LUCIO DECLARES SELF PALADIN OF U.S. HISPANICS

"Lucio said he would be researching what Gingrich said because he has not seen the offending remarks come directly out of his mouth."  Steve Taylor in the Rio Grande Guardian


By Juan Montoya
Even though he admits that he has not personally heard Republican presidential nominee front runner Newt Gingrich speak eveil of his fellow Hispanics and their language and culture, Texas Sen. Eddie Lucio is making like the Cowardly Lion saying he will campaign across the Southwest to urge Republicans to defeat his bid.
"Put 'em up, Newt. Put 'em up," you could literally hear Eddie challenging the former Speaker of the U.S. House.

One could just imagine Lucio's wrath(?) echoing across the hustingas as he gets ready to seek reelection.

Lucio, D-Brownsville, is going on his 21st year representing District 27 in South Texas which includes all of Cameron County, a slice of Hidalgo, and the empty stretches of farmland in Kleberg and Kenedy counties, told the Guardian's Steve Taylor that he was "outraged" by remarks Gingrich reportedly made about the Spanish language.

In 2007, Gingrich told the National Federation of Republican Women that that Spanish is the “language of living in the ghetto.” In the speech, he blasted bilingual education and the law that allows states to use more than one language on ballots and other government documents. In Texas and other states across the southwest, English and Spanish are used.

“We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English ... so they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich famously said.

Lucio, in his best West Texas drawl so alien to his poverty-stricken constituents, he said he was "deeply offended that anyone who wants to be president of this country, a country of immigrants, a country that was formed by taking Mexican land to begin with, would utter such comments,” Lucio told Taylor.

During the current presidential campaign, Gingrich has recanted, putting out a video in Spanish that says, “The words I chose to express myself with were not the best.” He is currently ahead in a number of opinion polls among Republican presidential hopefuls.

Gingrich’s apology is not good enough for Lucio, a fifth generation American.

“"I will start blasting away. I will campaign in Texas, in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, all the states that have high numbers of Latinos, in opposition to Newt Gingrich,” Lucio said.

“How dare Gingrich say Spanish is the language of the ghetto? It is a slap in the face for anyone of Hispanic origin,” Lucio said. “Spanish is the loveliest language around, a most beautiful language, if you speak it well. I want to make sure everyone in the world knows what he said.

Now, we at El Rrun-Rrun don't know what the rest of our three readers will think of Eddie drawing his six-shooters and taking a bead on Gingrich, but we must say that this bombast is not at all characteristic of Lucio, who is best content to use his public position to milk the lobbyists for all the loot he can. Whether you want to build a prison, an international bridge, or any other structure within his reach, he will suddenly appear as a paid consultant to contractors building (or not building) the boondoggles.

He is currently pushing for the construction of a second causeway to South Padre Island, a multi-million dollar undertaking pushed by the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority. If we were him, we wouldn't go off running after Newt across the desert wastes of the Southwest to defend our honor while the possibility exists that he may get a slice of the pie while the taking is good.