Rewriting the Republican problem with Hispanics

It’s no secret that the Republican Party didn’t do too well with minority voters on Election Day earlier this month. The Hispanic vote ended up going to the president by a margin of 71% to 27%. In the weeks since, there has been a lot of analysis and soul-searching within the GOP on how to fix that.

On the latest edition of The Last Word, msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell turned his attention to one conservative’s plan for how Republicans can win back the Hispanic vote. The plan is simple: there is no plan. This is the statement from American Family Association President Tim Wildmon:

“I think that the Hispanics who are here legally, getting amnesty for their fellow Mexicans or Hispanics is a high priority for them. And the Democrat party offers them the best hope to do that. Yes they’re Catholic so most of them are pro-life. But that doesn’t trump social justice is what they call it. That’s the reason that they vote Democrat. And also they are used to a socialist form of government in Mexico which is big government, welfare programs so that’s who they’re going to vote for over the Republicans.”

In response, O’Donnell parsed some relevant data from this year’s Election Day exit poll. He also pointed out, “The United States has much bigger government welfare programs than Mexico could ever dream of.” O’Donnell added, “People who come to the United States after being unable to make a living in their home countries have never tried to turn the United States into their home countries where they couldn’t make a living.”