In October 2000, I had gone to what was then called the Hispanic Leadership Conference in Chicago. I'm Caucasian but have a degree in Spanish. I had gone a couple of times before with my college's Hispanic group and was going one last time since it was an election year, and I wanted to see how that was going to play out at the conference. I was staying with a friend, a Mexican-American gentleman, who had earlier that year taken a position at the University of Texas at El Paso. El Paso has a pretty good relationship with Juarez, Mexico, just across the border, letting Mexican citizens there cross over easily to take classes at about the same rate as US citizens, and my friend had brought about 20 students, both US and Mexican to the conference. The Mexican ones told me a story about how some Americans had come to them, knowing they were Mexican, and asking them if they would like to learn more about the US political system, all expenses paid. They said yes, and they went by bus to Philadelphia. Anyone remember what happened in Philadelphia in 2000? It was the GOP national convention. They were brought up on stage, confusedly, for Hispanic/Latino night, to showcase Hispanic/Latino support for George W. They realized what was going on, but they went with it.
So, basically, the republicans could not find enough Hispanics/Latinos willing enough to interrupt their lives and appear in public so they got immigrants to do the job.
This also followed the Blacks for W night, where leader of an all Black high school choir performed on stage, and the choir director told media that they weren't there to support W. He just really wanted his kids on television.
TlalocW
:large
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