Republican Univision fiasco
It reminded me of the old joke about a hobo who tells a rich man on the street that he hasn’t had food for a week and the rich man tells him not to worry, that food still tastes the same. Years ago, a debate of “hispanic issues” at the University of Miami would have included a discussion of tinpot despots repressing their “pueblo” and bloodthirsty communist guerillas murdering citizens in their sleep. Today a discussion of “hispanic issues” is all about helping people circumvent our legal system.
From Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler;
There were few differences voiced among the candidates and not a single candidate attacked any of his rivals, a sharp contrast to recent Republican debates.
Rather, it seemed that the evening was a discourse between the Republican Party and the Hispanic community, as moderators asked about immigration, health care, education and Latin American politics, and Republicans sought to show they shared values with their questioners even as they touted various tough policies to stem illegal migration here.
“The sky’s the limit for Hispanic Americans but you know something, the sky’s the limit for all Americans if we have the right kind of leadership,” said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The only way to change the discussion in this country is to speak honestly about changing the culture of victimhood. The Republicans were so busy tip-toeing around the immigration so they wouldn’t get booed on camera that they ended up discussing nothing – just pandering to the Latin audience.
The closest thing to a political stand came from Ron Paul as reported by Stephan Dinan of the Washington Times;
The studio audience shouted and booed Rep. Ron Paul of Texas when he said he would talk to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“We create the Chavezes of the world, we create the Castros of the world,” Mr. Paul said.
George Moneo of Babalu Blog was there and discribes the scene;
The star of the night, however, was Ron Paul. He was thoroughly booed when he gave the answer about “talking” to fidel and hugo the monkey boy; I yelled “you’re a fool” amidst the boos, to which the Ron Paul supporters sitting next to and behind us, yelled back the highly original “no, you’re the fool.” Libertarianism is a good concept, but in practice it’s terribly naive about human nature, and dangerously isolationist in foreign policy. (As opposed to post-Camelot liberalism which is just stupidity codified as a political philosophy.) The fact that Paul wants to talk to enemies that want to kill us says all I need to know about the man, despite his spot-on analysis over the years of our fiscal mess. Today, he’s just Jimmy Carter with an (R) at the end of his name.
Ron Paul was just playing to his supporters, none of whom know where Univision is on their cable boxes. But the boos will probably be worth another buck-and-a quarter per in contributions. Kate at A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective has more to say about Ron Paul.
To me, the main issue facing the nation and it’s hispanic population is one of assimilation, particularly language and no one addressed it. While the Spanish language television channels and spanish language print journalists have a vested interest in the new arrivals remaining mono-lingual, it’s certainly not in the interests of the hispanic population since the language of commerce is English – in effect the spanish language media are locking the spanish-speakers out of the economy by telling them to remain ignorant.
And, of course the spanish language media want unfettered illegal immigration to expand their market without having to work very hard for it, but Republicans need to break that perception that the spanish media has created and tell the truth that the Republicans want what’s best for the country, and stop pandering to special interest groups – especially on the television network that represses that same message. All Americans are equal – and that’s the way they should be treated. Equally.
On the upside, Moneo (Babalu Blog) reported that there was at least on candidate who knew what the debate in Miami should have been about;
(P.S., one more thing: John McCain showed off his white CAMBIO bracelet when talking about the repressive tactics of the cadaver-in-chief. Nice!)
And the Times story reported that Hunter compared Republican foreign policy to Democrat policy in Latin America;
Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, said Hispanic voters should examine Republicans’ record when it comes to freedom in Latin America. He said it’s better than the Democrats’ record, which he said is embodied by President Kennedy’s handling of U.S. forces during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
“A Democrat administration let their aircraft carrier sit there, while those freedom fighters were machine-gunned,” said Mr. Hunter, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.Â
My criticisms remain the same of Republicans as they did of the Democrats when they “debated” on spanish language television. It was naked pandering and it accomplished nothing. No one told the truth and no one wanted to hear the truth spoken.
