The 'Tequila Party' Hopes To Stir Latino Voters

[babsbunny]

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/12/137772212/the-tequila-party-hopes-to-stir-latino-voters?sc=fb&cc=fp

by Corey Dade

July 12, 2011

Just as the Tea Party drew heavily on a public backlash against government spending, another new political movement — the Tequila Party — aims to use the latest crackdown on illegal immigration to motivate Latinos to vote in 2012.

Arizona Republican DeeDee Garcia Blase formed the National Tequila Party Movement as an answer to a Tea Party influence she blames for increased political opposition to immigration.

The group has no aspirations to become a third political party. Its focus will be registering as many of the nation's 21 million voting-age Latinos as it can, targeting young voters in presidential battleground states.

Unlike the Tea Party groups, which have generally aligned with Republicans, the Tequila Party pledges no allegiance to either major party. Blase has dropped her affiliation as a lifelong Republican — and plans to resign as president of Somos Republicans — to protest the Republican-led immigration enforcement law passed in her home state of Arizona. The Tequila Party held its launch party in Tucson last month.

[pampango]

1. "Most of Blase's ire is reserved for Tea Party groups have pushed Republican to adopt tougher

positions against illegal immigration."

"We have no choice but to empower ourselves and work on a massive national movement to counter the message of the Tea Party. We believe the Tea Party is an anti-immigration movement," Blase says."

"...many Tea Party-backed Republicans in Congress are leading the crackdown on illegal immigration, such as Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has introduced a bill to eliminate automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants."

Repubs and teabaggers working together to push the state immigration crackdown laws as well as enabling repub congressmen like King.