Hatch: "I love the Hispanic people" (how blatantly racist can we get?)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

So, last week, Hatch said this?
I can't believe it.
This is the kind of blatant, patronizing, transparent and cycnical statement you just cringe will be made, and Hatch last week, sparing noone's sensibilities within earshot, blurted this out in his defense of attorney general nominee Gonzales.
Did anyone see this statement being made? Was Hatch immediately called out on it? Could the Times have possibly misquoted?

I can't fucking believe it.
And I only learned this reading the NYTimes excellent editorial condemning the whole charade on Friday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/opinion/4fri1.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[flordehinojos]

1. hatch rubbing salt in the hispanic's wounds--or better yet, making wounds

in the hispanic soul.

[Old Mouse]

2. What do you mean?

I'm sure some of his best friends are hispanic people.
Why, nothing makes Orin happier than seeing those happy little hispanics cutting his lawn, cleaning out his toilets, preparing his food and raising his grandchildren... just as the good lord intended.

(sarcasm off)

[Xipe Totec]

3. What's a Hispanic?

That's what I'd like to know.

Why do forms that that ask for racial information have Hispanic as one category, and White-not-Hispanic as another?

If you were born in Spain, are you Hispanic?

If you don't speak Spanish, are you Hispanic?

It is a puzzlement to me...

[demosincebirth]

6. They also classify Philipino Americans as asians, when their culture and

most of their last names are Spanish in origin.

[Xipe Totec]

9. It's a very strange pigeonhole they put us in

I find it rather confining. It implies relationships that don't exist, and denies relationships that do exist. I happen to have Philippine in-laws.

Funny isn't it?

[Cleita]

14. It's really a racist classification IMHO.

People who live below the Rio Grande all the way to Patagonia are very diverse and there are so many languages spoken, not just Spanish. It's as bad as being classified as an Anglo if you are from north of the Rio Grande, but I haven't seen that classification show up on official government forms. It would be deemed as racist.

[mark414]

24. actually...

hispanic is a made up term, made up by the US census bureau as a matter of fact...

most people i know who would fit that description prefer 'latino' or 'latina'

[Tempest]

4. Funny how Hispanic groups refused to endorse Gonzales

Makes Hatch's statement that Hispanics are "sensing there's something unfair going on" ring hollow.


For more than a decade, the dietary supplements industry has counted on Sen. Orrin G. Hatch to fend off tighter regulation of products such as ephedra, the controversial stimulant linked to more than 80 deaths - most recently a young Baltimore Orioles baseball player.
http://tinyurl.com/7xpwd

[Karenina]

5. And what's with the "Hispanic" designation?

A Mexican is NOT a Puerto Rican or Cuban, a Peruvian is NOT Argentinian, a Brazilian is NOT Portuguese... The assumed "white privilege" of naming "the other" does get rather tedious. :shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

10. They used to classify Irish as a non-white race

Go figure. Same thing for Italians and Poles. I guess you're not really Murrican until they drop the hyphenated designation. Then you know you've arrived.

As they say in Brazil, "Money Whitens"

[Igel]

13. Not just them. Or us.

A Briton isn't a Pole isn't a Serb ... but they're European.

And I personally consider 'anglo' offensive. Anybody of Irish or Celtic descent could. Sort of like calling a San tribesman Zulu. Or a Tatar Russian.

"Crusader" is also a bit over the top.

As well as "big-nose".

[AlCzervik]

7. WTF??? like a truly insane Jerry MGuire--

"I love black people!!!!"""

Thats just nuts.

[Cocoa]

18. and black people love us

http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

[NewYorkerfromMass]

30. Wow. That site has really grown

I saw it a while back, but now they have a "letters" section LOL! get a load of some of them, some get it, some sort of....:

That websites a joke right? If not I have to say I'm sort of appalled and EMBARRASSED by what I'm reading here. You make a WEBSITE dedicated to the fact that you happen to have black friends?...

After looking at your website, I at first was appalled by the outlandish rhetoric that was used throughout it. However, the more I looked at the site the more I was conflicted in my views. At first glance this seems like a mockery of the black culture and made by ignorant people, however, it also seems like a mockery of white culture and its ignorance....

I'm surprised the NAACP hasn't caught up with you yet...

This has to be a joke. You guys are the biggest bunch of fuckin' idiots I've ever seen. White people like you are the worst kind. You know nothing about the history and don't connect with black people on a level of humanity.....

http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/letters.html

[LibDemAlways]

8. Well chimp senior and his shrew of a

wife once referred to Jeb's kids as the "little brown ones," so I guess it's a repuke trait.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. but, but...what about us latin americans?

Just Hispanics?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Does he love them as much as he does the Bhutanese people?

Or, the Iraqis (that he voted to kill)? How about Norwegians or Peruvians or Ugandans?

Patronizing twit.

[SoCalDem]

15. "We treat our blacks real good"

Some republican yahoo said that ON CAMERA during the 2000 election nightmare.. I actually did a double-take when I heard it..:)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. Carlos Gutierrez is now Commerce secretary

so apparently Hatch isn't alone in his "love".

[AlCzervik]

17. i wonder if he goes around saying.."I love white people!"

[Yupster]

19. A great example of a political quote

In the 1970's Mario Procaccino was running for Mayor of New York City. Appearing in front of an A-A audience, he told them "My heart is as black as yours."

I got that from one of the Book of Lists. Famous political blunders. Something like that.

On edit - my favorite sports announcer blunder. Forgot who said it. I think it's also in Book of Lists.

"The ball's hit deep to right field. Winfield's going back, back. He leaps and oh no, he hits his head on the wall. It's rolling toward second base."

[yankeedem]

29. Jerry Coleman of the Padres

who was also responsible for this one

"Jones throwing up in the bullpen"

[Jack_DeLeon]

20. This is getting kind of silly...

I hate Hatch for many reasons, among them being his support for harsher copyright laws.

But I think its silly how some people jump all over the word "Hispanic," some of us actually prefer to be called Hispanic, myself included.

I'm a Mexican-American, but if you are going to refer to the group of people who speak Spanish in general, then I have absolutely no problem with Hispanic.

[Xipe Totec]

23. But what if you don't speak Spanish?

You may be comfortable with the designation of Hispanic because it fits your situation, and that's OK. But what about those of us who are not comfortable with it? Why should we be required to accept this pseudo-racial designation?

The definition falls apart pretty quickly. I speak Spanish, but my children don't. Are they Hispanic? If so, why? If not, why not?

If by Hispanic you mean Spanish speaking, why not just say Spanish Speaking American? That falls apart quickly too. Can you qualify as a Hispanic if you take language courses? If so, why? If not, why not?

In a nutshell, what is the essence of Hispanic identity? If it is not race, why does it appear as a racial classification? What makes it so important that the federal government has to keep track of who is and who is not Hispanic?

My direct ancestors arrived with Jose de Escandon to settle the Rio Grande Valley over three hundred years ago. I am Mexican-American and proud of it. Hispanic on the other hand is a label so vague as to be meaningless to me. I am not offended by it, I just feel it reveals a lack of culture. It is a catch all label used by those who do not know, and do not wish to know, anything about the cultural richness of the Spanish speaking world. Those who can not tell the difference between Jose Marti, Amado Nervo, Miguel Hernandez, or Jorge Luis Borges.

[Jack_DeLeon]

26. If you dont speak spanish...

or trace your ancestors to someplace that did or does then you are obviously not Hispanic.

Brazillians, and Portugese are not Hispanic.

[Xipe Totec]

28. Argue that with the Feds....

My children are classified as Hispanic because they have a "Hispanic" last name, never mind the fact they do not speak a word of Spanish. I have co-workers who are third and fourth generations removed from Spanish, who do not know where their surname came from, and still the Feds insist: "Thow art Hispanic".

Yet Spaniards are not considered "Hispanic", they are Spaniards or just "White Europeans" never mind the Moorish influences...

And what about last names like Pereira, Chavarria, Suarez, Serrat, Peña? are those Hispanic? Pereira is Portuguese, but many Mexicans have that last name. Chavarria is Basque and they hate being called "Hispanic". Juarez is a mutation of Schwartz which is German. Is Benito Juarez German? Serrat is Catalonian and they also hate being called Spanish. Peña is a Converso last name; Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity. In Spain such last names are still not considered "True Spanish". Are Peñas Hispanic, or Jewish?

And on, and on.

Meaningless.

[sonicx]

25. The issue is that he said he loved them...

Not the word he used.

It's silly, shallow pandering. It's something you'd except to hear in a comedy act.

Why would anyone need to say they love a racial or ethnic group?

[demosincebirth]

21. Thats what racist say to prove they are not racist

[Grey Ranks]

22. A lot!

I think if he rolled around in an “I Heart Mexicans” shirt with a foam finger than had #1 on it the situation could be a little more blatant.

Maybe he will start smoking the mary jane and get his car horn to play la cucaracha.

He could go to the gym, not like he goes to the gym, dressed like a Mexican gangster.

I think there are a lot of things he can do. Give the guy a break though, maybe is generally trying to be a better person, without realizing he is a fat bastard.

[UTUSN]

27. Shirley-Temple-Orrin -------------IS DISGUSTING

Ever since the ESTRADA thingy, he has been claiming that Dems are ANTI-HISPANIC for opposing WINGNUT TOOLS like ESTRADA and GONZALES.

This is from Repukes who claim to be against QUOTAS and AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, yet they DEMAND that minorities be approved ON THE BASIS OF RACE.

Arrrrggghhhhh---------can I yell LOUDER??????/