Did Rove badly miscalculate re Florida?

[Stargleamer]

If I'm not mistaken, recently Rove had Bush sign a law restricting travel to Cuba, a measure designed to be perceived as anti-Castro. However, since that time, the polls have shown Kerry with a slight lead in Florida, a state that previously Bush had had a slight lead. It would seem that instead of gaining popularity among Floridians, this measure backfired as it may have invoked the ire of Cuban-Americans, who, despite whatever strong anti-Castro feelings they might still have, nonetheless still may wish to have easy access to Cuba where they have relatives. If this is correct, it would seem that all the pork-like measures Rove has had Bush take since inauguration to secure Florida for 2004(documented in the Bush-Hater's Handbook), may have been for naught.

[displacedtexan]

1. Rove lost Florida last time...

What makes you think he'd be any smarter today?

Sorry for sniping, but I'm in a snippy mood today.

You're right. Pissing off Cuban voters isn't smart.

[quaoar]

2. Seems to me

That the need to crack down more and more on Castro is less of an issue with younger Cuban-Americans than it is with their elders who came across on rafts. So the ultra-hard line gets less traction than it once did.

[AndyTiedye]

3. Why Should He Care How People In Florida (try to) Vote?

With half the population voting on Diebold Republican Electing (DRE) machinez, it's in the bag.
They're just doing the felons list to stay in practice, which is why it's a throwaway this time.

[Bombtrack]

7. First of all, do you have a link to that figure?

I do not believe that anything close to 50 percent of the population is going to be voting on Diebold machines, and second of all, if they actually can control Diebold machines, they're much more likely to steal other states with them, such as Ohio, which it's been well documented has a hugely higher percentage of the total machines per state than Florida or most other states.

This "Florida is already stolen" crap is never, ever backed up by facts by you people. Get a grip

[amandabeech]

4. Yes, I think that Rove messed this up big time.

I imagine that Rove listened to the hard-core leadership, and didn't poll or focus-group (what a verb!) a more representative group of Cuban-Americans. I saw a spot about this on one of the cable news channels (CNN or most likely MSNBC) which showed a bunch of very, very angry Cuban-Americans and a very, very cold anti-Castro leader.

Rove is counting on ideology to trump family. I think that for many, many people, family trumps ideology.

My recollection from 2000, which is getting a little hazy, is that
the Cuban-American Democratic leader of Miami-Dade succumbed to Bush pressure, in part due to the anti-Castro feelings of his Cuban-American constituents.

If there is still a Cuban-American at the helm in Miami-Dade, or anywhere else in South Florida, Democrat or Republic, he or she may have to listen to angry constituents and make a political calculation when choosing whether or not to cooperate with the Bush cabal.

Every little bit is going to help in Florida.

Now if there only were a Cuban-American community in Ohio!

[eurolefty]

5. Not letting your own citizens travel abroad...

I remember a country that used to be like that. :evilgrin:

[quaoar]

6. We need a new constitutional amendment

That says Americans are entitled to the freedom to travel to any nation that the United States is not at war with.