2016 Election

[Rich]

I am a Hispanic Non-Republican and I don't find the term anchor baby offensive. Because the term has nothing to do with being Hispanic. In fact, it is derived from the term anchor child which was originally used to describe Vietnamese children back in 1987.

I think another facet of the Trump candidacy is that many people are fed up with everything being offensive.

[Rich]

Further evidence that the Trump candidacy may be defying conventional wisdom.

Nearly 20,000 Bay State Democrats have fled the party this winter, with thousands doing so to join the Republican ranks, according to the state’s top elections official.

Secretary of State William Galvin said more than 16,300 Democrats have shed their party affiliation and become independent voters since Jan. 1, while nearly 3,500 more shifted to the MassGOP ahead of tomorrow’s “Super Tuesday” presidential primary.

Galvin called both “significant” changes that dwarf similar shifts ahead of other primary votes, including in 2000, when some Democrats flocked from the party in order to cast a vote for Sen. John McCain in the GOP primary.

The primary reason? Galvin said his “guess” is simple: “The Trump phenomenon,” a reference to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who polls show enjoying a massive lead over rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and others among Massachusetts Republican voters.

“The tenor of the Republican campaign has been completely different from what we’ve seen in prior Republican presidential campaigns,” Galvin said. “You have to look no farther than the viewership for some of the televised debates.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/2016/02/amid_trump_surge_nearly_20000_mass_voters_quit_democratic_party

[Rich]

I humbly submit that if you are a Hispanic Republican, you are likely already fully immune to racism

Also, since Hispanic is a not a race, then you cannot be racist against a Hispanic. There are blond, blue eyed Hispanics. There are black Hispanics.

Just saying...

[Spider-Dan]

I am a Hispanic Non-Republican and I don't find the term anchor baby offensive. Because the term has nothing to do with being Hispanic.

Again, if you can't overlook terms like "anchor baby" (and other dog whistles) then it would be nearly impossible to be a conservative in the first place, as that kind of coded language abounds.  So I'm not surprised to hear that you are fine with it.

I think another facet of the Trump candidacy is that many people are fed up with everything being offensive.

It's pretty easy to be "fed up" with other people being offended.  Kind of like how Sarah Palin is against political correctness right until she hears someone use the word "retard."

[Rich]

Again, if you can't overlook terms like "anchor baby" (and other dog whistles) then it would be nearly impossible to be a conservative in the first place, as that kind of coded language abounds.  So I'm not surprised to hear that you are fine with it.

That's funny. I'm being called a conservative. 

It's pretty easy to be "fed up" with other people being offended.  Kind of like how Sarah Palin is against political correctness right until she hears someone use the word "retard."

You'd be surprised at how many Hispanics are not offended by a candidate that wants to stop people from coming into the country illegally and unaccounted for.

[Spider-Dan]

That's funny. I'm being called a conservative.

I only call you a conservative because you consistently defend and advocate for conservative positions.

I'm also registered as an independent (and always have been).  Opting-out of the D/R label does not magically make one non-partisan.

[Rich]

I only call you a conservative because you consistently defend and advocate for conservative positions.

I consistently defend and advocate for conservative positions. Hyperbole much?

I'm also registered as an independent (and always have been).  Opting-out of the D/R label does not magically make one non-partisan.

That is very clear in YOUR case.

[Spider-Dan]

Rather than perform the easy (but tedious) task of filling this thread with your pro-conservative quotes, I'll just ask: exactly which positions have you advocated for that, in your opinion, are NOT conservative?

I'd also like to add that I always forget that this is a site for Miami Dolphins fans, and that Miami has a high Cuban population.  I'm not necessarily saying that you're Cuban, but Cubans are unlike literally every other group of Hispanics in America; there is no such thing as illegal Cuban immigrants, as they can just show up in America and automatically be granted political asylum, with no sort of limit or quota.   (It is no coincidence that both Hispanic GOP candidates are of Cuban heritage.)

So I grant that there is one specific group of Hispanics in America that are 100% against illegal immigration, because it literally cannot apply to them.  I'm sure Ted Cruz' father will be happy to talk at length about the scourge of illegal immigration, even though many of them entered the country exactly as he did.

[CF DolFan]

coded language

I love this sensationalistic term. It is what it is. Nothing coded about it. An anchor baby is an anchor baby.

[Spider-Dan]

I love this sensationalistic term. It is what it is. Nothing coded about it. An anchor baby is an anchor baby.

Sure, in the same sense that when Reagan campaigned on "states' rights," he was only talking about the states' ability to decide matters for themselves.  Exactly which matters we are talking about is intentionally left open-ended, because we aren't specifically talking about segregation; we are talking about "states' rights," which is a completely different thing that is totally reasonable to be in favor of, and not at all racist.

Similarly, when we use the phrase "anchor baby," we are potentially talking about anchor babies from Germany, or Denmark, or Australia.  It could be an anchor baby from anywhere in the world!  So technically, "anchor baby" isn't specifically talking about the children of illegal Mexican immigrants at all, and when we talk about repealing or re-adjudicating the 14th Amendment, we aren't talking about eliminating citizenship status of millions of Latinos... maybe we're talking about eliminating the citizenship of illegal Canadian immigrants!  So this is not at all a race-oriented attack.

Coded language.

[Spider-Dan]

He has won with Hispanics despite running against two Hispanics.

Just to follow up on this:

Trump won the Latino vote in the Nevada Republican caucus with 45% of the vote; his next closest competitor, Rubio, had 27%.  And it turns out that that 45-27 number is useful in more ways than one, as it was based on a grand total of 100 Latino Republicans; that is to say, he didn't just win 45%-27%, but 45 people to 27.

This is not what I would call overwhelming positive support from the Latino community.

[Dave Gray]

The Republicans created Trump.  It's really interesting.  They sat on their hands and benefited from his crazy talk like "Obama wasn't born in this country."  Even legitimate politicians didn't denounce that kind of stuff and said very weak things like "well, if the president says he was born here, then I take him at his word."  Now, they let that tumor grow and it's killing them with the same tactics.

[CF DolFan]

I know Democrats like to blame Republicans for what they are going through but I don't see it as a something that was built from Republicans. I see conservative and liberal posts all day long on Facebook and people in the middle are attracted to him. The politically correct police have created Trump. People are so fed up with being told what is right and what is wrong about offending people that someone like Trump only has to say things that piss other people off to get their support. People's number one reason for supporting Trump is "he tells it like it is" and "he sounds like me".  They couldn't care less that he hasn't said anything of substance.

I swear if Trump was running Democrat that many Republicans would have made the leap to follow as well.

I know several deputies who escorted Trump the other day on his visit to UCF. They came away completely supporting him. He's very charismatic ... especially when the cameras are off.  It's surprising to me how many strong willed guys who I never thought would follow him jump on his bandwagon. I'm going to see Rubio tonight so I'll have to see if he has the same effect on people.

[masterfins]

The Republicans created Trump.  It's really interesting.  They sat on their hands and benefited from his crazy talk like "Obama wasn't born in this country."  Even legitimate politicians didn't denounce that kind of stuff and said very weak things like "well, if the president says he was born here, then I take him at his word."  Now, they let that tumor grow and it's killing them with the same tactics.

I think saying the GOP created him is a little strong, but I agree in essence what you are saying.  The same thing happened with the Tea Party movement, the GOP liked it because it was anti-Democrats, and they thought they could just control the tea party Congress members, but they learned the tea party people weren't going to play that game.

[Sunstroke]

The same thing happened with the Tea Party movement, the GOP liked it because it was anti-Democrats, and they thought they could just control the tea party Congress members, but they learned the tea party people weren't going to play that game.

Unfortunately, that is a fairly regular occurrence when dealing with the hyper-religious right. Once you've convinced yourself that not only is God real, but that he loves you more than people of other religions, or people of no religion, then it's pretty hard to ever get you to admit that you're wrong.