"Could I mention the presence of my friend, Congressman Steve Pearce, who I believe will be joining me in the United States?"
-John McCain, in New Mexico
Now, that comment alone will sap 4-5% of his vote in New Mexico. New Mexico Magazine has a section in the back called One of Our Fifty Is Missing, which details various idiots who get the idea that New Mexico is a foreign country. In my family's experience, there have been questions about where our passports are, what our money looks like, companies that refused to ship to us because we were "overseas," a credit card company that tacked 3% on to every purchase my mom made the first month she had the card because they were all foreign charges, and a hotel clerk who refused to let us call New Mexico because foreign phone calls weren't allowed. That's just off the top of my head. New Mexico Magazine prints about a dozen entries a month, and those are just the people who write in and have a laugh worthy tale. I'm sure that five get rejected for every one that's printed, and there are ten for each one that's not printed that simply aren't written about.
And it pisses New Mexicans off. A lot.
Hispanics in New Mexico have quite a bit of antipathy for actual Mexicans, in part attributable to the generic nativism present in a huge number of Americans, and partly out of an attitude of, "We're different. We're real Americans. We're better than that. Why do they keep making us look bad?" Some of that is understandable, since it's still mainstream to demonize Hispanics and to question our Americanness, and that pisses us off even more.
Here, I'll display: My family's been in New Mexico for more than 400 years, and became citizens when the land was taken from Mexico after the Mexican-American War, which was 160 years ago, so I've got more history in this country than you peasants who came over on herring boats or fled your mafia infested backwaters or didn't have enough potatoes in the last century, so fuck you for thinking you're more American than me because you've got a lighter shade of skin than mine.
So, in short, this is a gaffe of the highest order on a local level. His share of the Hispanic vote in New Mexico just plummeted, he's lost some non-Hispanic whites in New Mexico, and of course, his national standing among Hispanics has fallen farther. Further, it displays his continuing ignorance. I mean, calling the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia four times in two days is one thing. It's only been fifteen years since the Velvet Divorce, and we do know that John McCain has never moved past the Cold War. However, with this comment, it appears he never moved beyond the War of 1812, which makes sense, as he was a young man then, and he can't remember everything that's happened to him in the past 160 years.
-John McCain, in New Mexico
Now, that comment alone will sap 4-5% of his vote in New Mexico. New Mexico Magazine has a section in the back called One of Our Fifty Is Missing, which details various idiots who get the idea that New Mexico is a foreign country. In my family's experience, there have been questions about where our passports are, what our money looks like, companies that refused to ship to us because we were "overseas," a credit card company that tacked 3% on to every purchase my mom made the first month she had the card because they were all foreign charges, and a hotel clerk who refused to let us call New Mexico because foreign phone calls weren't allowed. That's just off the top of my head. New Mexico Magazine prints about a dozen entries a month, and those are just the people who write in and have a laugh worthy tale. I'm sure that five get rejected for every one that's printed, and there are ten for each one that's not printed that simply aren't written about.
And it pisses New Mexicans off. A lot.
Hispanics in New Mexico have quite a bit of antipathy for actual Mexicans, in part attributable to the generic nativism present in a huge number of Americans, and partly out of an attitude of, "We're different. We're real Americans. We're better than that. Why do they keep making us look bad?" Some of that is understandable, since it's still mainstream to demonize Hispanics and to question our Americanness, and that pisses us off even more.
Here, I'll display: My family's been in New Mexico for more than 400 years, and became citizens when the land was taken from Mexico after the Mexican-American War, which was 160 years ago, so I've got more history in this country than you peasants who came over on herring boats or fled your mafia infested backwaters or didn't have enough potatoes in the last century, so fuck you for thinking you're more American than me because you've got a lighter shade of skin than mine.
So, in short, this is a gaffe of the highest order on a local level. His share of the Hispanic vote in New Mexico just plummeted, he's lost some non-Hispanic whites in New Mexico, and of course, his national standing among Hispanics has fallen farther. Further, it displays his continuing ignorance. I mean, calling the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia four times in two days is one thing. It's only been fifteen years since the Velvet Divorce, and we do know that John McCain has never moved past the Cold War. However, with this comment, it appears he never moved beyond the War of 1812, which makes sense, as he was a young man then, and he can't remember everything that's happened to him in the past 160 years.
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