Natural Conservatives? Really?

Ever heard the claim that Latinos are "natural conservatives"? The person repeating the conventional wisdom of the Beltway apparently hasn't examined the evidence.

That's why, for Republicans, to buy that canard spells disaster. The most recent evidence comes from a new Latino Decisions poll. It shows two-thirds of Latinos support "comprehensive immigration reform" that includes special immigration privileges for foreign-born gays and lesbians.

Of those Hispanic respondents who favored giving homosexual couples the same immigration rights as traditional couples, 92 percent view it as important (very or somewhat) to make the change part of any amnesty bill in Congress.

While the Christian community has taken a stand to preserve the institution of marriage, Latinos who report being Christians don't agree with the traditional biblical view on marriage. Some 71 percent of Catholic Latinos and 53 percent of Hispanics claiming to be "born-again Christians" support gay spousal amnesty and visas, according to the poll.

The foreign-born Latinos were even more supportive of this position — 65 percent vs. 63 percent of native-born Hispanics.

Other surveys have found Latinos significantly more likely than the native-born to have single-mother households, use welfare, prefer bigger government that provides more services, and view free enterprise negatively. That doesn't sound exactly like a "movement conservative".

For liberal critics of amnesty and mass immigration this may not matter. But the Republican Party would wake up after an amnesty fling with open-borders special interests of all stripes to find they'd left them in the morning. The only thing to show for selling out their party's base is an even bigger Democratic electorate.