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Pobody's Nerfect. On Monday afternoon, Bloomberg Politics editor and MSNBC senior burrito correspondent Mark Halperin apologized for an interview two weeks ago in which he ham-handedly quizzed Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his Cuban heritage. In the interview Halperin questioned Cruz on his Hispanic appeal, even his consumption of Cuban dishes, and offered to let Cruz welcome Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders to the race en Español. The interview flew under the radar until it was torn to shreds by San Jose Mercury-News columnist Ruben Navarrette this weekend. “As a Hispanic, I felt like I was watching...

Team Hillary is pushing Julian Castro as her VP nominee. “The Republicans are making a big push for the Hispanic vote, so that makes Castro an obvious pick.” Julian Castro, and his twin brother, Congressman Joaquin, were early backers of 2008 Clinton......the odds of Mrs. Clinton picking another woman for the ticket are “zero” .... which eliminates Wendy Davis, the liberal darling of Texas Democrats. --SNIP--That leaves Julian Castro. At just 40 years old, he’s a a two-term mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and is Obama’s HUD Secy. The Castro brothers — twins born to a single mother whose grandmother...

Mark Halperin of Bloomberg interviewed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a candidate for president of the United States, recently and endeavored to find out how authentically Cuban he is. This line of questioning has not, so far as is known, been directed at any other presidential candidate. Barack Obama’s blackness has not been called into question, nor has Hillary Clinton’s womanhood. Ruben Navarrette, writing on Saturday for the San Jose Mercury News, was appalled, to say the least. Halperin asked Cruz what kind of Cuban food he liked, if he listened to Cuban music and was invited to address Bernie Sanders...

On Saturday, Fausta’s Blog posted an interview from Bloomberg TV that slipped under the radar in the last few weeks, wherein Mark Halperin got uncomfortably weird and painfully white while interviewing Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Here is Digitas clip of the segment. It is a comic tragedy unto itself. Fausta, in the dangerous state of “outraged while Puerto Rican,” had a terrific rant that ended, appropriately, with bésame el culo. Kiss my … The absurdity of the situation is outweighed only by how disgusting it is.

It's early in the process, but Spanish-language U.S. media is seeing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, as one of their own. Bush is a fluent Spanish speaker and married to a Mexican, leading some Spanish-language media outlets to identify him as a "Latino" candidate, even though he's very much white. In late April, Telemundo ran an Associated Press article translated to Spanish and said Bush can "express himself in English and Spanish in declarations that [highlight] his deep ties with the Hispanic culture." Because Bush is an outspoken supporter of immigration reform...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)DENVER — Black History Month is February. Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. And at one Colorado barbecue joint, June 11 is White Appreciation Day. Two Hispanic restaurant owners, Edgar Antillon and Miguel Jiminez, who recently bought Rubbin Buttz BBQ in Milliken, Colorado, have decided to offer a 10 percent discount that day to white customers. “We have a whole month for Black History Month,” Mr. Antillon told 9News in Denver. “We have a whole month for Hispanic Heritage Month, so we thought the least we could do was offer one day to appreciate white Americans.” It...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a likely candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, speaks Spanish in a new video celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The video was released by Bush's political action committee, which described it as "a message for the entire Hispanic population in the United States, but especially those of Mexican origin." Bush is fluent in Spanish. "Cinco de Mayo is an honorable date when Mexico, our neighbor, bravely defended itself against a foreign intervention," Bush said. "Here in the U.S., Cinco de Mayo has become a day where we celebrate our ties with Mexico and the great...

A survey targeting local low-income families has found that 40 percent of respondents felt they have very little or no job security, according to results being released this week. That kind of instability makes it challenging to commit to car loans, apartment leases and tuition payments – steps often necessary to improving a family’s economic standing. Of those participating in the survey, more than 1 in 2 has received free groceries or meals and about 1 in 4 has needed help with housing, utilities or health care. The 502 responses reflect the experiences of those who continue to struggle in...

In awarding its first-ever Latino Leadership Award, the University of Texas at Austin hoped to highlight its longtime work in establishing a Mexican-American studies center and department. It used the celebratory occasion, in fact, to announce a new Latino Research Initiative at UT. But giving that inaugural prize to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush — whose resume might read as thin as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s on Latino issues — triggered criticism from Latino academics and activists on and off campus. Bestowed by outgoing and embattled university President Bill Powers, the UT Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS), the...

UT President Bill Powers presented land commissioner George P. Bush the inaugural Latino Leadership Award on Monday evening. The president’s office worked in conjunction with the Center of Mexican American Studies and the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies to select Bush as the first awardee, said Dr. Nicole Guidotti-Hernández, associate director of the Center for Mexican American Studies. “We went through a series of 15 nominees, and we evaluated them for leadership, public service and areas like that,” Guidotti-Hernández said. “With him as the first Latino land commissioner, I think in its [179-year] history of the office, we...

George P. Bush stood in front of the lectern with its official seal. Behind him, flags bracketed the picture of a majestic white building. For just under 10 minutes, Bush talked about all that he had accomplished in the whirlwind of his first 100 days in office. Bush is in his first term as Texas land commissioner, the seal on the podium is that of the General Land Office, and the building depicted behind him is the mid-19th Century General Land Office building that now serves as the Capitol Visitors Center. But looking at Wednesday’s tableau, you could be forgiven...

Can Republicans win the hearts and votes of Hispanics? Is Sen. Ted Cruz, son of a Cuban immigrant, a candidate who can make a breakthrough with that crucial segment of the electorate? Texas, Cruz noted at a forum with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, “is the only majority-minority state in the country that is solidly Republican.” And he added, “It’s not rocket science that if Republicans continue to get clobbered in the Hispanic community it won’t stay solidly Republican.” Javier Palomarez, president and chief executive of the chamber, teed up the issue by noting that President Barack Obama won...

CNN reports that, while speaking to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Ted Cruz took a swipe at Mitt Romney’s infamous “47 percent” remark. Cruz reframed the conversation, taking the opportunity to connect the remark to the Hispanic vote: “The media repeatedly said the reason Mitt Romney got clobbered in the Hispanic community was because of immigration…the data don’t bear that out…” “What the polling data showed is actually Hispanic voters agree with Mitt Romney on a great many issues. Where he got clobbered was ‘cares about somebody like me.’ Where he got clobbered was the 47 percent–you...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Lincoln, Nebraska. This is Chris. Great to have you, sir. You're up first. Welcome to the EIB Network, hello. CALLER: Hello. How are you? RUSH: Very well, sir. Thank you for calling. CALLER: Long-term listener, first-time caller. Anyway, what I was questioning, or to ask a question to you is, do you think the anti-gun left will come full circle to pro-gun after these Ferguson and Baltimore incidents? I'm not saying those are justifications for -- you know, but the Second Amendment's there to protect against -- RUSH: Why would the left -- CALLER: And our own...

The study analyzed between 12 and April 19 Hispanic conversations through Twitter and Instagram. The former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, aspiring to occupy the White House in 2016, will feature talks Hispanic social networks over Republican candidates Hispanic Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, according to a study published by the research platform "Hey!". The report "Hey!", An organization dedicated to analyzing the behavior in social networks Hispanics showed that the announcement of the presidential candidacy of the former first lady and memes (digital teasing) subsequent took to the social networks. 37% of Hispanics participating in Twitter and Instagram spoke...

Javier Palomarez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recently said he believes any new U.S. president will only be elected to office if he or she openly courts Latino voters. He was speaking to Sen. Ted Cruz, who is of Cuba descent, during a question-and-answer session in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. But it’s something that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush seems to have taken to heart. Bush, who has yet to announce he will seek the Republican presidential nomination, has been actively courting the Hispanic community. It doesn’t seem to matter to the former Florida governor that Hispanic...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took his presidential campaign to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this week, where he raised a provocative point about, of all things, panhandling. Benjy Sarlin reported: “If you look at the values that resonate in our community, they are faith, family, patriotism, hard work,” he told host Javier Palomarez, the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Some years ago I was having lunch with a Hispanic entrepreneur in Austin and he asked me a question: He said, ‘When was the last time you saw a Hispanic panhandler?’ It’s a great question…. I’m not sure I’ve...

Recycling a comment that he made in 2012, presidential candidate and Texas senator Ted Cruz (R) doubled down on his statement that he has never seen a “Hispanic panhandler,” ThinkProgress reported. While speaking earlier this week with the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Cruz was asked “how to inform, mobilize, and attract Hispanic voters in 2016. Cruz’s response was that the Hispanic community is “fundamentally conservative one” and that they “work their fingers to the bones.” Some years ago, I was having lunch with a Hispanic entrepreneur in Austin. He asked me a question. He said, “When was the last...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-29/cruz-to-hispanics-economy-matters-more-than-immigration

Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Wednesday that he has never seen a Hispanic person begging for money on the street. "I don't think I've ever seen an Hispanic panhandler. And the reason is: In our community it would be shameful to be begging on the street," Cruz said. Cruz, who is of Cuban descent, made the point while speaking in Washington at a question-and-answer session with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He used the example to argue the Republican Party should be able to compete for the Latino vote. Hispanics, Cruz said, share many of the...