Sen. Mel Martinez states the obvious

During an appearance on “Meet the Press” yesterday, Senator Mel Martinez explained one key reason why Latino voters shied away from John McCain. Here’s a hint: it was a topic barely mentioned by either of the major presidential candidates.

Cuban American Senator, Mel Martinez, feels the strong anti-immigration rhetoric spewed by some members within the Republican Party contributed to their massive loss last week.

Martinez, appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, said if those Republican members, meaning largely far right ultra conservatives, ` continue with that kind of rhetoric, anti-Hispanic rhetoric, that so much of it was heard, we're going to be relegated to minority status.`

He said `that the very divisive rhetoric of the immigration debate set a very bad tone for our brand as Republicans,` especially since he said `Hispanics are going to be a more and more vibrant part of the electorate, and the Republican Party had better figure out how to talk to them.`

Now that federal elections have passed let’s see if our elected representatives have the cojones to tackle the immigration debate. Hopefully they will, though one shouldn’t be surprised if they’re far too willing to acquiesce to the broken status quo.

Image- CNN
Sources- The Latin Americanist, CaribWorldNews.com, Foreign Policy