America's Voice Blog

Posted 01/15/09 at 07:06pm

Sen. Ensign and GOP Embrace Hispanics By Demonizing Their Kids

Potential SCHIP Baby Well, he was definitely with us... before he was against us.

Just last week, The Hill quoted Senator Ensign (R-Nev.):

"Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who last year oversaw the Senate Republican campaign committee, said Republicans hashed out the need to reverse their slide in support among Hispanics. ‘It was discussed big time,' said Ensign. "We have to reach out to Hispanics. We need to go on Hispanic media much more.'"

We were impressed with this change of heart. Especially given the Senator's blatant efforts, as head of the  Senate Republican campaign committee, to forge GOP victories on the backs of ugly anti-immigrant campaign slogans. Despite the spectacular failure of this strategy in 2006, the good Senator tried again in 2008-and lost big.

Well, today marked the beginning of the Senate SCHIP debate, where lawmakers decided whether to include qualified legal immigrant kids for medical care under the popular legislation. Led by Senator John Ensign (R-NV), Senate Republicans have proven yet again that their addiction to wedge politics reigns supreme.

Rather than lend a helping hand to children in need, check out this exchange between SCHIP hero Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) and Senator Ensign, via the AP:

"I believe no lawfully present child in this country should be required to wait five years before they get health care," Rockefeller said.

But Republicans said that extending health coverage to newly arrived immigrants would encourage people to come to the United States for its government benefits.

"We are giving more incentives to folks to come to the United States not just to participate in the American dream, but to get on the government dole," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

"That's a gloomy way to look at human nature," Rockefeller said.

Senator Ensign, accusing hardworking immigrants whose children qualify for needed health care of coming to this country "to go on the government dole" is a slap in the face. This is yet another piece of evidence that many Republicans seem to have learned nothing from the stunning failure of immigration as a wedge issue in the last election. Even the ones who claimed to want to "reach out to Hispanics" just can't seem to break the habit of immigrant-bashing.

Here's a tip for Senator Ensign when he goes on his Hispanic outreach tour: you might want to start with not demonizing their children.

Comments

Hi guys. Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all. Help me! Please help find sites for: Fungus with lamisil. I found only this - <a >lamisil toenails</a>. The therapeutic agents, which are fda approved anti fungal or terbinafine, administered topically within mediquest proprietary organogel formulation. Medication errors edited by michael Waiting for a reply :rolleyes:, Dewitt from Micronesia.

  • 06-21-09 By Dewitt(Micronesia)

Good evening. Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. Help me! I can not find sites on the: Buy cialis without prescription. I found only this - <a >rx no prescription cialis</a>. This type of vision loss is caused by decreased blood flow to the optic nerve of the eye. Visit their health article section at to learn more about the benefits of safe and private online pharmacies. With respect :rolleyes:, Gannon from Northern.

  • 06-25-09 By Gannon(Northern)

I know the WAVE program, launched first in North Carolina by the world’s largest security company, is offering an online form and telephone hotline—in exchange for free e-mail—where anyone can anonymously report disturbing comments by a student. Or, they can turn in someone for making a joke or expressing an opinion as is happening across the country in an epidemic of school-violence hysteria.

Are you sure that any body demonize their kid? Your article has really interesting topics. I like your blog very much.

The bill would end an inequity that we have been trying to eradicate for more than a decade,” said Jennifer M. Ng’andu, a health policy specialist at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic rights group.

As we reported in, “GOP Hispanic Outreach Team Locked in Closet During SCHIP Debate,” many Republican Senators put forward amendments this week to try to poison the bill’s passage by forcing a lengthy and heated debate about immigration:

His colleagues, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), have already filed amendments to gut the provisions.

As reported by National Public Radio today,  Sen. Ensign and other Republicans are voicing strong opposition to provisions in the bill that would allow legal immigrant children to access health care without a five year waiting period.

REAKING: SCHIP just passed out of the U.S. Senate. Thanks to all of your faxes and phone calls, the kids health bill now moves on to be signed into law with the provisions for lawfully-present immigrant children firmly intact.

good blog

 1 2 3 >  Last »

Submit a comment

Please enter the word you see in the image below: