The Virginia blogger with one of the best Net handles you’ll find — Howling Latina — astutely observes that the Republicans’ near-unanimous snubbing of the presidential debate scheduled for Univision next month shows the GOP may be dismissing the Hispanic vote — and sticking with what one political scientist has told Iowa Independent is a “brown-is-the-new-pink” strategy.

 

Howling Latina weighs in on the fact that only U.S. Sen. John McCain agreed to show up for the now canceled debate on the Republican side. The Democrats are debating Sept. 9 in Miami.

 

Here is Howling Latina:

 

All the rhetoric about changing the Latino voting bloc to the GOP side of the aisle dissipated with the rabid explosion of anti-immigrant fever; and as a result, Latinos came home to the Democratic Party in 2006.

Now it looks like GOPers have decided to write Latinos off this election cycle; can't alienate their racist base, you know.

 

Trust me, this is not just a Florida story. This plays in western Iowa, where in places like Sioux City, Univision is to the Latin community what ESPN is to sports-addicted white dudes like me. It’s constantly on in the satellite-connected homes. A Guatemalan friend in Sioux City often refers to what she’s watching on Univision when she’s pretending to be listening to me.

 

The GOP’s “see the hand” moment with the debate is not going to be lost on western Iowa Hispanics who experience the right-wing racist strategy up close and personal and are now being more aggressively courted by Gov. Bill Richardson. A press aide for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama today even asked this reporter for a number to get in touch with the editor of the Carroll, Iowa-based Spanish language newspaper, La Prensa.

 

But keep your eye on Florida with this one as Howling Latina observes:

 

Oh well, this is the thanks Cuban-Americans get for helping Bush & Co. ultimately forge ahead in 2000 and deliver Florida to the GOP. .

Talk about total disrespect! Oh yea, Howling Latina can see more than a few of her brethren in Florida voting for the Dem. candidate in '08.