Colbert Report on Republicans and the Latino Vote

Add Stephen Colbert to the long list of commentators who realize what a problem the Latino vote is going to be for Republicans this November.

A “Colbert Report” segment this week wonders how Republicans are going to capture the Latino vote “instead of their current strategy of capturing Latinos.”  Colbert cites the recent Fox News Latino poll which found that no more than 14% of Latino voters would swing for the Republican Party if the general election were held today.

Why?  It could be that presumed standard bearer Mitt Romney’s immigration policy basically consists of “self deportation,” in which all 11 million undocumented immigrants already here in the US are expected to remove themselves back to their country of origin, no matter how long they’ve been in the country or what kind of ties they’ve put down.

However, Colbert points out, given the Republicans’ extremist base, there’s no easy way for the GOP to reverse course on their severely anti-immigrant positions and attempt to appeal to Hispanic voters “without coming off as a bunch of immigrant coddling amnesty huggers.”

Somehow, he says, it’s just not endearing to certain groups of voters when the GOP wants them to “vote Republican in 2012,” but then “kindly see yourselves out” of the country after November.