of whom are immigrants or 1-2 generations removed. Republicans should receive many more votes from Latinos, but rhetoric from conservatives like Ann Coulter are alienating many Latinos from the Republican Party. Ann Coulter’s ignorance on Latinos and her insulting, inflammatory rhetoric, are a prime example why many conservative Latinos hold their nose and vote Democrat. President George W. Bush proved that Latinos will vote for GOP candidates with engagement and a positive message. This chart from Resurgent Republic proves the value of outreach, and also proves what happens after several years of shrill rhetoric about immigration and Hispanics.

Conclusion

The Republican Party needs to change course or we shall go the way of the Whig Party. Ann Coulter and other Navists who hold themselves out as Republicans even as they ignore the values of the Party of Lincoln, are a huge liability. We will continue to call out Ann Coulter and anyone else who trashes Hispanics or other New Americans in such a shameful manner.

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Bob Quasius is the founder and president of Cafe Con Leche Republicans.   Original link