They Just Can't Help Themselves

Sometimes I get the impression that the GOP really doesn't want to improve relations with the Hispanic community:

Immigration activists are praising the Heritage Foundation for accepting the resignation of researcher Jason Richwine, who argued in recent years that groups of non-white immigrants have inherently lower IQs that could make it impossible for them to adequately assimilate in America. Heritage distanced itself from his past statements, but stood by his work co-authoring a recent study claiming immigration reform would cost $6.3 trillion in large part because undocumented immigrants would fail to improve their education or income levels.

“We welcome Mr. Richwine's resignation, but are still waiting for the Heritage Foundation to renounce the findings of his research, which like his claims about Latino IQ's are false and unbecoming of a research institution like the Heritage Foundation,” Arturo Carmona, executive director of Latino advocacy group Presente.org said in a statement. “Hiring racists like Richwine is unacceptable, but what's worse is putting their organization's name on a report laden with faulty research.”

Now, I'm certain there are plenty of folks in the Republican Party who are not racists, perhaps several thousand. The problem is, however, that there are a shitload of racists within the party who have absolutely no interest in improving relations with Hispanics; and the aforementioned Jason Richwine -- and his former boss Jim DeMint -- are great examples of such people.

This will be a fascinating fight in the coming months. In one corner will be the Republicans who are truly struggling to maintain their Party as a going concern, and in the opposite corner are folks who would prefer to see the GOP die rather than have their Party curry favor with Hispanics or other minorities.