I received a disturbing email yesterday that is being circulated of Newt Gingrich in light of his recent immigration remarks.  Restrictionists, Isolationists and

Protectionists, isolationists, and restrictionists develop cartoons that hurt the image of the GOP and what they are supposed to stand for: CAPITALISM.

Protectionist Tea Party Republicans are doing an effective job at making the “Big Tent” smaller.   We are glad to see Newt raise the immigration issue because we cannot continue to ignore the large elephant in the room anymore to this regard, and with regard to the rising Latino vote that is expected in 2012.  2012 will be the year of the Latino(s).  We feel it, sense it and know it.

In the last Republican Presidential debate, we heard Newt Gingrich take a moderate stance on immigration while smacking Mitt Romney for his hypocrisy at the same time.  Obviously we were pleased to see Romney get a good smack as he is the one who pushed John McCain further to the right in 2007/2008 and this ultimately cost McCain the Latino vote because Latinos felt safer with (now) President Obama.  If Romney would not have played the populist anti-immigrant card in 07, then McCain may have held almost 40% of the Latino vote in 2008.  However, Romney demonizing Latin immigrants, and appointing Sheriff Joe Arpaio as his State chair here in Arizona caused McCain to curl up in fetal position and shy away from his McCain / Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill history.

We have systematically watched Romney be up to his old tricks again when he tried to make Rick Perry guilty for having compassion on our Latino children via the Texas DREAM Act.  More importantly, it is unfortunate that Romney will not follow Mormon leadership under the Utah Compact.  [To my conservative friends in the LDS community, I hope you are putting your money into Jon Huntsman who supports the federal DREAM Act.]  Romney will be lucky to get 9% of the Latino vote so you may as well just hang it up with him.   On the other hand, Hunstman is perceived as friendly to our youth and DREAM Act activists.  Latino parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters will always support the youth, and believe me, some of us can have large families who are part of the increasing eligible voter(s) demographics.

So far and to date, it looks like Newt sees the writing on the wall.  I believe he knows that the GOP is on a path to extinction because the fastest growing demographic exists in the southwest (not just Florida) with regard to the Mexican-American growth.  Perhaps Newt has the best interest of the GOP in the long term sense.  If Newt supports reasonable fixes to the broken immigration system, then he may be the only one out of the bunch (aside from Gary Johnson, Rick Perry and Huntsman) to demonstrate a logical approach to what is clearly broken.  Unfortunately the GOP has not been accepting to Gary Johnson who has the answer to fixing the broken system and this is unfortunate.  Gary Johnson is a fellow from the CATO Institute, and it does not get more free market and free trade than that.

If the GOP continues to make shortsighted moves, then their lack of foresight will cost the Party.  The GOP claims to be the party of personal responsibility, and it can’t have that with the likes of Congressman Lamar Smith who will do anything to minimize the future ‘brown’ vote with his large government ideas (national e-verify that imposes additional burdens on the small business owner), and enforcement only immigration policies.  Lamar Smith needs to be dealt with to open up the airways again. Politicians like Romney, Steve King, Tom Tancredo, J.D. Hayworth, Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce make it unpalatable for Latinos to join the Republican Party.  In fact, Latino Republicans are switching to the Independent Party in droves.

The PEW did a study on the Mexican-American Boom that is taking place right now.

The Mexican-American Boom:
Births Overtake Immigration

Complete Report

Births have surpassed immigration as the main driver of the dynamic growth in the U.S. Hispanic population. This new trend is especially evident among the largest of all Hispanic groups-Mexican-Americans, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

In the decade from 2000 to 2010, the Mexican-American population grew by 7.2 million as a result of births and 4.2 million as a result of new immigrant arrivals. This is a change from the previous two decades when the number of new immigrants either matched or exceeded the number of births.

Why does the Republican Party have to do the right thing?  Because time is running out.  In order for the GOP to save itself…it must take action before November 2012 especially in high Hispanic populated states where congressional seats were gained due to Mexican-American and Latino growth.  They may be able to save their necks but only if strong leadership emerges from the GOP.

There has to be a joint, concerted effort between top federal Republican lawmakers, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee that will back GOP lawmakers in states with large Hispanic populations and put them on the right path to come up with a realistic solution to immigration reform. Just toning down the rhetoric will no longer work in this era post the harsh anti-immigrant laws of Arizona, Alabama and Georgia.

Hispanics know how closely tied the immigration issue is with jobs and the economy. They know because many of them helped build and develop entire communities across the nation when they contributed their competitive labor rates which Republicans are all for.

The Republican party must learn the lesson of the Reid/Angle election – particularly in the US southwest where Latinos are registering themselves in droves. If Obama does in 2012 what Reid did at the last minute in 2010 in order to woo Latinos to go to the polls, Republicans will rue the day they threw away millions of vital votes.

An informative and telling story by Ed Pilkington from the Guardian:

No New Latino GOP Votes Until Immigration Reform

By DeeDee Garcia Blase

Here in Arizona Alice Cooper says, “I wanna love you but I better not touch.”

Much commotion has been made concerning a recent Republican effort to win over Latino voting support. While it might be admirable for the GOP to make an attempt to reach out to Latinos during a Presidential election year, I am afraid that their efforts will be fruitless until they reverse the actions of their dismal record regarding last December’s 2010 DREAM Act vote. We are now seeing former Senator Norm Coleman attempting to win over Latino voters via his Hispanic Leadership Network program, even though he told me in March of this year that the GOP cannot support legal immigration reform because it is simply not their priority. Fair enough, but given that, Latinos should not prioritize voting for the GOP.

The Republican Party can no longer claim to be pro-family, when over one million families have been forced apart or detained through their “attrition through enforcement” policies. It can no longer pride itself on pro-life views, since they attacked American-born baby rights via the 14th Amendment. It can no longer pride itself on jobs and the economy, because they are hurting the economy through their protectionism. Daniel Griswold from the CATO Institute told me that one low-skilled undocumented farm worker produces 3.1 middle income jobs to native born Americans via packaging, transportation and marketing. Since the passage of Georgia’s harsh anti-immigrant law, Georgia farmers have become desperate in their need to replace 11,000 farm workers who fled in mass exodus.

What was Coleman thinking and why would his advisors believe it would be a good strategy to use Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to reach out to Latinos, when Sandoval supported Arizona’s SB 1070? Latinos in New Mexico are becoming increasingly upset with Governor Susana Martinez’ initiative to take driver’s licenses away from the undocumented, so why is the GOP using her for Latino outreach? Latino grassroots leaders in Nevada and New Mexico tell me that Hispanics voted for Sandoval and Martinez because the Hispanic surname was misleading to many who believed they would take immigrant-friendly positions in the Southwest. Latino voters will not make that mistake again in 2012 as an immigration scorecard is being developed and will be released to multiple Latino media outlets.

Extreme rhetoric must be moderated from the top, and this is important because without this key component, there will be no bottom-up grassroots. Trust and rapport begins from the bottom-up, not vice versa. The Republican National Committee (RNC) leadership is eerily silent with the anti-immigrant Tea Party crowd. They need to step in and moderate the rhetoric.

SOMOS Republicans became the largest Hispanic Republican group in the nation as it grew out of crisis, because it was the only Latino GOP group that stood up for immigrant rights and stood against fellow Republicans (as well as Democrats) who supported anti-immigrant laws. The other Latino GOP groups seemed to be afraid to fight for the Latino community on the immigration front, and most simply toed the party line, equated most immigrants to drug mules, supported Arizona’s harsh anti-immigrant law, or did not support the DREAM Act.

What happened to the Republican Party? Republicans who used to champion the DREAM Act and Immigration Reform under George W. Bush, are now nowhere to be found. When did the “Big Tent Party” become the “isolationist Tea Party”?

Since the failure of the DREAM Act, SOMOS Republicans saw a significant drop in new Latino Republican membership, members told us they were switching back to the Independent or Democratic Party, Internet traffic significantly diminished, and 15 of the organization’s 20 top national leaders were considering changing their voting registration to Independent. How were these top Latino Republican leaders going to answer to the Latino community after the DREAM Act vote was aired live by UNIVISION?

So what will it take for the GOP to save itself from losing an entire generation of Latino voters? Toning down the rhetoric alone will not do it anymore – not in this Information Age. The only way the GOP can make up for past DREAM Act sins and reverse a complete political shift in the Southwest is for Senate Republicans to display leadership for comprehensive legal immigration, since most State legislators believe the federal government is not carrying out its federal responsibility to fix the broken immigration system. I hear New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is seeking GOP sponsors and is open to ideas that will fix the problem.

Conservative pundits were quick with their efforts to create self-fulfilling prophecies by giving the false perception that Latinos are not going to vote in large numbers during the 2012 Presidential elections. This only shows how out of touch they are with the Latino community, and their falsehoods created the spark necessary for the National Tequila Party Movement. The Tequila Party quickly received strong support from Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who viewed the anti-immigrant Tea Party as kryptonite. The Tequila Party soon became a strong movement comprised of Democrats, Independents and Republicans who unified ourselves in supporting a strong Latino GOTV, organizing rallies as we push for legal immigration reform. We became the Latino counter-movement, as the Tea Party was making clear to all Americans their refusal to work in a bipartisan fashion, which was evident in the debt crisis discussions no matter the global financial cost.

In order for the GOP to acquire new Latino voters for 2012, they must support legal comprehensive immigration reform to make up for their dismal DREAM Act vote in 2010. There is no way around this. Republican lawmakers across the nation have spoken loud and clear and have said the immigration system is broken. I agree, so let’s fix it.

Here in Arizona Alice Cooper says, “I wanna love you but I better not touch.”

Much commotion has been made concerning a recent Republican effort to win over Latino voting support. While it might be admirable for the GOP to make an attempt to reach out to Latinos during a Presidential election year, I am afraid that their efforts will be fruitless until they reverse the actions of their dismal record regarding last December’s 2010 DREAM Act vote. We are now seeing former Senator Norm Coleman attempting to win over Latino voters via his Hispanic Leadership Network program, even though he told me in March of this year that the GOP cannot support legal immigration reform because it is simply not their priority. Fair enough, but given that, Latinos should not prioritize voting for the GOP.

The Republican Party can no longer claim to be pro-family, when over one million families have been forced apart or detained through their “attrition through enforcement” policies. It can no longer pride itself on pro-life views, since they attacked American-born baby rights via the 14th Amendment. It can no longer pride itself on jobs and the economy, because they are hurting the economy through their protectionism. Daniel Griswold from the CATO Institute told me that one low-skilled undocumented farm worker produces 3.1 middle income jobs to native born Americans via packaging, transportation and marketing. Since the passage of Georgia’s harsh anti-immigrant law, Georgia farmers have become desperate in their need to replace 11,000 farm workers who fled in mass exodus.

What was Coleman thinking and why would his advisors believe it would be a good strategy to use Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to reach out to Latinos, when Sandoval supported Arizona’s SB 1070? Latinos in New Mexico are becoming increasingly upset with Governor Susana Martinez’ initiative to take driver’s licenses away from the undocumented, so why is the GOP using her for Latino outreach? Latino grassroots leaders in Nevada and New Mexico tell me that Hispanics voted for Sandoval and Martinez because the Hispanic surname was misleading to many who believed they would take immigrant-friendly positions in the Southwest. Latino voters will not make that mistake again in 2012 as an immigration scorecard is being developed and will be released to multiple Latino media outlets.

Extreme rhetoric must be moderated from the top, and this is important because without this key component, there will be no bottom-up grassroots. Trust and rapport begins from the bottom-up, not vice versa. The Republican National Committee (RNC) leadership is eerily silent with the anti-immigrant Tea Party crowd. They need to step in and moderate the rhetoric.

SOMOS Republicans became the largest Hispanic Republican group in the nation as it grew out of crisis, because it was the only Latino GOP group that stood up for immigrant rights and stood against fellow Republicans (as well as Democrats) who supported anti-immigrant laws. The other Latino GOP groups seemed to be afraid to fight for the Latino community on the immigration front, and most simply toed the party line, equated most immigrants to drug mules, supported Arizona’s harsh anti-immigrant law, or did not support the DREAM Act.

What happened to the Republican Party? Republicans who used to champion the DREAM Act and Immigration Reform under George W. Bush, are now nowhere to be found. When did the “Big Tent Party” become the “isolationist Tea Party”?

Since the failure of the DREAM Act, SOMOS Republicans saw a significant drop in new Latino Republican membership, members told us they were switching back to the Independent or Democratic Party, Internet traffic significantly diminished, and 15 of the organization’s 20 top national leaders were considering changing their voting registration to Independent. How were these top Latino Republican leaders going to answer to the Latino community after the DREAM Act vote was aired live by UNIVISION?

So what will it take for the GOP to save itself from losing an entire generation of Latino voters? Toning down the rhetoric alone will not do it anymore – not in this Information Age. The only way the GOP can make up for past DREAM Act sins and reverse a complete political shift in the Southwest is for Senate Republicans to display leadership for comprehensive legal immigration, since most State legislators believe the federal government is not carrying out its federal responsibility to fix the broken immigration system. I hear New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is seeking GOP sponsors and is open to ideas that will fix the problem.

Conservative pundits were quick with their efforts to create self-fulfilling prophecies by giving the false perception that Latinos are not going to vote in large numbers during the 2012 Presidential elections. This only shows how out of touch they are with the Latino community, and their falsehoods created the spark necessary for the National Tequila Party Movement. The Tequila Party quickly received strong support from Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who viewed the anti-immigrant Tea Party as kryptonite. The Tequila Party soon became a strong movement comprised of Democrats, Independents and Republicans who unified ourselves in supporting a strong Latino GOTV, organizing rallies as we push for legal immigration reform. We became the Latino counter-movement, as the Tea Party was making clear to all Americans their refusal to work in a bipartisan fashion, which was evident in the debt crisis discussions no matter the global financial cost.

In order for the GOP to acquire new Latino voters for 2012, they must support legal comprehensive immigration reform to make up for their dismal DREAM Act vote in 2010. There is no way around this. Republican lawmakers across the nation have spoken loud and clear and have said the immigration system is broken. I agree, so let’s fix it.

Mitt Romney will go down in American history as being irrational on immigration reform policies.  I will never forget when the Romney camp appointed Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Monday as honorary chair of the campaign in the state of Arizona, according to  FOXNews.com.

It’s unfortunate to see this 2012 Presidential Candidate be up to his old tricks again on the immigration issue.  Mitt Romney was so bad in 2007 that he moved Senator John McCain (who worked with Kennedy on an Immigration Reform Bill) further to the right and against immigration friendly views.  Romney lost in 2008 against Senator John McCain, and he will continue to lose because it appears he hasn’t learned from his mistakes.  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has pulled no punches over illegal immigration, even charging that Rick Perry created an inducement.

What I don’t understand is how both Russell Pearce (lost special elections to Jerry Lewis) and Mitt Romney will not adhere to principles of the Utah Compact.  Both of these politicians are people that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) community and if they would only act more like Jon Huntsman things would be a much healthier environment.  For the record, Jon Huntsman supports the Federal DREAM Act and gets major Latino points to that regard.   Romney, on the other hand, is a familiar old foe and charlatan who continues to take a “populist” approach in demonizing immigrants since 2007 when he ran against John McCain.

Here are similar parallels between Mitt Romney and Russell Pearce:

• Mitt Romney made Sheriff Joe Arpaio his state chair when he ran against Senator John McCain in 2007 and forced McCain farther to the right on his anti-immigration views.
• FactCheck: Yes, his ads DID accuse McCain of “amnesty”. (Jan 2008)
• Enforce the law against 12 million illegals here now. (Jun 2007)
• McCain’s plan gives special pathway to those here illegally. (May 2007)
• Keep rule barring immigrants from running for president. (May 2007)
• The 12 million illegal immigrants can’t stay forever. (Jan 2006)
• Illegal immigrants shouldn’t get tuition break in schools. (Nov 2007)
• Unfair to allow all illegal immigrants to stay. (Jan 2006)
• Tuition breaks encourage illegal immigration. (Nov 2005)
• Vetoed in-state tuition; turn off the magnet. (Sep 2011)
• Of course a border fence; of course no free tuition. (Sep 2011)
• Build 2,600-mile fence with enough guards to secure it. (Sep 2011)
• Turn off the magnet that attracts immigrants. (Sep 2011)
• Deport illegal immigrants in 90 days under the ideal setting. (Jan 2008)
• AdWatch: Huckabee ok’ed tuition & scholarships for illegals. (Dec 2007)
• FactCheck: Took hard-line on illegals (Dec 2007)
• Avoid chain migration; disallow families from one citizen. (Dec 2007)
• FactCheck: Illegals employed at his home, but by contractor. (Nov 2007)
• AdWatch: No driver’s license & in-state tuition for illegals. (Nov 2007)