“That Mexican thing” - Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s phrase expressing his exasperation at Senator Tim Kaine’s repeated crassly dishonest, incomplete reference to remarks made by Donald Trump upon announcing his presidential campaign – is itself now being distorted and negatively characterized by the chief news anchors of the nation’s top two Spanish-language television networks, Univision’s Jorge Ramos and Telemundo’s José Díaz-Balart.
In their respective reports on the vice presidential debate, Univision’s Ramos told his viewers that Pence had objectified immigrants by calling them “that Mexican thing,” while Telemundo’s José Díaz-Balart also carelessly parroted the anti-Pence spin on the Republican candidate's phrase, characterizing it as “unfortunate.”
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Immigrants react with outrage against the Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence for calling them “that Mexican thing” in the debate with his Democrat counterpart, Tim Kaine.
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: After the hurricane, the next news that captures headlines today is the debate between the vice presidential candidates, mainly their discussion on the [border] wall, the undocumented [immigrants], the threat of deportation and also the unfortunate phrase “that Mexican thing” from Republican Mike Pence...
The shared negative take on the phrase by the country’s top two Spanish-language television networks was clearly in lock-step with Democrat spin, which in the aftermath of the vice presidential debate seized the opportunity to build a new distortion on top of an old one.
Since June 2015, news programming on both Univision and Telemundo has routinely twisted the remarks that Donald Trump made during his presidential campaign announcement speech, characterizing them as a xenophobic and racist attack on all Mexicans and immigrants, instead of a blunt, not politically correct recognition that the number of violent criminals among people who have unlawfully crossed into the United States from Mexico and other countries is both significant and harmful and that such persons have no business being in the United States in the first place.
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Univision anchor Jorge Ramos did not miss a beat in picking up and running with the proposed spin from the party – and the campaign that employs his daughter, Paola Ramos – in order to give Pence the same twisted and biased treatment he’s heaped on Donald Trump throughout this entire presidential campaign season.
Univision’s report on the vice presidential debate went on to be stacked with comments from three anti-Trump talking heads (Democrat Congressman Rubén Gallego, Clinton Political Director Amanda Rentería and anti-Trump political analyst Javier Maza). The sole pro-Trump Republican voice in the report was that of RNC Hispanic Communications Director Helen Aguirre Ferré, and her comment wasn’t even related to the “that Mexican thing” phrase.
Only Telemundo’s Lori Montenegro gave either the RNC or the Trump campaign an opportunity to push back on the matter, with Montenegro interviewing Trump campaign surrogate Luis Quiñones, who called the controversy “ridiculous”, noting a clear effort to once again mislead people with the attack.
Below are the transcripts of both above-referenced reports, broadcast on the October 5 editions of Noticiero Univision and Noticiero Telemundo:
UNIVISIÓN
NOTICIERO UNIVISIÓN
10/5/16
6:38:36 PM - 6:41:10 PM EST | 2 MIN 33 SEC
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Immigrants react with outrage against the Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence for calling them “that Mexican thing” in the debate with his Democrat counterpart, Tim Kaine.
…
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Let’s now go to politics, a CNN poll saw Mike Pence as the winner of the debate by a tight margin in the first and only debate between the vice presidential hopefuls. But the Republican candidate has provoked strong criticism from activists and Hispanic leaders for saying “esa cosa mexicana”, “that Mexican thing”, in which he referred to the comments that Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “criminals”. Janet Rodríguez has the summary and the reactions.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: The attacks started at the beginning of the debate.
TIM KAINE, DEMOCRAT VICEPRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: …are Mexicans rapists and criminals?
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Senator Tim Kaine threw the first punch, bringing up that Donald Trump started his campaign calling Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals”, and during the entire debate pressured Mike Pence to defend Trump’s positions on immigration. To all that insistence…
MIKE PENCE, REPUBLICAN VICEPRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: …you whipped out that Mexican thing again…
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: …Governor Mike Pence simply said ‘you’re back again with that Mexican thing’.
RUBÉN GALLEGO, ARIZONA CONGRESSMAN, DEMOCRAT: What this says is that still the Donald Trump campaign doesn’t have respect for the Latino community.
HELEN AGUIRRE-FERRÉ, DIRECTOR OF HISPANIC COMMUNICATIONS, RNC: Donald Trump and Mike Pence are advocating for an immigration reform, an immigration system, where it is easier to come legally instead of illegally.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Several polls today said Pence was the winner of the night, even surpassing his running mate.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Although many recognized that in some instances he avoided defending Trump.
JAVIER MAZA, POLITICAL CAMPAIGN ANALYST: It was a debate, to say it in very simple terms, that was quite boring. A debate that’s not going to bring much change to the direction this election is taking, and allowed us to see two completely different styles.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Both candidates were forced to defend the credibility and moral character of the presidential nominees.
MIKE PENCE, REPUBLICAN VICEPRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: …during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State…
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Pence accused Clinton of favoritism through the foundation that bears her name, and for the private server while she was Secretary of State.
TIM KAINE, DEMOCRAT VICEPRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Then why won’t he release his tax returns?
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: And Kaine redoubled the attacks at Trump for refusing to release his tax returns to the public and for his praising the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.
AMANDA RENTERÍA, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Now we see that strength within, that fire within, and I think it was very important for our community to see Tim Kaine like that.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: A debate that both sides today recognize that probably won’t set the tone nor change the course of the campaigns.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Analysts hope that the lack of depth in subjects and the repeated attacks will also be the norm in the second presidential debate this Sunday. In Farmville, Virginia, Janet Rodríguez, Univision.
TELEMUNDO
NOTICIERO TELEMUNDO
10/5/16
6:39:42 PM - 6:42:11 PM EST | 2 MIN 29 SECS
JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: After the hurricane, the next news that captures headlines today is the debate between the vice presidential candidates, mainly their discussion on the [border] wall, the undocumented [immigrants], the threat of deportation and also the unfortunate phrase “that Mexican thing” from Republican Mike Pence, which quickly started trending on social media and became one of the most commented moments of the debate.
MARÍA CELESTE ARRARÁS, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: Well, it is a phrase that to many has a negative connotation, disparaging [connotation] but either way social media is saying “that Mexican thing” is the fact that undocumented immigrants, as opposed to Trump, pay 11 billion dollars in taxes a year. Lori Montenegro has more about the controversy and last night’s debate.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: In this Mexican restaurant in Farmville, Carlos Flores did not expect anything new to come out of the debate until…
CARLOS FLORES, RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE: …Mexican, he [Pence] says “that Mexican thing”.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: …referring to the phrase that came out during the sour exchange between Democrat Tim Kaine…
TIM KAINE, DEMOCRAT VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: …or that Mexicans are rapists and criminals…
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: …and complained to Republican Mike Pence for the way that Donald Trump referred to women and also to Mexicans.
MIKE PENCE, REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: …you whipped out that Mexican thing again…
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: “Senator, you whip out that Mexican thing again…” complained Pence, insisting that the mogul also said that many are good people.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: In social media this caused rage. It didn’t take long for the hashtag “#ThatMexicanThing” to appear.
PILI TOBAR, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, LATINO VICTORY FUND: “That Mexican Thing” is the fact that undocumented immigrants pay 11 billion dollars a year in taxes without getting any benefits.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Someone else wrote, “#ThatMexicanThing was my mother taking care of strangers’ kids for little to nothing and sometimes not even getting paid.”
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: This advisor to the Republican campaign categorized the controversy as “ridiculous”.
LUIS QUIÑONES, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: We’re not saying anything wrong, but we’re saying that there is a situation where they’re taking these kinds of words to try to deceive people, that’s what’s infuriating.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Finally, in this debate immigration was talked about. Kaine said that Trump wants to deport 16 million people, Pence replied “you promote amnesty”. This debate is history already.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: The encounter between Kaine and Pence was so heated that some said simply that this is a prelude of what we’ll see this Sunday when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off for a second time. In Farmville, Virginia, Lori Montenegro, Noticias Telemundo.
