GOP Brand Plummets with One of the Fastest Growing American Voting Groups
Media outlets are closely covering – and criticizing – Republicans’ continued failures to advance a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill loaded with measures to block President Obama’s immigration executive actions.
Beltway media outlets are highlighting Republican in-fighting between the House and the Senate and sharing in National Journal’s assessment: “Homeland Security funding runs out soon, and Republicans are stuck.” Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson eviscerates the “juvenile GOP” that values “symbolic posturing over pragmatic action,” stating that, “If the party’s aim is to show Americans it is ready to govern, we are witnessing an epic fail. Washington Post conservative writer Jennifer Rubin states that we “have arrived at the cul de sac that always confronts the right wing. It cannot win without total control (a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and the White House), and it cannot back down, for its Beltway racket makes money and sustains anger by being purer than pure.” Kevin Drum writes in Mother Jones that Republicans have stepped into a political trap laid for them by President Obama and Democrats, noting, “By the time 2016 rolls around, even a moderate guy like Jeb Bush is going to be so tainted by Republican craziness on immigration that he’ll get virtually no support from the Latino community.”
Yet despite the near-universal condemnation in English language media, Republicans should perhaps be more worried about the coverage they are receiving in leading Spanish language media outlets. Spanish language media is closely monitoring and reporting on the GOP’s anti-immigrant obsession. If it’s possible, Republicans’ brand image among Latino voters may actually be getting worse. As journalist Jorge Ramos recently explained:
If Republicans had their way, more than four million undocumented immigrants would lose the protections President Barack Obama granted through an executive order in November. They would face deportation again. Latinos have no choice but to take this personally.
Below is a translated snapshot of some recent Spanish language media coverage:
- Telemundo National Newscast: Republicans Determined to Stop Executive Action from Going into Effect
- Univision.com: Democratic Senators Block Law Against Obama’s Immigration Relief
- Notimex: Republicans Fail in Actions against Immigration Relief
- EFE News Wire: Once Again Democratic Senators Block Law Against Obama’s Immigration Relief: “Republicans who took absolute control of Congress in January, have promised to attack Obama’s immigration policies…”
- La Opinión/Impremedia: Republican Attempt To Block Immigration Relief Fails: “Against strong opposition from Democrats, a measure that conditions funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the elimination of immigration relief did not progress on Tuesday in the Senate.”
- La Opinión (Editorial): The Problem is Deportation: “As we have said before in this page, the case for eliminating executive action using the constitutional argument that the Executive branch committed abuse of power is not sincere. The real intention is to deport as many people as possible. Ideally, the punitive language on immigration should be left out of the DHS budget, so it gets approved as soon as possible. This requires a sense of maturity and pragmatism for the part of the House Republican leadership that should start with listening to other voices beyond their own. The sound of that bubble is only isolating them from the majority of America.”
