How badly are Republican's efforts to win over Hispanic voters in Florida going? Well, the man once in charge of the effort announced that he's quit the party and is now a registered Democrat.
Pablo Pantoja, the former State Director of Florida Hispanic Outreach for the Republican National Committee, announced in a letter published on Florida Nation that he decided to make the switch after the Heritage Foundation (a powerful conservative think tank run, incidentally, by Marco Rubio's political mentor Jim DeMint) published a controversial report last week on immigration reform.
From the letter:
Friend,Yes, I have changed my political affiliation to the Democratic Party.
It doesn't take much to see the culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party today. I have wondered before about the seemingly harsh undertones about immigrants and others. Look no further; a well-known organization recently confirms the intolerance of that which seems different or strange to them.
Studies geared towards making - human beings - viewed as less because of their immigrant status to outright unacceptable claims, are at the center of the immigration debate. Without going too deep on everything surrounding immigration today, the more resounding example this past week was reported by several media outlets.
A researcher included as part of a past dissertation his theory that "the totality of the evidence suggests a genetic component to group differences in IQ." The researcher reinforces these views by saying "No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against."
Pantoja is referring specifically to Jason Richwine, one of the authors of a controversial Heritage Foundation report that claimed immigration reform would cost American taxpayers billion of dollars. While a student at Harvard, Richwine authored a dissertation arguing that because Hispanic immigrants test lower on IQ-scores our immigration system should only allow high-IQ immigrants to be granted citizenship.
Pantoja then goes on to site other instances that he claims shows that the Republican party has a "complete disregard of those who are in disadvantage."
"When the political discourse resorts to intolerance and hate, we all lose in what makes America great and the progress made in society."
The kicker is that not only did Pantoja switch parties, he also ends his letter by announcing he'll be making a donation to the ACLU.
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