Villaraigosa finds the national stage a little unwelcoming

January 27, 2006

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) made his first appearance on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” yesterday and got to chat with a woman in Arkansas who was concerned about illegal immigration. The woman declared: “It’s only after the influx of illegals that you were elected, sir. How is this possible?”

Visibly unhappy, Villaraigosa responded, “Are you kidding?” After a long silence, he added, “I was born in the United States.”

The discussion was only slightly less ridiculous by the time Villaraigosa got to MSNBC to chat with Chris Matthews.

Matthews: “When I think of people who come to this country from other countries where they speak Spanish-Puerto Rico which is not another country, but is the commonwealth. Hardest working people, they’re extremely entrepreneurial if it’s just owning a flower shop, it’s owning a small business – a bodega – right?

Puerto Ricans come to this country to start businesses. Cubans certainly come here to start businesses. The hardest working people in the United States are people who just got here from Mexico-the first day they get here. Everybody knows they don’t want a big social democracy. They want free enterprise and entrepreneurialism don’t they?

Villaraigosa: I think what they want-

Matthews: They sound like they are natural Republicans to me.

Villaraigosa: I think what they want is the American dream and are willing to work for it…

And Matthews wonders why so many are anxious to boycott him.

To his credit, Villaraigosa wasn’t rattled by Matthews. It’s one of the reasons party leaders tapped him to deliver what I believe is the first-ever the Spanish-language response to a president’s State of the Union address. I know the idea will probably face derision from the Pat Buchanan crowd, but I’m glad to see Dems make the outreach effort.

I heard Villaraigosa speak on NPR yesterday. It was the first time I have heard him speak and I was very impressed – he answered a question regarding a discrepancy between his ideals and his policy (towards the homeless) with such logic and reason, citing federal funding cuts as the impetus for the cuts, etc… Very impressive guy.
I am absolutely ashamed of my fellow citizens when they open their mouths and let their stupidity and prejudice flow out.

  • A bit of Dem tokenism? If he’s good enough to deliver the SOTU response in Spanich, could he not be asked to also give the English response as well? Or is Villaraigosa considered by the D.C. crowd to be window-dressing? We’re presented by the DNC with a neo-Dem pro-war pro-Alito shill doing the post-SOTU honors. All over the country, participants at DNC-encouraged SOTU-watching parties will turn down the sound on the “official” speech in order to discuss the real issues that motivate them. The grass roots movement to overthrow the D.C. Dem Surrenderists continues.

  • That’s not a fair characterization, W. The Democrats already have somebody to provide the SOTU rebuttal in English. The fact that they are providing a spanish language rebuttal at all is noteworthy in itself, regardless of the speaker. Villaraigosa, as it happens, appears to be an astute choice. Not only is he a powerful speaker, he is apparently well-liked by his hispanic constituents.

    You can call it pandering if you like, but that would be shallow criticism. Sometimes a little pandering is the right thing to do, and does not necessarily imply insincerity. Used properly, as in this instance, actually shows a fair bit of compassion and understanding.

    It’s called outreach, and it’s a good thing.

  • Technically, it was only after the influx of illegals that EVERYONE was elected, going all the way back to 1776.

    Hi Sally, and no. Although I forget what the blog title is a reference too, it’s a general national politics blog. I think the term carpetbagger is actually a pejorative for Bush.

  • /nitpick
    Bill Richardson delivered a Spanish-language response to the SOTU in 2004. I’m not sure about last year, but I seem to remember hearing that this would be the 3rd time it’s been done.

  • Hope somebody offers an english translation of his speech, as it sounds like it will be very good.

  • Sally & Rian,

    Actually, The Carpetbagger answered the question of the origin of the blog name in the comment section of a post titled “The Other ‘Carpetbagger'”, on December 8:


    As for the story behind the pseudonym, I’m afraid the backstory isn’t as entertaining a story as I’d like. In historical terms, I’ve taken the opposite of the traditional carpetbagger route — I was born and raised in the south (Miami, Fla.), moved to DC for grad school and various political jobs, and then ended up in New England.

    I’m in an area where you’re considered an outsider unless your grandparents were born locally, so the “carpetbagger” nickname just kind of stuck. That, and from a marketing perspective, it seemed to be a memorable enough name to help the blog community keep track of who I am. (There are just too many Steves out there in the ‘sphere already….)

    Like I said, not an entertaining story, but that’s the scoop.

    Comment by Carpetbagger — 12/8/2005 @ 3:53 pm

  • “There are just too many Steves out there in the ‘sphere already”

    I didn’t know that when I started, but it’s true. I use Linkmeister because I was given the name in a Yahoo book club and I liked it. Otherwise I’d have been one of those multitudinous Steves.

  • It saddens me that there are people in Arkansas who think that there is some kind of “influx of illegals” that happened recently in California. As if illegal migrant workers hadn’t been a key part of agribusiness there for decades. But since she apparently also doesn’t know that “Los Angeles” is Spanish, history isn’t her strong suit.

    Since illegals can’t vote, just how did she think they’d influenced the mayor’s election? Was that what she was asking?

    Oh, wait, I’ve made the mistake of trying to understand what they were thinking, again. Never mind.

  • CB! Looks like you’ve officially arrived as I’ve now seen multiple trolls and VRWC shills in various threads.

    Congrats, man, congrats.

  • Villaraigosa never met a camera he didn’t like. He may be an astute person and a good mayor, but the guy undercuts his credibility by never failing to show his face at absolutely every possible photo op he can find. Got a fifth-grade band concert and a parent with a video camera? Chances are Antonio Villagairosa will show up if he knows they’ll point the camera at him.

  • Hmmmm. Sure hope he doesn’t get the chance to land on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit and all cinched up for battle and accomplishing missions and stuff. That would be the photo op of a lifetime…

  • I wonder if the lady thinks that illegal aliens elected him. Maybe she doesn’t know that you have to be a citizen to vote.

    I bet you most immigrants know that! Sometimes American citizenship is just wasted on people.

  • Villaraigosa never met a camera he didn’t like. He may be an astute person and a good mayor….
    Comment by JF

    Folks could do worse than an astute guy and good mayor who doesn’t mind having his picture taken. Shrinking violets don’t get elected mayor of L.A.

  • From an Angeleno: Aside from some pointed stats on the economy, Villaraigosa’s rebuttal was woefully thin – a feel-good gesture by the DNC toward its blue-collar-but-troublesomely-conservative Latino constituents.
    More thoughts here.

    • Comments are closed.