In DNC Keynote, Castro Courts Latinos, Youths
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, in the most defining moment of his young political career, gave a Democratic National Convention keynote on Tuesday night that reiterated Barack Obama’s 2008 message of hope, from the promise of recent immigrants to the anticipation of the nation’s youths to the dreams of Americans reaching for the middle class.
“To me, to my generation, and for all the generations to come, our choice is clear,” Castro said. “Our choice is a man who’s always chosen us. A man who already is our president.”
Castro’s speech was ...
Comments (27)
Dale Kramer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
yeah yeah
Bill Eaves via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How can he associate himself with the Catholic religion & back a Pro Choice person & agree with same sex marriage??
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Castro
Ronnie Van Humphries via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Really impressed with Castro. He may be president one day. How can he do all that? Because he has bat sense.
Christina Jonsson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A star is born! Texas, yes we can!
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bill, because like a lot of Catholics he knows that the policies of the Vatican are not relevant to the 21st c.
Paula Vanover Woolley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Or maybe because he firmly believes in the separation of church and state.
Jill Meredith Bergene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I wish he'd run for governor...but San Antonio needs him, too.
Denise Allen Mitchell via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bill you should come in to the 21st century.
Tracy Kuhn via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Wow! A politician from Texas who makes sense and is a good speaker!
VelAnne Rowland Howle via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Bill: Ummm...Separation of Church & State in a country based on Religious Freedom? And to quote Renee:"Because like a lot of Catholics he knows that the policies of the Vatican are not relevant to the 21st century!"
David Coxen via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Made me proud to me a working class American raised by a working class Mom!
Ward Adams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That dude should run for governor. He's charismatic, smart, and has the guns to take out the competition.
Patsy Painter Hull via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Just watched the first Latino president
Audrey Fisher via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It was a great speech!
Ron Blancarte via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Bill - a few reasons.
1. He understand that his religion is his own. And it isn't something to be thrust upon someone else.
2. He understands free thinking. Being able to separate religion from politics.
3. He understand that allowing others to have a choice in the course of their lives, even if it goes against your beliefs is ok. (BTW - I don't know or think to know Castro's stance on abortion itself).
4. He understands that the same thing as #3 applies to gay marriage as well.
Overall, it's called free thinking. Not "believe what we tell you to believe".
Liz Theiss
name suits him but he is in the wrong country. Fortuno of Puerto Rico is a true American with a head on his shoulders.
Chris Bazan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
El presidente del futuro!!! Hillary 2016 y Julian 2024!!!
Toby Marie Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Someone revoke his Texas card.
Toby Marie Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bat sense? Isn't that the same as Bat Sh!t crazy?
Steve Johnson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Heres hoping Chris Bazan isnt voting in 2016 and 2024. How hard do you think the DNC handlers had to scour the country before they found a suitably 'Latinotastic' puppet to court the Hispanic voters?
Deborah Suttle Jordan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Great speech he gave!
Ellie Sullivan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I thought he was a great speaker and a genuine human being. It was a night of good speeches.
Chris Bazan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Steve Johnson, here's to hoping you are part of the grumpy, old, and delusional demographic that is dying in Texas and will be a minority by 2016 and 2024
gypsy314 ne
I can see it now illegal aliens pouring into the voting stations to vote for Obama and democrats. And the dead waking to vote for the Obama and democrats.
Rudy Gonzales
Raised by divorced parents, he worked his way up through both Stanford then Harvard Law School. A grandson of a Mexican orphan, he came in to this world with the deck stacked against him. A bright student, he skipped the sophomore year in high school, and graduated ninth in his class.
He ran first for city council, then for mayor of San Antonio, Texas. His 2011 re-election he won 82% of the vote, unheard of for a Democratic mayor in what is considered red-state Texas.
His choice for the keynote was not for his political connections, or for his oration skills, but for his genuine and heartfelt story. He came before the convention to tell his story. Instead of driving a stake into the heart of the Romney campaign, he barely touched on the Republican candidate; discussing the Republican party platform, before going in to his own story. This will not win him fans from those on the Right, and likely will gain him ridicule from the racists to be found there. But it mattered where it counts, in the hearts and minds of the American people.
I do believe America has seen the new voices of America's unknown
Socio-Politio-Economic power and emerging group which not to be played with. They do not always see eye-to-eye, but the differences are few and far between.
Raised by divorced parents, he worked his way up through both Stanford then Harvard Law School. A grandson of a Mexican orphan, he came in to this world with the deck stacked against him. A bright student, he skipped the sophomore year in high school, and graduated ninth in his class.
He ran first for city council, then for mayor of San Antonio, Texas. His 2011 re-election he won 82% of the vote, unheard of for a Democratic mayor in what is considered red-state Texas.
His choice for the keynote was not for his political connections, or for his oration skills, but for his genuine and heartfelt story. He came before the convention to tell his story. Instead of driving a stake into the heart of the Romney campaign, he barely touched on the Republican candidate; discussing the Republican party platform, before going in to his own story. This will not win him fans from those on the Right, and likely will gain him ridicule from the racists to be found there. But it mattered where it counts, in the hearts and minds of the American people.
Let it be known the Socio-Politio-Economic power of this emerging group is not to be played with. As a Texan of American-Mexican descent, it gives me great pleasure to offer my services to fully support Julian Castro and his twin brother for any political position he would enter.
Rudy Gonzales
There will be a significant difference to choose from this November on the national level. When this emerging Socio-Politio-Economic power get informed of the Texas Legislature's actions over the past years, there could be significant changes in Texas politics.
San Antonio mayor Julian Castro gave a stirring address at the DNC and stirred up the base in Texas. The mayors' comment to start a business is appropriate in that business owners can expense and deduct costs the average person cannot and have some utility of assets. Mitt Romney truly does not know how good he had it growing up when he said to borrow the money to start the business.
The obstacles in the Castro brothers path upward in politics is well known in the red state of Texas. It's even more troubling when TEA party types in Texas make it their expressed actions to use foreign sounding sir-names in derogatory manners much like they used president Obama's full name: Barack Hussein Obama. The clear inference is foreign names are not white names or people.
The bottom line is demographics are a changing, and the past actions of the TEA-Libertarian-Republican-GOP-Evangelical fringe controlled Texas Legislature to scuttle voter choices is out. A panel of federal judges unanimously struck down a voter-ID law passed by the legislature in March 2011, arguing that it would disproportionately harm African-American and Latino voters. Both decisions hinged on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain states with a history of racial discrimination in voting — including Texas — to prove that any changes in their voting laws or procedures do not hamper the voting rights of minorities.
Texas lawmakers drew some districts that looked like Latino majority districts on paper — but removed Latinos who voted regularly and replaced them with Latinos who were unlikely to vote.
Texas lawmakers widened the gap between the proportion of the population that is Latino and African Americans and the proportion of districts that are minority-controlled.
The Texas Legislature removed economic centers and district offices from African-American and Latino districts, while giving white Republicans perks.
The Texas Legislature passed a voter-ID law with requirements that would make it disproportionately difficult for African Americans and Latinos to vote.
The Texas Legislature acted to d ivide and conquer: Texas "cracked" minority voters out of one district into three to offset and counter the minority vote from being proportional to the Texas population.
Dale Curry
Great speech and it's nice to see our state not portrayed as another tparty bigot in an elected office. Looking forward to the day it is Governor Castro!