During tonight's Republican debate on CNN, panelist María Celeste Arrarás of Telemundo implied that both Sens. Cruz and Rubio were Hispanics who had little if any regard for fellow members of their ethnicity and were instead playing to a largely-white GOP base.
"[Y]ou are the first Hispanic candidate ever to win a caucus or primary," she noted of the Texas Republican, and yet, she complained, "there is the perception in the Latino community" that both of them "are spending the time arguing with each other, trying to figure out which one is tougher on immigration, in order to appeal to the majority of Republicans."
"Aren't you missing a huge opportunity to expand the Republican base?" Arrarás asked Cruz.
Here's the relevant transcript. A video update is forthcoming:
CNN
Republican Debate
February 25, 2016; 9:11 p.m. EasternMaría Celeste Arrarás: Senator Cruz, you and Senator Rubio are the two candidates of Hispanic descent on this stage.
As a matter of fact, you are the first Hispanic candidate ever to win a caucus or primary. And yet there is the, and yet there is the perception in the Latino community that instead of trying to prove to Latinos who has the best plan, the best platform to help them, that you two are spending the time arguing with each other, trying to figure out which one is tougher on immigration, in order to appeal to the majority of Republicans.
So my question to you is, aren’t you missing a huge opportunity to expand the Republican base?
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