Former New Mexico Governor and Democrat Bill Richardson appeared on ABC News.com on Sunday for a web exclusive interview where he declared that Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) should not “be defined as a Hispanic.” Richardson suggested that Cruz’s position on immigration somehow disqualifies him from claiming Hispanic heritage.
Sen. Cruz, whose father fled Cuba, to distance himself from the country’s communist regime, was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas prior to being elected to the United States Senate in 2012.
Richardson appeared on ABC News’ “This Week” as a member of the “roundtable” on Sunday and then answered multiple questions from viewers during an online segment called “All Politics is Social” after the show was over, mostly about experiences he had as Governor of New Mexico. When one viewer asked Richardson about Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Richardson responded by asserting that he’s “not a fan” and that he doesn’t “like his politics.”
Richardson said that Cruz “introduces a measure of incivility in the political process” and claims that Cruz’s propensity to insult people “is not the way to go.”
When online host Benjamin Bell asked Richardson, himself a Hispanic, if Cruz represents most Hispanics with his politics, Richardson responded, “No, no. He’s anti-immigration. Almost every Hispanic in the country wants to see immigration reform. No, I don’t think he should be defined as a Hispanic. He’s a politician from Texas. A conservative state.”
Perhaps someone should explain how race and ethnicity works to former Gov. Richardson, because simply being a “politician from Texas,” a “conservative state,” does not forfeit your rights to be considered Hispanic.
This outrageous comment from Richardson, which went unchallenged during his ABC News.com interview, comes in a long line of comments from Democrats proclaiming that various conservatives who happen to also be racial minorities, are somehow betraying their fellow minority members because of their conservative political positions.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, Al Sharpton, and Martin Bashir all raged against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for selling out African-Americans with his conservative policies and “sitting on those sidelines” during the civil rights movement. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lamented that he couldn’t understand “how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican.” Then Obama campaign manager Jim Messina declared Republicans, after rejecting the DREAM Act, had nothing “left to offer Latinos” except for “the chimichanga.” South Carolina Democrat Party chairwoman Carol Fowler argued that Sarah Palin’s “primary qualification” was “that she hasn’t had an abortion.” MSNBC’s Touré Neblett belittled Republican supporter and African American, Dr. Benjamin Carson as Republicans’ token “black friend” who could “assuage their guilt” for the racist policies supported by the GOP.
The list of attacks goes on and on for minorities and women who support Republicans or conservative policies. Unless you are an old white male, Democrats cannot seem to fathom a reason why you would even think of supporting school choice, lower taxes, Medicare reform, or responsible government spending. It has become so inconceivable for Democrats that these kinds of commonsense policies could reasonably be supported, that they conclude racism must be the true hidden motivation behind all of the political rhetoric.
The double-standard is truly appalling. Can you imagine a Republican saying Barack Obama isn’t “black enough” because since he has become president, African American unemployment has skyrocketed and wealth has plummeted? Comments like that would never be tolerated, and rightly so. But if you happen to be Republican or conservative, all bets are off and it’s open season for character assassins who sling racial epithets unencumbered by a supposedly unbiased media.
These kinds of racial and gender attacks will never cease until the media, and the American public at large, recognizes that assaults like these should never be tolerated on either side of the aisle. However, given the recent evidence, it does not appear we are moving closer to a country where people are judged by “the content of their character” rather than gender or the color of their skin. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be true. It doesn’t seem to matter how racist or gender-biased your comments and judgments are, so long as you identify with the racially acceptable political party.
So much for equality.
