VULGAR – AT 11:01 A.M. ET:  Ted Cruz, a brilliant lawyer and law professor, is a rising star in the Republiczn Party, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate from Texas, and regarded as a shoo-in for election in November.  He is also of Hispanic heritage.

But that last part bothers the head of the Democratic Party in Texas.  Apparently, to him, Cruz isn't Hispanic enough.  In a particularly crude set of comments the Dem chieftain ridiculed Cruz's credentials.  This is pure bigotry.  From the Houston Chronicle: 

At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, party officials touted Texas Senate nominee Ted Cruz as one of its party’s Latino rising stars.

The new chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa, not only disagrees with the rising star part — he is not so sure of Cruz’s Hispanic heritage that has was touted in a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.

“This is a guy who didn’t claim that he was Hispanic any time before he won a primary,” said Hinojosa in an exclusive interview with WFAA-TV in Dallas.

Hinojosa accused the Texas Republican Senate candidate of denying his Latino heritage by not using his given first name.

“If I was named Rafael Cruz, I would be proud to use that name. This guy has denied his own Hispanic heritage, if he is a Hispanic,” Hinojosa said.

And...

If elected a senator, Ted Cruz would join Marco Rubio as the highest ranking Republican officials of Hispanic descent. But it would not be Cruz’s first accomplishment in the name of his father’s Latino roots.

His bio on his campaign website proudly notes that he was “the first Hispanic ever to have clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States” when he clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and ”the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas.”

In a recent interview with Telemundo, Cruz referred to himself as a part of the Hispanic community and claimed that he believes the community is “profoundly conservative.”

Cruz, however, did admit to one shortcoming as a Hispanic candidate.

“My situation is what a lot of people are familiar with, which is that I am a second generation, and I grew up speaking Spanish at home, actually, but what we spoke at home was Spanglish,” Cruz told Telemundo.

‘One Texas,’ a PAC whose mission is “to change politics in our state engaging Latino voters and electing a new generation of Latino leaders” has released a video contrasting Cruz’s stance on Medicare, Social Security, and Dream Act against the views and interests of the Latino community. While doing so, the ad also highlighted Cruz’s lack of proficiency in Spanish.

COMMENT:  Disgraceful.  Just disgraceful.  It shows once again that many ethnic "leaders," and it applies to many ethnic communities, want to keep their followers down and in their place.  Any Hispanic who wants to see his community advance would be proud of Ted Cruz, whose legal career and accomplishments have been stellar.  Instead, some "leaders" stress that his Spanish isn't proficient enough, a common situation with second-generation Americans whose parents were devoted enough to make sure their kids learned the language of America, English. 

Ethnic leaders often want to keep their groups down because, if they made progress, they wouldn't need these leaders any longer.  Thus it is important for Hinojosa to ridicule Ted Cruz.  You see this tragedy in the black community all the time, with ambitious kids from good families accused of "goin' white" or not "keepin' it real." 

I suspect Hispanics are smart enough to see through this.  After all, it was Hispanic parents who broke the back of the racket known as "bilingual education" in California, whose real purpose was to make sure that Hispanic kids did not become proficient in English.  The parents demanded proficiency and ended the scandal that was run by "leaders" and leftist academics.

Ted Cruz is Hispanic.  He is American.  And he is great.

September 3, 2012