The GOP’s Sell-Out Seven Have Their Own Univision Panderfest

Memo From Mexico, By Allan Wall

Several months back, the Democrats had a bilingual panderfest hosted by Spanish-language network Univision.

Not to be outdone, the Republican candidates (with the heroic exception of Tom Tancredo) attended another Panderfest with the same format last night (December 9th).

The fact that only Tancredo understood that pandering was a bad idea tells us more about the state of the GOP than it does about Tom Tancredo. As he explained the day before the forum:

"It is the law that to become a naturalized citizen of this country you must have knowledge and understanding of English, including a basic ability to read, write, and speak the language. So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate? Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual, but it has perilous consequences for a nation. As such, a Spanish debate has no place in a presidential campaign." [Tancredo: GOP Candidates ‘Pandering’ At Spanish-Language Debate The Denver Channel.Com Dec. 8th, 2007]

Patriotic Americans of Hispanic descent don’t need to host a Panderfest, because they vote for candidates based on what they think is good for the country—not just for their ethnic faction.

The existence of a Univision-sponsored "debate"–really a managed forum—implies that Hispanics have separate interests from other Americans.

Do they?

If they don’t, what’s the point of this pandering?

If they do, maybe somebody should spell out just how Hispanic interests are different from American interests.

Furthermore, does Jorge Ramos, a Mexican citizen, have any business being one of the moderators of an American political debate?

Would Mexico allow an American journalist—Lou Dobbs, say—to moderate a Mexican political debate?

To ask the question is to answer it. Here in Mexico, we foreigners are forbidden by law to meddle in Mexican politics, even by marching in a demonstration.