One thing I have learned is that one just cannot point fingers and expect a bandwagon to form behind those doing the pointing.
Coby points to an e-mail that circulated from Democratic staffers describing an episode of a public access talk show in which the Republican running for Tax Assessor takes an anti-Latino bent.
“I don’t have a problem with their (Hispanics) agenda except for trying to get benefits that may not have been earned.”
Obviously, that Sumner guy is a right-wing-nut and doesn’t offer much, other than rhetoric and support of bad policies. He’s a Republican. What’s so surprising about that?
The e-mail goes on to describe various things that Republicans have done against Hispanics in the last few weeks. Again, they’re Republicans, we’ve known what they are about for a long time and, nationally at least, Latinos have responded by voting close to 70% for Democrats.
Has that translated to Texas? The percentages of support, yes; voter participation, not so much.
What is the first thing majority Democrats tell whining Republicans who are against everything in DC?
“Put in your own bill,” or “Provide an alternative.”
The Republicans, of course, do not do it and whine all the way to November. This is a formula that hasn’t worked for them recently.
So, why would we expect it to work for Democrats when it comes to Latino voters?
Simply pointing fingers at the usual Republican BS that is thrown at an entire people is not enough. We want alternatives. We want candidates who will respond, strongly. We definitely do not want tip-toeing around an issue to ensure the poll numbers don’t tank for individual candidates.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of strong responses, other than from Latinos like Trey Martinez Fischer, Linda Chavez-Thompson, and Hector Uribe. Of course, I cannot forget that Hank Gilbert sounded off soon after Arizona’s law was signed. (And I’m sure some of the Party powers that be wince at some of their responses fearful that the Party may lose an independent or a Soft Republican which they haven’t even earned, or worse, some East Texas Democrat who doesn’t take kindly to immigrants.).
We cannot operate by polling, and Democrats must be bold if they want to earn votes.
The Latino electorate has a history of what some call apathy. During times like these when one party attacks and the other doesn’t do much on the defense side, I would call it voter indifference.
This needs to change and soon, because, believe it or not Democratic Party, the next generation of voters is paying attention.
It’s taking all of me to not get in my car and head to the Capital of Tejano Conjunto Music for the 
