by

Jim Boulet, Jr.

StopMartinez.com

Florida Republican National Committee Member Paul Senft, Jr., told the Tallahassee Democrat today: "With some people, the issue of amnesty is a litmus test and anything short of a concentration camp is amnesty."

Who might those diabolical people be, Mr. Senft?

Republican Senators? Last year, a majority of Senate Republicans voted against the amnesty bill Senator Martinez strongly supported, according to the notoriously right wing Washington Post.

Anti-amnesty Hispanics? We are told that the GOP must win the Hispanic vote. Turns out there is no "Hispanic vote" to win. Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans have different interests and vote those interests.

Furthermore, Hispanics don't always love other Hispanics, as I noted in my 2001 article, "Assimilation, Not Amnesty" for National Review Online:

[T]he Wall Street Journal carried a page-one story ... on conflicts in New York City between more established Puerto Rican immigrants and Mexican newcomers. Father Lawrence Quinn, the pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church, told the Journal: "The Puerto Ricans and the Dominicans have their own parties. There's strong resentment against Mexicans."

The Journal also noted that "the nation's Hispanic communities are not a cohesive unit. Often, they are united by little more than Spanish and a Census Bureau definition."

Moderate American Voters? Research by Frank Luntz suggests that the perceived unwillingness of Republicans or the Bush Administration to take serious action to reduce illegal immigration cost the GOP control of Congress in 2006. Conservatives held their noses and voted Republican. Moderates did not.

Luntz found that "Republican rejecters" were more likely to be moderate (51%) than conservative or somewhat conservative (34%). Many of these people made their final voting decision on or near Election Day, 2006.

What angered these people the most about the GOP-controlled Congress? According to Luntz, illegal immigration led the list at 26%, with ethics a close second (24%), and wasteful spending third (17%).

Given these facts, why was Senator Martinez in such a hurry to sign his name as a cosponsor of the first amnesty bill of 2007 (AgJOBS) when his Florida Democratic colleague felt no urgency whatsoever?

There is a final reason why so many Americans have justifiable concerns about a potential Martinez chairmanship of the Republican National Committee: will Martinez supporters resort to accusations of racist intent in response to any and all legitimate criticism?