This white man is sick of Democrats "playing the race card."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted liberals for appealing to Latino voters by supporting immigration reform Tuesday during an appearance on the O'Reilly Factor.
"We've seen the Democrats are always willing to play the race card. I will tell you as the son of a Cuban immigrant, as someone who received over 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in the state of Texas, I think it is condescending to go to Hispanics and say 'we're going to buy your vote with amnesty'," Cruz said, despite the fact that Hispanics are a multiracial ethnic group and not a race.
Cruz's claim that he won more than 40 percent of the Latino vote in Texas is a shaky one because exit polls weren't conducted in his state. His office told conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin that the figure Cruz mentioned comes from an internally conducted poll.
Cruz drew 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in his Senate bid in Texas, according to a telephone survey conducted by Latino Decisions. The result was consistent with an October 2012 survey conducted by Austin pollster Mike Baselice that put Cruz's support from Latinos at 36 percent.
"I'll tell you in Texas, a whole lot of Hispanics there want to see the border secured and legal immigration," Cruz added.
Polls show that Latino voters overwhelmingly support a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented and that they reject the "border security first" approach advocated by conservative border hawks like Cruz.
The Texas conservative has consistently opposed a comprehensive immigration reform bill proposed by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators known as the "Gang of Eight."
Watch Ted Cruz's comments in the video above and let us know what you think in the comments.
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