“I have decided I am a candidate for president of the United States,” Jeb Bush said, Monday afternoon.
He announced in the gym at Miami Dade College, which has the largest Hispanic student body in the country and is located in a predominantly Cuban-American neighborhood.
Ready for a great day. pic.twitter.com/AWm5bvtkgB
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) June 15, 2015
It’s no secret that Bush has gone to great lengths to position himself as the GOP candidate who’s in with Latinos. He’s shown off his fluency in Spanish, commandeered the #honorarylatino hashtag and incessantly mentioned that his wife is Mexican. When Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton stopped by a Chipotle in Ohio for a burrito bowl and a look-at-my-populism photo-op, Bush seized the opportunity to note that he makes his own Mexican food at home.
Spotted: @HillaryClinton ordering Chipotle in Ohio, security footage (and Clinton aide) confirms. (ht @jasonvolack) pic.twitter.com/cbofpGwkra
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) April 13, 2015
Liberal advocacy group People for the American Way is challenging this “Jebicito” narrative in a digital ad launched on social media and Univision.com in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
In Spanish, the ad’s narrator points to how Bush opposes both a path to citizenship for undocumented workers and raising the minimum wage — two key issues for many Hispanic voters. (To be fair, his position on a path to citizenship is too slippery to pin down that neatly.) The narrator concludes that despite the candidate pandering to the Latino community, “Jeb Bush just isn’t for us.”
Colorado, long considered a bell-weather for national politics, grew to just over a fifth Hispanic according to the last census. PFAW running this ad here means that just as Bush’s campaign ramps up, so too will the debate over his standing in the Latino community. And despite his confidence cooking guacamole and touting his Latino cred, his “#honoraryLatino” status in anything but guaranteed.
Yep, I am making it a point with my Latino friends, that the gop will say and do anything to gain their support, but the gop lies and will not be their friends…..and by gosh, they understand and reject the gop….