Rethuglicans dodge Spanish-language debates

[Liberty Belle]

Debates in Spanish? Si!

http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/archives/2007/08/presidential_de.html .

Naturally only one Republican has said he'll bother to show up. (The rest probably want to lock up immigrants and throw away the key.) This should tell Hispanic voters who cares most about their issues.

[KingFlorez]

1. Good, they are just alienating more voters

Anything they do that hurts their chances at getting votes is fine by me.

[Liberty Belle]

2. I can't imagine who's left in their base.

so far they've alienated Hispanics, blacks, Muslims, poor people, the Middle Class, seniors, sick people, millions who need good healthcare, Christians with real moral values ho care about saving our children, environmentalists and anyone with a brain who is worried about global warming and giving polluters free rein, women who don't want to be baby mills for the Reich, an increasing number of active duty military and veterans, civil libertarians, students, labor, homeowners losing their homes in the housing crunch, and based on the economy lately, the GOP is starting to lose the business vote as well.

(Check "Market meltdown" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWksEJQEYVU)

Other than racists, women haters, and billionaire Bush cronies, who's left?

[knowledgeispwr]

3. This blog entry says Sen. Clinton is dodging it too...

I can see two political reasons why candidates would not want to show up:

Language: Non-Spanish speaking candidates would feel they are at a disadvantage to the Spanish-speakers, since two translations will be involved to get them to answer a question (Spanish-English and then English-Spanish) and if the candidate and/or the translator aren't careful, something may be lost or distorted in translation.

Immigration: Univision is likely to focus a significant portion of the debate on immigration issues and they tend to have a pretty pro-amnesty stance. Immigration reform is a very complex issue and candidates may not want to try to explain their position in such a limiting format (a debate with time constrains), much less in a foreign language.