Fox News' Hill: Are Latinos "going to vote for the person who basically is going to give them the most for ... the least?"
Discussing the upcoming presidential primaries on the February 4 edition of Fox News' America's Pulse, host E.D. Hill asked Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, host of Univision's Piolín por la Mañana: "Do you think that the majority of Latino listeners that you hear from are going to vote for the person who basically is going to give them the most for, you know, for the least? Who's gonna, you know, open up the borders, who's going to give everybody automatic citizenship, that sort of thing? Or are they voting on other issues? On taxes, on health care, on those sort of things?" Hill offered no indication as to which candidate would "open up the borders" and "give everybody automatic citizenship," nor did she offer any support for her suggestion that Latino voters want to "open up the borders."
On the January 4 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews also claimed that Latino voters "want more of an open border." As Media Matters for America noted at the time, a number of national and regional Latino groups have specifically rejected the idea of "open borders" while advocating comprehensive immigration reform, as have members of Congress representing states and districts with large Latino constituencies.
From the February 4 edition of Fox News' America's Pulse:
HILL: All right, let's cut through it all. Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo is a radio talk show host for Univision, has joined us before, and it's always good to have you back on the program. Thank you.
SOTELO: Thank you for the invitation, E.D. Hill. Thank you.
HILL: All right. Hey, you've talked to these -- you talk to the Latino voters all the time. You're heard across the nation, you're one of the biggest Latino entertainment presences in America. What are you hearing from your listeners?
SOTELO: My listeners, they are so interested tomorrow to come out from their houses and start voting, inviting people, family members, friends, co-workers, because it's really important to make a difference by voting. Why? Because when we come to the United States, we're so blessed to be living here, and at the same time, we have to learn English, we have to educate ourselves, we have to learn the laws of the United States. And now, we have the opportunity to come out and vote, because that's what we want, you know? We want to have a nation that we can be united -- united for the benefit of our families, community, and this great nation.
HILL: Eddie, let me ask you something -- very pointed, very direct question. Do you think that the majority of Latino listeners that you hear from are going to vote for the person who basically is going to give them the most for, you know, for the least? Who's gonna, you know, open up the borders, who's going to give everybody automatic citizenship, that sort of thing? Or are they voting on other issues? On taxes, on health care, on those sort of things?
SOTELO: I think my listeners, they want to vote, you know, for somebody who wants to give the immigration reform, because they've been working for so many years here. And even though they don't have their own papers, they still wake up every morning to work, you know, and be able to bring food to their own families, and at the same time, they help the economy of the United States. And I'm sure they're going to be, you know -- they're going to be voting for somebody to bring the soldiers from Iraq to the United States. They're so interested on that too, and on the taxes, you know, they're so interested. So, it's not going to be only for immigration reform.
Of course not, Hill! They are looking forward to voting for the person who thinks that speaking spanish is proof of "reconquista", who thinks all mexicans are illegal sponges who just come here to have babies to become american and leach off of the welfare system and abuse the school system, and pretty much think anybody who speaks a different language (and has darker skin) doesn't want to culturally mix with America and be part of this great country!
Bush got what - 30% of the hispanic vote? Go for 0%, I'm sure you can find more than enough white males to put your party over the top!
Here's what Sotelo should have said...
Let me answer your question with the same paraphrased question…
Do you think the majority of wealthy corporate listeners are going to vote for the person who is going to give them the most for, you know, the biggest contributions? Who’s gonna, you know, crush the unions, who’s going to give them huge tax breaks, that sort of thing? Or are they voting on other issues?...
The thoughtless comments of Fox's Hill remind me of a lawsuit I helmed a few years ago for the plaintiff, an Hispanic woman whose great great grandparents, for all I knew, fought at the Alamo -- for the Texicans. Apparently, some folks don't realize that when Mexico appeared to have abandoned some of their territory north of the Rio Grande, many of their people on this side of the border began to realize that allegiance to a government in Mexico City was foolhardy and self-defeatist. Many of the heroes of the Alamo were just such people.
My client had bought a lemon auto "slightly used" and experienced one problem after another only to be told that the mechanical complaints were somehow not covered by the remaining warranty. When she asked a salesman who put the 38,000 miles on the car prior to her purchase of it, she was told, "Oh, it was a company car and we drove it around, went to lunch in it, that sort of thing." And although the dealer assured her that the dealership had been "the only owner," when we ran the title we learned that the previous owner had been a car rental agency in another city.
My client -- we'll call her Alicia -- stopped making payments on the car and delivered it herself to the dealership, telling them she could no longer afford the repairs and didn't feel safe driving the vehicle. We sued for deceptive business practices, but we also joined as defendants the finance company, since they had violated various debt collection laws as well. When I interviewed my client she said that the finance company's collections department would call her at work, misrepresent the outstanding balance, and threaten to take legal action they were not permitted to do by law -- all violations.
Then she told me about the violation that sold her case, made me want to represent her for sure. She said that one of the collection people got so impatient with her they said: "We didn't think you were going to pay us. We knew you'd just go back across the border." I knew that any jury in South Texas (where I live and practice) would hear that and give my client additional damages. Needless to say, the defendants settled with us.
That's where Mr. Hill is coming from. Phony Fox.
Just perpetuating the myth that non-white voters are just waiting to jump on board with the canidate with the most handouts. Lets hear it for racial profiling everybody. . .
As part of the monolith known as "Latino voters" who voted this morning for the candidate that will give me the most free money and open the border, and an infrequent "Piolin por la manana" listener, I wouldl ike to ask my fellow Americans a question: If you found out that somewhere out in Bizarroland, Rick Dees was being interviewed about the importance of your vote, how would you feel? Piolin is a joker. Leave it to Fox News to be so completely disconnected from Latinos to have this clown on and to have him speak for all of us.
Seriously, this is like asking a political hack like Ryan Seacrest about white voting preferences. Seriously.
What's interesting in this whole thing is that, while we're told that the Mexicans are invading, no one in the MSM has apparently taken the time to get to know any. Any Mexican can speak for the rest of Latinos (many non-Mexicans), I guess. This kind of mess reminds me that in their eyes, we are not individuals.
Still, props to (popular radio personality, not political pundit) Piolin for sounding fairly reasonable in his response.