In the greatest Mark Levin tradition, "That's right, I'm coming right out and saying it": Is this not one of the most racist media interviews you've ever seen in your entire life?:
Imagine the following pep talk that a young Ted Cruz might have gotten from his father, Rafael, about thirty-five years ago.
“My son, I was tortured in a jail cell in Cuba, but I managed to come to the United States and build a life so that you could live your dreams. I grew up speaking Spanish, but I made sure you spoke English so you could go far. If you study hard, you can attend great universities. You can clerk for the chief justice of the Supreme Court, become a great trial lawyer and argue nine cases before the high court, get elected to the U.S. Senate, and someday run for president.
“Then, after all the family’s efforts and sacrifices, one day, you can go on an interview program and be asked by a smug and clueless [and racist] white journalist if you’re authentically Cuban.”
Watching Mark Halperin of Bloomberg Politics interview Cruz recently, I wasn’t just uncomfortable. I was actually nauseated.
He told Cruz that people are curious about his “identity.” Then, the host asked a series of questions intended to establish his guest’s Hispanic bona fides. What kind of Cuban food did Cruz like to eat growing up? And what sort of Cuban music does Cruz listen to even now?
I’ve known Ted for more than a decade and I could tell he was uncomfortable. But he played along, listing various kinds of Cuban food and saying that his musical taste veers more toward country. I kept waiting for Halperin to ask Cruz to play the conga drums like Desi Arnaz while dancing salsa and sipping cafe con leche -- all to prove the Republican is really Cuban.
Just when I thought I’d seen the worst, it got even more offensive. Earlier that day, [communist] Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, had entered the presidential race. So, Halperin said: “I want to give you the opportunity to directly welcome your colleague Senator Sanders to the race, and I’d like you to do it, if you would, en español.”
I dunno. Maybe Halperin thought he was interviewimg Jeb Bush or something.
D'ya think, when he's interviewing Julian Castro, the Democrat front-runner challenging President Walker four years from now, that Mark Halperin will be inquiring about his daily siestas and asking him to do his Speedy Gonzales impression?
Somehow, I doubt it. After all, that's much less likely than his upcoming televised sit-down with Dr. Ben Carson, wherein Halperin will ask the retired Johns Hopkins University neurosurgeon to eat fried chicken and watermelon and tap-dance for him.
Exit question: Why did Senator Cruz meekly "play along" instead of calmly but firmly blasting Halperin for his blatant racism against a Hispanic conservative? If he'd been interviewed by, say, Mitch McConnell, or any other of his fellow Republicans, about anything, I bet this would have been a dramatically different story.
UPDATE: You know who else thinks the Halperin-Cruz interview was flamingly racist? Those knuckle-dragging right-wing extremists at....Think Progress.
What's that saying? "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably not Slowpoke Rodriguez....
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