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Change Your Life! |
Bush reaches out to Hispanics, gay Republicans |
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News
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April 9, 2000
LOS ANGELES, APR 8 (AP) - George W. Bush repudiated the immigration policies of former Gov. Pete Wilson Friday, telling Spanish-speaking women he understood why poor Mexicans want to move here. He also reached out to gay Californians, saying he would meet with members of a gay Republican group. |
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Courting the Hispanic vote in California, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee spoke in Spanish occasionally as he addressed a crowd of hundreds of women. When he spoke at a news conference later, a Mexican flag was directly behind him, flanked by the U.S. and California flags.
Wilson battled against affirmative action, bilingual education and illegal immigration during his years as California governor, from 1991 to 1999. Those fights alienated many Hispanic voters, who now constitute nearly 15 percent of the electorate in the nation's largest state.
While he never mentioned fellow Republican Wilson by name, Bush's remarks about immigration were clearly aimed at mending fences with Hispanics.
Whereas Wilson warned darkly in a TV ad that illegal immigrants "keep coming," the Texas governor said he could relate to Mexicans who cross the border.
"Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River," Bush said. "If you're a mother or dad, and you're worried about feeding your children, and you can't find work close to home, and you hear of opportunities somewhere else, and you're worth your salt, you're coming."
Still, he added that he believed in tough enforcement of the nation's borders, and said the long-term solution to illegal immigration was to help Mexico's economy through free trade.
Wilson led the campaign six years ago for California's Proposition 187, which sought to remove illegal immigrant children from public schools.
Reaching out to gays, another group of voters who have seldom identified with the Republican Party, Bush said he is likely to meet in coming days with members of the Log Cabin Republicans.
He said last month, during the primary election campaign, that he would not meet with leaders of the gay Republican group who had run TV ads against him. And he said Friday that he would meet with "members who are for me and want to help me get elected."
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