” I am Mad as Hell and I am Not Going to Take it Anymore!”
I was going to write an blog piece about potential Hispanic running mates for John McCain but in the end I came to the realization that Hispanics have not really made much headway as Republicans. When Ronald Reagan became President there was a magical transformation of many Mexican-Americans who had always been “John Connally” Democrats(closet Republicans) into Reagan democrats. In the Rio Grande Valley where I grew up and in Miami where I lived for some time, Hispanic restaurants still remember the places El Presidente had lunch. For awhile it seemed, a college educated Hispanic was proud to say in public that he was not with los burros. Today however, many of the grown up children of Miami’s Cuban immigrant population as well as professional Mexican-Americans in South Texas are returning to the Democrats.
Around the Rio Grande Valley its not unusual to see even long time office holders who are known Republicans to have absolutely no evidence of affiliation with the Republican party on their current election signs or commercials. Of course, we can’t forget that the Rio Grande Valley is also the place where local elected Democratic officials came out in a obviously staged event to pay “homage” to incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn for not holding up Federal Funds related to necessary levee repairs along the border after he had vigorously supported the border fence. Some Democratic mayors even endorsed Cornyn before the State Democratic Convention. And lets not forget the hundreds of Hispanic physicians who contributed heavily to Senator Cornyn’s re-election campaign which decided in the end that insurance companies where more important than doctors. The well credentialed Hispanic candidate from Houston, Rick Noriega,who is descended of Mexican immigrants, holds the rank of colonel in the Army reserve, and has a graduate degree from Harvard has been ignored by local politicians .( Am I missing something?). When Mr. Noriega came for a Memorial Day visit to the Valley it was only covered by Rio Grande Guardian. (they do good reporting) and I must admit we had a chance to interview him but declined.
For a time many of the converted evangelical protestant Mexican-Americans where strong supporters of the Republican party until zealots like Tom Tancredo of Colorado basically compared Mexican-Americans to a cancer that was killing America. The lunacy of this was no where more apparent than when the New York Times went to West Virginia and asked local residents about immigration. Many locals stated that right there in their community Mexican aliens were stealing jobs. Amazingly, U.S. Census reports in the community showed no Hispanics lived there and reporters driving in area could not find a single Hispanic.
Our elected officials and voters need to stop being so passive. By the way if Hispanics do not get their act together do not think Mr. Obama will be any different.It is way past time for elected Hispanic officials in the Rio Grande Valley to show some cajones. I am reminded of the famous scene from the movie Network where the character Howard Beale finally says ” I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!”
