Blogging attracts like-minded folks just as much as dissenting foes. It is part of the game, and in my own experience, the criticism I have received (of any kind) is always better than indifference. Yes, I have been criticized by Latinos from all sides with much of the criticism and/or disagreement ending up in a mutual respect. After all, the ultimate goal is to find a voice within our community and make a statement. However, there are those whose attacks on each other are solely based on partisan politics, even when ranking within the same party. Such is the case of Bob Quasius and Rev. Howard Dotson when it comes to immigration.
Mr. Quasius is the founder and president of Cafe con Leche Republicans (CCLR), a website "dedicated to making America and the GOP a friendly place for immigrants". Recently he has been attacked by Rev. Howard Dotson who stated in his article "Step Aside, Latinas and Latinos can Lead Themselves! " that Quasius' group is "a Republican Latino advocacy group that hedged his bets on whether Gov. Romney is anti-immigrant " .
We reached out to Bob Quasius to go on record about his opinion on Dotson's support for Somos Republican's ("SR") and their statement "we will not align with Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans any longer, except when there are clear mutual interests', also on the account of differing immigration SR stated that "Mexican Americans no longer consider themselves represented within the party by Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans."
Quasius: "CCLR has never defined itself as a Latino Republican organization. We are a Republican group that supports immigration reform and immigrants. You can find this in our mission statement and guiding principles. I also blogged about this several weeks ago (read Defining Cafe Con Leche Republicans).CCLR has never endorsed Mitt Romney either and we have been critical of Mitt Romney for his ties to Chris Kobach and harsh immigration position. We have formally endorsed Newt Gingrich, though we took exception to some of his immigration positions."
"Howard Dotson is a friend of Shirl Mora James, co-president of the Tequila Party (along with DeeDee Blase). I worked with Shirl and Howard last year to defeat Nebraska anti-immigrant legislation. I don’t know his motivation for attacking CCLR, but needless to say I’m disappointed. He apparently didn’t bother to check his facts, and I’m not sure whether he even wrote this hit piece himself."
Rev. Dotson, ended his article by stating that "Latinas and Latinos will lead themselves" but then goes on to endorse an organization that publicly promotes segregation within Latinos, in this case Latinos within the GOP that do not share the same view on immigration. Thus, I call it like I see it. The more divisions we have the less successful we would be. This is true regardless of the political affiliations we have.
Somos Republicans and the Tequila Party were founded by DeeDee Blase.
