Say what?: The top five Latino-centric gaffes during the GOP primary
The GOP primary season provided its fair share of head-scratching moments. (Flickr: DonkeyHotey)
By JORDAN FABIAN
Channel: Politics
How do you say delicious in … what???
It’s hard to believe that the Republican presidential primary has lasted around one year. During all this time, there sure have been some puzzling statements made.
With the campaign transitioning into the general election, we decided to take a look back at the top five gaffes made during the GOP primary.
Herman Cain: “How do you say delicious in Cuban?”
Forget “nine-nine-nine.” This question about a non-existent language could go down as one of the Republican presidential candidate’s all-time great lines. (:10 seconds in).
Romney wishes he could call himself Mexican … in Florida
A gem from Mitt Romney’s interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos before the Florida Republican primary. Ramos asked Romney about the fact that his father was born in Mexico.
“Are you Mexican-American? Would you be the first Hispanic president?” asked Ramos.
“I would love to be able convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary,” Romney said, chuckling. “But I think that would be disingenuous on my part.
“I don’t think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American, but I would appreciate if you got that word out,” he added.
What’s the problem with that? Only 9 percent of Latino voters in Florida are Mexican-American. (8:20 minutes).
Arpaio: Latinos love me
Yes, the so-called “America’s Toughest Sheriff” isn’t a candidate. But he did endorse Rick Perry and his support was sought by nearly every candidate.
Here’s a gem from the immigration hard-liner’s interview earlier this year with Ramos. (7:00 minutes in).
Santorum wants the illegal … er Latino vote
The former Pennsylvania senator got tongue tied during a debate and the result was not pretty.
Romney: “I’m running for office for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.”
You can bet that this line will be in Democratic attack ads against Romney.
Remember how it started? The former Massachusetts governor’s frustration with Texas Gov. Rick Perry asking him about a lawncare company he employed that hired undocumented immigrants. The issue also came up during Romney’s unsuccessful 2008 run for president.
