Paul Ryan makes pitch to Florida Hispanics
MIAMI, FL – SEPTEMBER 22: Supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney are seen outside during a Ryan campaign stop at Versailles restaurant in the Little Havana neighborhood on September 22, 2012 in Miami, Florida. Ryan continues to campaign for votes across the country.
Paul Ryan made his pitch to Cuban-Americans at a packed Miami restaurant on Saturday, telling them that a Romney-Ryan administration would be "tough" on Fidel Castro, reports ABC News.
The vice presidential candidate was joined by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney's Spanish-speaking son Craig at the famous Versailles restaurant in Miami's Little Havana.
“Let me tell you this, in a Mitt Romney administration we will not keep practicing this policy of appeasement, we will be tough on this brutal dictator, all it has done is reward more despotism … and we will help those pro-democracy groups,” Ryan said.
”We will be tough on (Cuban president Fidel) Castro, tough on (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez. And it’s because we know that’s the right policy for our country.”
Ryan also called on other Florida politicians Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and his brother, current U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, to help him make his case.
“I learned from these friends, from Mario, from Lincoln, from Ileana, just how brutal the Castro regime is, just how this president's policy of appeasement is not working,” Ryan said, according to NBC.
The crowd of mostly supporters seemed to welcome Ryan's 'tough on Castro' talk but its unclear if the Romney ticket can get enough Hispanic support to win Florida's 29 electoral votes.
Angela Buehler, 33, a stay at home mom from Fort Lauderdale, told the Sun Sentinel that after hearing Ryan speak she's even more determined to vote for Romney and Ryan in November.
But Giancarlo Sopo, a Cuban-American Obama-supporter, told the Sun Sentinel that voters need to examine Ryan more closely before buying his supposed anti-Castro stands.
"To paraphrase President Clinton, it takes real brass to vote three times against economic sanctions on the Cuban regime and then come to Little Havana and ask Cuban-Americans for their vote," he said.
"It's one thing to have a genuine disagreement with someone on a policy. It's something else to change your position from one day to the next just to pander in order to win votes."
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