January 20, 2007
WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU:
Martinez Takes Over as Leader of RNC: Florida Senator Aims to Reach Out To Minority Voters (Shailagh Murray, 1/20/07, Washington Post)
A small group of conservative RNC members had announced their opposition to the first-term senator because they viewed him as overly tolerant of illegal immigration.But to many Republicans, Martinez represented a fresh face for the party, a first-generation American whose background and congenial personality could widen GOP appeal to vast new voter groups. Martinez called for greater tolerance for all groups during his inaugural address yesterday.
"To be the party of the future means that we also have to be a party that opens the door wide open so that all Americans feel welcome," he said.
Martinez said that as a Cuban American, "it was easy for me to understand that the Republican Party, the party of Ronald Reagan, was a party for us," because the two sides shared a strong opposition to the communist rule of Fidel Castro.
"I want to make sure that we take that message to the broader Hispanic community, to the African American community, and to all communities that may never have believed that Republican ideals spoke to them," Martinez said.
Your minute is over, men. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 20, 2007 9:22 AM
Cuban refugees are like Vietnamese refugees. Having fled Boxer-Leninism, they are on our side. Indeed, it was because they were on our side that they faced persecution.
They present another set of issues than do the peons driven from exploitation by elites in their countries of origin to exploitation by elites here.
Feigning identity between the two groups is no more than cynical, gross racism.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 20, 2007 9:49 AM