Why did Hispanics give Bush a relatively high % of the vote

[Vepres]

This has probably been asked a million times, but whatever...

[memphis]

He did well in Texas, where he was the gov'r and among Cubans in Florida. Not so much elsewhere.

[Bo]

Because Bush was in favor of amnesty, because the GOP made a concrete effort to appeal to Laino voters and the Dems didn't, and because Kerry was a poor and uncharismatic candidate in general. Not to mention that the nation as a whole trended Republican in 2004 and thus Latinos followed the national trend. Also, the swing to the GOP wasn't that large--Bush won 35% of the Latino vote in 2000 and 40% in 2004. That's only a 5% swing in favor of the GOP among Latinos, compared to a 3% swing to the GOP among the nation at large.

[phk]

Texas and Oklahoma Hispanics were hard for Bush, relatively speaking.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

How 9/11 derailed Bush's apparent interest in dealing with Latin American issues is one of the more disappointing aspects of the whole sorrt mess that resulted.  Bush had the potential get some sensible policies in place there.  Much as only Nixon could go to China, it's going to take a Republican President to push through any meaningful immigration reform.

[Linus Van Pelt]

For all Bush's faults, he was quite genuine in his desire to have the GOP reach out to minorities. Part of it was his Christianity, part of it personal relations from Texas. Whereas since about 2006 the rest of the party has returned to playing the old game of How Racist Can We Seem Without Being Really Explicit About It?

The funny racialization of the category "Hispanic" hides the fact that this is a diverse group, and motivations for GOP voting go beyond the obvious (Cubanness). A significant minority of Mexican-Americans are evangelical, and a significant minority too are prosperous enough to have the same kind of aspirational middle-class Republican voting that exists across America.

[Anthony]

Because Bush, though he was TERRIBLE at running the nation, wasn't as hateful toward minorities and immigrants as the rest of the far right is. Although, that's not saying much.

[Bo]

Because Bush, though he was TERRIBLE at running the nation, wasn't as hateful toward minorities and immigrants as the rest of the far right is. Although, that's not saying much.

The far right is only hateful to illegals--of course, many legal and native-born Latinos care a lot about illegals and take any insult at ilelgals as insulting them as well.

[Ebowed]

The far right is only hateful to illegals

Right - I'm sure these people are equally concerned with illegal immigrants from the United Kingdom as they are from Mexico.  (Hence the earnest cries for a declaration of English being the only "official" language.)

Prior to the 2008 election, McCain was seen as even more an ardent supporter of rights for illegal immigrants than Bush.  The failure of the Bush-backed reform definitely helped contribute to the political climate where McCain had to abandon any centrist talk on the subject in order to win the primary.  Ironically, Bush probably only ever backed certain types of reform, like the guest worker program, for the financial benefits that would inevitably be reaped by large corporations in building a permanent underclass of workers.

[Bo]

The far right is only hateful to illegals

Right - I'm sure these people are equally concerned with illegal immigrants from the United Kingdom as they are from Mexico.  (Hence the earnest cries for a declaration of English being the only "official" language.)

There are much more illegals in the U.S. from Mexico than from the U.K. Who from the U.K. would want to sneak into the U.S. illegally?