Jeb Bush Pleads With GOP To Stop Hating Hispanic Voters

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush likely sees a looming disaster with the Republican party and hispanic voters and has written a desperate plea to his party in the pages of the Washington Post.

President Bush’s older brother notes that the hispanic community has “drifted away” after the right has made a concerted effort to demonize this fast-growing minority.

Bush advises his party to “show respect” to the differences between hispanic Americans, focus on “family business,” push education reform, and most controversially support immigration reform.

The Republican party, after attempting outreach to hispanic voters under President Bush, has lurched to the right, attacking “illegals” and using ethnically loaded terms like “anchor babies.”

In 2004, the hispanic vote increased for the Republican party, then reversed course as the party drifted to the right in 2008 and 2010.

A recent Univision poll found President Obama performing better with hispanic voters versus Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich than he did in 2008 against John McCain. [Washington Post]