Newt Gingrich seems to be making good use of a McCain oppo research file on Romney that hit the web last week. This from page 82:
People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami. But when he mistakenly associated Fidel Castros trademark speech-ending slogan Patria o muerte, venceremos! with a free Cuba, listeners didnt laugh. They winced. Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase in English, Fatherland or death, we shall overcome for decades.
Florida’s Cuban community was reported to be livid with Romney at the time for his bungling Spanish, along with the key quote. The former Speaker’s campaign has turned it into radio spots and is hitting Romney on that and his stance on illegal immigration, as well.
Mitt Romney’s 2007 gaffe, where he quoted Fidel Castro and mis-attributed the line to Hugo Chavez, was the subject of mockery in the former Massachusetts governor’s hometown tabloid and is now the grist of fellow Republican Newt Gingrich’s latest radio ad that’s about to play on Spanish-language radio in South Florida. The ad doesn’t stop with Castro. It bashes Romney’s hardline immigration stance as well.
Like it, or not, Mitt Romney’s hard line talk on illegal immigration many believe is only pandering would likely be a problem for him in a potential general election. Hispanic communities of legal immigrants, especially in some critical swing states, are thought to be one key demographic in determing the result of November’s election between a Republican and Obama.
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