Perry's the only credible choice for Latino conservatives

For Sosa, and a lot of other Latinos I’ve heard from in recent weeks, what cooked Romney’s goose with Latinos was the craven and dishonest way that he tried to use the immigration issue to bludgeon his major opponent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. It was Romney who first brought up — during the CNN/Tea Party debate — the fact that Perry had signed a law allowing illegal immigrants who live in Texas and go to a state university to pay what other residents of the state pay: in-state tuition. And it is Romney who, having supported a comprehensive approach to reform that allows illegal immigrants to earn legal status, has now tried to remake himself as a fire-breather opponent of illegal immigration.

Latinos see that, and they resent being hoisted into the air and turned into a piñata for the benefit of someone’s White House ambitions. They know better than most Americans how complicated the immigration issue is, and they’re fed up with politicians who offer simple solutions that don’t hold water.

After the CNN/Tea Party debate, I got a phone call from a friend and Latino Republican political consultant who was incensed at how Romney had used illegal immigration as a weapon against Perry. “I’ll tell you what,” my friend said, “I have a new respect for Rick Perry for standing his ground. And I’ve lost all respect for Mitt Romney. If he’s the nominee, I’ll do everything I can to defeat that son-of-a-bitch!”