2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe importance of Kaine's speaking Spanish.
I've seen it dismissed as pandering and useless, but of the 4 people that will be President or Vice President, only 1 of them can go to Spanish language networks and radio stations and appeal to Spanish speaking voters directly. That guy is on our team Not only that, but he learned Spanish, not because he was planning a future political run, but because he was teaching carpentry to Hondurans while he was a missionary.
Edit: Where he witnessed first hand, the toll of a dictatorship.
drray23
(7,587 posts)I was making the point in another thread that being both catholic and spanish speaking is likely to attract some cuban americans who usually vote republican. Not only he is delivering virginia, he is going to give us florida.
mshasta
(2,108 posts).....Univision and telemundo will be line up... My in laws will be able to understand the democratic position...
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)They deserve for our candidates to be able to speak to them directly, to give them that respect. I love that he brings that to the table.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Kaine is delivering a barn-burner of a speech.
He is the SUNNIEST guy on the campaign trail.
Demoiselle
(6,787 posts)I am very very impressed! Really bright, really warm and human. And, although I am certainly no expert on this, his Spanish sounds beautiful to me. Hilary makes very good choices, I think.
Pandering? REALLY!??!!!! That's nonsense.
mucifer
(23,374 posts)Some who speak English themselves look down on those who are not bilingual.
But, I think he does appeal to the majority. I hope so anyway.
DrDan
(20,411 posts)msongs
(67,199 posts)Journeyman
(15,001 posts)In the late 1850s, Abraham Lincoln bought controlling interest in a German-language newspaper, the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, but kept his involvement a closely held secret. He used the newspaper to cull support from the large German population across the mid-West (the West, at that time), as the Editor wrote numerous editorials and biographical sketches extolling Mr Lincoln's character and intent, articles which were then picked up by other German-language newspapers across the country. Mr Lincoln handily carried the German vote in 1860 (which was considerable, as many had immigrated to the US after the failed Continental revolutions of 1848*), assuring himself of the Presidency, at which time he quietly divested himself of the newspaper.
Not totally analogous, but indicative of a potential return from Tim Kaine's more intimate involvement with a demographic Donald Trump has done his best to alienate.
http://age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848
ismnotwasm
(41,921 posts)glennward
(989 posts)choice. Well, they didn't exactly say "Hillary or bust." But they may as well have said it. I think Kaine gives some fence-sitters a chance to save face and join with us just because of the Kaine selection! I admit, I thought Hillary was making a mistake even though I like Kaine. So glad I was wrong!