La Raza

Maggie Rodriguez Brings La Raza Perspective to CBS
By Kyle Drennen | July 14, 2009 | 4:53 PM EDT

Maggie Rodriguez, A cover story in the June edition of Latino Magazine, discussed CBS Early Show co-host Maggie Rodriguez’s efforts to "...educate her peers on how to be cognizant of Latino viewers, by pushing stories about Latinos that are of interest to all Americans, as well as informing them of more humane and respectful labels – such as undocumented immigrant instead of illegal alien."

The story, written by Aida Bardales, quoted Rodriguez: "All you have to do is to mention it to them. If I wasn’t here, they wouldn’t think twice because forever ‘illegal alien’ was used and they didn’t put a face to that term." It went on to praise Rodriguez’s reporting on the 2008 conference of the left-wing Hispanic group La Raza: "Though she’s careful to not force irrelevant stories upon her viewers, she does feel a need to include the Latino perspective. When she was invited to host the National Council of La Raza’s Annual Conference in 2008, she saw it as opportunity to share the experience with "The Early Show" viewers."

Earlier in the story, Rodriguez argued that her ethnic background actually made her a better reporter on certain issues: "As Hispanics [we] will always give a more accurate representation of a Hispanic story...just because we understand the language and are part of the culture. We have a unique understanding of the people that an Anglo would not have."

CNN's Analysis, Sotomayor a ‘Cautious and Careful Liberal,’ is Left Rhetoric Exemplified
By Warner Todd Huston | July 14, 2009 | 2:46 AM EDT

**Video Below the Fold**

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Senior Legal Analyst | NewsBusters.orgIf you want to see how liberals in the media “do” their thing, nothing has been a better example than the analysis by CNN’s Jeffery Toobin. We’ve highlighted some on-air work of his Sotomayor coverage, but he also has a written piece on CNN.com that is a perfect example of how the left spins rhetoric to legitimize leftist precepts.

In his July 13 piece, for instance, Toobin calls Sotomayor a “cautious and careful liberal” like Ginsburg and Breyer. So, it makes one wonder, has Toobin ever called anyone on the right a “cautious and careful conservative”?

Unprofessionalism at the Boston Herald: White Men Attacked
By Warner Todd Huston | May 29, 2009 | 2:59 AM EDT

Margery Eagan of the Boston Herald has done it again. She's unleashed her deathless prose filled with soaring rhetoric and high concepts all revealing her infinite sagacity. OK, that was just sarcasm. In truth, Eagan has given us another example of the sort of low-end, guttural, sputterings that we have become so used to seeing drip like sour milk from her pen. Her latest Boston Herald piece is a prime example of the unprofessionalism that pervades her work.

In a posting titled "Men in throes of Supreme panic," Eagan gets into her best name calling mode against all those eeeevil "white men" out there that might find reason to oppose President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a woman well known for positing that female Hispanics are inherently better judges than white men -- a sentiment that if reversed would be considered a racist statement.

Remember This When MSM Calls Biden a Moderate
By Mark Finkelstein | August 19, 2008 | 1:59 PM EDT
If Barack Obama is looking for an elder statesman with national security credentials as his running mate, my two cents say he should pick Sam Nunn. The conventional wisdom, though, has Obama leaning toward Joe Biden.  If the senior senator from Delaware is indeed tapped, we can expect that mere milliseconds will elapse before some MSM outlet labels Biden a "moderate" or a "centrist."  

We thought it might be useful to do a little prophylactic exploration of the Biden record.  Given his long tenure in the Senate, he's earned literally hundreds of interest-group ratings over the years. But here is a representative sample, as culled from the invaluable Project Vote Smart. Although his "grades" have of course varied from year to year, overall we find—surprise!—that Biden is a garden-variety  liberal.
  • NARAL - A [2006]
  • Planned Parenthood - A [2006]
  • National Right to Life Committee - 0% [2005-06]
  • National Taxpayers Union - F [2007]
Continues . . .
CBS’s Rodriguez: McCain ‘Maverick or Flip-flopper to Latinos?’
By Kyle Drennen | July 15, 2008 | 3:20 PM EDT

On Tuesday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Maggie Rodriguez aired her interview with John McCain that followed his Monday speech to the National Council of La Raza and teased the segment by asking: "Up next, Senator John McCain, a maverick or a flip-flopper to Latinos?" During the interview, Rodriguez, who hosted the liberal La Raza conference, pressed McCain from the left on his immigration stance: "You championed a comprehensive immigration reform bill. But now as the nominee you admit you wouldn't vote for it if it came up today. Why not?" [audio excerpt available here]

After McCain explained that the legislation had failed twice due to lack of popular support, Rodriguez wondered: "The fact that it failed, does that tell you that the American people didn't want it or that your party didn't want it?" Rodriguez then followed up by quoting Obama campaign talking points: "Some political analysts say, and in fact, Senator Obama made the comments here yesterday, that when you became the nominee, when you could no longer risk alienating your conservative base, you started emphasizing border security over a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. What about that?"

When McCain later suggested that: "Americans want the confidence that we'll have secure borders. And then I believe the overwhelming majority of them will support a humane and compassionate approach to temporary worker program and to a comprehensive immigration reform." Rodriguez responded: "But securing the border could take years. What if it never happens? When will you get to comprehensive immigration reform?"

CBS’s Maggie Rodriguez Hosts La Raza Conference
By Kyle Drennen | July 14, 2008 | 5:45 PM EDT

Maggie Rodriguez, CBS On Monday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Maggie Rodriguez reported from California and touted her role as emcee at the annual conference for the liberal Hispanic group La Raza: "The conference for the National Council of La Raza, the country's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group. Yesterday I hosted the luncheon in San Diego where Senator Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of thousands. Later today I will host the one where Senator McCain will be speaking."

At the top of the show, Rodriguez teased the segment by proclaiming: " Both John McCain and Barack Obama are reaching out to this voting bloc. And ahead this morning I'll tell you the 45 million reasons why they both covet the Hispanic vote." Later during the segment Rodriguez continued to emphasize the importance of the Hispanic vote: "From coast to coast, in countless corners of American cities, the Latino influence is undeniable. Latinos are the largest minority in this country. 45 million strong and growing. By 2050 that number's expected to almost triple to 128 million. And a growing Latino population means more influence for Latino voters."

Following that observation, Rodriguez played a clip of Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, praising past immigration protests in the Hispanic community: "In 2008 we're culminating on several years of activism and mobilization of the Latino community. Just look back two years ago, with the 2006 marches, where millions of people took to the streets, many of them young people, who said today we march, tomorrow we vote. Well, tomorrow has arrived."

Tribune Co. 'Chief Innovation Officer' Delivers More Laugh Lines
By P.J. Gladnick | May 25, 2008 | 8:57 AM EDT

I'll say one thing for the Tribune Company's new "Chief Innovation Officer," Lee Abrams. He might not be able to solve the declining newspaper circulation problems but he is absolutely irrepressible in a very funny way.

CBS Falsely Reports Rand Study on the Cost of Illegal Immigration
By Seton Motley | April 30, 2008 | 6:32 PM EDT

CBS Falsely Reports on Illegal Immigration | NewsBusters.orgAn April 7 CBS Evening News report on the health care monetary burden of illegal aliens on American taxpayers has just now drawn the ire and the fire of the two largest Hispanic grievance groups -- the National Council of La Raza (translation: "The Race") and the Mexican American Legal and Educational Fund (MAL (not Mos) DEF).

Byron Pitts' piece is fairly mild and pretty much down the middle of the fairway, and CBS News and their (for now) flagship girl Katie Couric deserve kudos for at least addressing the issue.

But the Latino Intolerance Duo (LID -- as in flipped their's) can not let stand unchallenged the reporting of the costs of the invasion. Pitts pointing out that someone somewhere (that would of course be us) must pick up the tab -- when the likes of Fabiola (the illegal alien mother featured in the story) does not -- is to them an "anti-Latino falsehood". They do not offer how or why something so obvious as this is either "anti-Latino" or a "falsehood" -- we are left to assume that their asserting it empirically makes it so.

On our end, there was bit of a bone to be picked with the Tiffany Network's numbers.

Absolut Vodka Ad Campaign Reconquers U.S. for Mexico
By Warner Todd Huston | April 3, 2008 | 9:23 AM EDT

NewsBusters.org | Absolut Reconquista adTaking the Reconquista concept all the way to the end, Absolut Vodka launched an ad campaign that appears on billboards and at least one magazine that features a map of the western U.S. and Mexico with nearly the entire west coast appearing as a part of Mexico. This ad appears in Quien Magazine, which is owned by Time Warner and also appears on billboards in Mexico. Quien claims a "total audience" of 513,000 readers in Mexico and the southwestern U.S.

The map covers what used to be Mexico's claimed borders before our 1846 war with them from which the U.S. took possession of California, Texas, New Mexico, etc. But, the ad shows those states as part of Mexico with the "Estados Unidos De America" situated to the north and east of the "Absolut World" Mexico.

In a day when immigration issues are incendiary between our two countries, Time Warner accepting ads that stirs Mexico's sentiments to "take back" parts of the U.S. (as the term Reconquista means) as their own territory is quite extraordinary.

Depriving Hannity, Dobbs, Glenn Beck of Free Speech Rights? No Worries at the NYT
By Clay Waters | February 1, 2008 | 2:37 PM EST

On the New York Times's political blog this morning, Ariel Alexovich reported in a very mild tone on a very shocking speech by National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia -- "A Call to End Hate Speech." By calling to end "hate speech" (an inflammatory phrase the Times doesn't put in quotation marks), Murguia means that anyone harshly criticizing illegal immigrants -- specifical

AP: La Raza Is Civil Rights Group, Minutemen Are Vigilantes
By Richard Newcomb | September 21, 2007 | 11:59 AM EDT

Can the Associated Press distinguish between racial supremacy groups and civil rights groups? Apparently not. AP writer Maria Sudekum Fisher covers the appointment of 73 year old Frances Semler to Kansas City's parks board, which Fisher opposes because Semler is a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. As Fisher writes,

Kansas City Star: La Raza Hispanic Activists More Desirable Than Patriot Minutemen?
By Warner Todd Huston | August 31, 2007 | 9:15 AM EDT

Which would you find more desirable in your community: a group that advocates to abide by U.S. law, or one that advocates to break U.S. law? Well, leave it to an American newspaper to present a story as if a member of a group that advocates for America is a less desirable person in the community than a member of a group that promotes ideas against America.