GOP's Bernalillo County Chair Claims Hispanics Won't Vote for Obama Because of Race

At times, the veneer wears off in elections like this one. Sometimes ugly truths are revealed in a soundbite or a sentence or two. This is one of those times.

A reporter for the BBC is touring America, talking with people from all walks of life and reporting from the road. Yesterday, while Barack Obama was speaking to a huge rally in Espanola, Jon Kelly was at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, enjoying the music and food and talking with Hispanics to get their take on the election. One of those he spoke with is the Chairman of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County, Fernando C de Baca. The Chairman came right out and , apparently without blinking an eye or showing even a hint of shame:

"The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors," he said. "African-Americans came here as slaves.

"Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

In the first place, it's odd that a Republican would presume to speak for all Hispanics. Historically, a significant majority of the Latino vote has gone to Democratic presidential candidates.

While George Bush was a bit more successful than most GOP presidential candidates at mustering support from Hispanics, he still got only about 38-44% of their vote in 2004, depending on who you believe. An NDN poll released this week showed Obama trouncing McCain among Hispanic voters by 30-40 points or so in Western states. In New Mexico, Obama leads McCain 56 percent to 23 percent among Hispanics, according to the poll.

Secondly, it's pretty much impossible for anybody to explain how and why "Hispanics" vote because there are numerous ethnicities and other kinds of diversity within the Latino community in America -- just like there are within the "Anglo" or other cultural or racial groups. There is no monolithic Hispanic demographic whose members think and vote exactly alike, en masse. Duh.

Like too many Republicans these days, however, Chairman C de Baca apparently sees no such shades of grey or other complexities. Broad brush all the way. Even worse, he expresses an attitude that's reminiscent of a pre-civil right movement America, with racial language and stereotyping to match. It's a sad day when a county party leader takes it upon himself to speak out publicly on behalf of all Hispanics in such a crass and disrepectful manner. What year is it again? (I just had to "echo chamber" this one, h/t to .)

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