In a new ad called “Decades”, Joe Garcia, chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, and the New Democrat Network calls on Republicans to stop the demagoguery on Cuba and act responsibly.
If you're not able to listen, the ad shows a man washing his car and listening to hardline Cuban-American talk radio. At the beginning of the ad, we are in 1962. Then it changes to 1979 and finally ends in 2004, with new times and the same man washing his car, but still the same demagoguery from Republicans on the radio.
Enter Joe Garcia: “Enough is enough. There comes a time when we have to act responsibly. I've taken a stand. Will you?”
I think the ad is great. It gets the message across very strongly and it doesn’t just hit only at the Cuba issue, but also at the whole philosophy of today’s Republican Party.
We’ve heard hardline rhetoric and demagoguery for decades coming from Republicans. Like on so many other issues, the Republican message is designed to divide and scare voters. It’s crafted to fear-monger us and bring about hate. These are the tactics of old and we hear them year after year and yet Republicans bring about no change. This is the same message they bring to the table on Iraq and terrorism. It’s the same message they have used on immigration reform to arise hate against Hispanics. Republicans will use any tactic necessary to divide the nation, truthful or not, just to win elections. This is the politics of old and it needs to stop.
We need real action taken to deal with the situation about Cuba and many other issues.. We need to stand up together and “act responsibly,” as Joe Garcia says in ad. There is one South Florida, not the two South Floridas and two Americas the Republicans would like us to have.
The ad is great at playing at that dynamic. The Republican Party has no loyalty to Hispanics. While they try to scare some voters on the issue of Cuba, at the same time they use hate rhetoric against Hispanic immigrants to win elections in the rest of the country. Who wants to be a part of that party?
So now we’re starting to see stories like this one, which came from yesterday’s Miami Herald.
Hispanics are returning to the Democratic Party after several years of drifting toward the Republicans, with many saying Bush administration policies have been harmful to their community, a poll showed Thursday.
By 57 percent to 23 percent, more Hispanic registered voters say they favor Democrats than Republicans, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.
That 34-percentage-point Democratic edge — which includes people who said they lean toward either party — has grown since July 2006, when a Pew poll measured a 21-point difference. Then, 49 percent of registered Hispanic voters said they favored Democrats and 28 percent chose Republicans.
And many Cuban-Americans were already leaving the Republican Party in masses.
Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County, regarded for years as a solidly Republican catch for statewide and national candidates stumping in Florida, are increasingly becoming free agents.
Less than half of the county’s Hispanic voters are registered Republicans, down from 59 percent less than a decade ago, The Miami Herald found. Like newer voters elsewhere in the state and the nation, more Hispanic voters are rebuffing political parties: One out of four in Miami-Dade are registered as nonpartisan. In Broward County, one in three Hispanic registered voters are unaffiliated with either party.
“It’s a trend that I’ve seen happening, and obviously it concerns me,” said Jose “Pepe” Riesco, vice chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party. “It’s a problem we can’t run away from.”
Cuban-Americans, like many Hispanics, are running away from the party of hate. Being the party of demagoguery has its disadvantages.
Now we need to use this situation to offer a new direction to voters. Joe Garcia and the New Democrat Network is doing that with this ad.
However, we also need strong candidates in South Florida, which is why the Draft Joe Garcia movement for the 25th district in South Florida has been launched. If you are not familiar with the area, the current representative is Bush rubberstamp Mario Diaz-Balart. We need someone who is going to stand up to the Republican hate machine and end the politics of Diaz-Balart. This is why we need to get Joe in the race. Views of Cuban-Americans are changing and so now is the time we can win. At the same time, we also want a better kind of Democrat in the race who will stand up for progressive values. Joe is that guy.
The main goals right now are to spread the word of this movement, build the Florida netroots, and of course build grassroots support for a run against Mario Diaz-Balart. Please Sign the Petition to get Joe in the race and also please contribute $5.00 and help us achieve our goal of 100 contributions. If enough of us ask, I know we can get him in!