If you’re going to issue a statement in recognition of a holiday, you probably should know what the holiday is. When it came to Cinco de Mayo and the House Republican Conference, this clearly wasn’t the case.
The GOP Conference created a sample press release saying, “Congressman ____________ today marked Cinco de Mayo with the following statement acknowledging the significance of the holiday of independence and of the ties between the United States and Mexico.”
It was nice of the party to acknowledge the day, but that’s not what Cinco de Mayo represents. (The House Republican Conference was thinking of Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Sept. 16; Cinco de Mayo honors the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.)
“I really don’t blame the poor Republicans,” said Matt Miller, spokesman for House Democratic Caucus Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.). “It’s hard to spend 364 days ignoring Hispanics and then pop up for one day to throw back a Corona and celebrate the wrong holiday.”
When bad press releases happen to misguided people….