The New York Times coverage this morning says that Bush is not so much
pitching for the Hispanic vote (which is actually pretty inconsequential) as
to the Niceness vote. That is, Wednesday’s proposal is aimed at uncommitted
not-very-attentive white middle-class floating voters who are turned off by
anything their local newspaper or network TV news program can spin as
“shrill,” “divisive,” “mean-spirited,” etc. etc. I think this is probably
right (though in fairness, it should be pointed out that UPI’s Steve Sailer
said it first).