Hostility to minorities is held by the far right majority of the Republican Party

No matter the group, one can almost feel the seething disgust the GOP has for people they don’t like.

Simply put, there is one party that welcomes people of all colors and faiths, and there is one that does not.

– brooklynbadboy.

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Harry Reid really touched a nerve when he said: “I don’t know how anyone of Latino heritage could be a Republican, OK?” … “Do I need to say more?”

Out of necessity, 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Raul Labrador, who was born in Puerto Rico, weighed in:

“Harry Reid’s latest race-baited words are simply unacceptable to all members of the Hispanic community and I fully expect his party and Walt Minnick to condemn these terrible comments immediately.” he said

Calling Reid’s comments “ill-tempered,” and “ignorant,” Labrador, issued the following statement:

I cannot believe an elected leader of Harry Reid’s stature can continue to make racist comments about huge numbers of Americans. Harry Reid’s latest race-baited comments are simply unacceptable to all members of the Hispanic community. Denigrating the entire Republican Hispanic community, including myself, is simply outrageous. Contrary to Senator Reid’s beliefs, the Latino community is perfectly capable of making choices of political affiliation that are in its best interests, including being Republicans.

“Statements such as these prove the message of the Democrat Party as one of inclusiveness and tolerance is nothing more than cynical political posturing,” Labrador added. “I expect the Democrat (sic) Party that continues to keep Reid in a position of Leadership to denounce his statements and I fully expect my opponent Walt Minnick to condemn these terrible comments immediately.”

On Daily Kos, Brooklynbadboy felt differently:

This blunt language encapsulated the basic argument the entire Democratic Party has to make to Latino people: hostility to minorities is held by the far right majority of the Republican Party. No matter the group, one can almost feel the seething disgust the GOP has for people they don’t like. This is obvious to people who can see it and are honest about it, including plenty of people in the Republican Party who are genuinely disgusted by racism. But those folks are increasingly being forced out of the party as it turns its moral center away from big business and Christian evangelicals in favor of white supremacists and extremists.

He continued:

Harry Reid may have been speaking something that usually lingers just below the surface of political debate in this country. Simply put, there is one party that welcomes people of all colors and faiths, and there is one that does not. Therefore, it is a rather curious thing to find people of color becoming leaders of a party that is openly hostile to people of color. Despite the hostility, the GOP does produce them. Michael Steele, Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio come to mind. There is a strand of the GOP that puts ideology before all, even if the results of that ideology have negative effects on minorities. Still, it isn’t difficult to join Harry Reid in asking why anyone of color would want to join the Republican Party.

The majority of the GOP is openly hostile to Latinos. The Arizona racial profiling law they passed is good proof. The reason for this hostility has many different causes. But regardless of motive, it is clear that when Republicans talk about border fences, troops on the border, crime on the border, securing the border, you name it on the border…they mean Latinos.