As they say, words matter. For Republicans seeking the long road back to being a national and broad-based party, the movement toward a bipartisan and comprehensive immigration plan is a start, but it doesn’t finish the job. GOP candidates got pounded in the November election among minority voters: Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans lost Latino voters by 44 and 38 points, respectively; and Asian voters by 47 and 48 points.
But the damage done among Latinos and Asians, the latter now the fastest-growing minority group, resulted not just from the substance of the immigration issue but from the rhetoric. [cont.]
Charlie Cook