Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) on Tuesday slammed fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who he said has been “disrespectful” toward Latinos with recent disparaging comments about Mexican immigrants.
The following is a letter that Pataki sent the other GOP candidates as well as CC’d Donald Trump:
Dear Fellow Republican candidates for president,
“And some, I assume, are good people.”
The last week of news coverage over the language used by Donald Trump to describe Mexicans has left me and a lot of other sensible people wondering what century we are living in.
One hundred years ago, when Irish immigrants were coming to America, my grandmother among them, they were too often characterized as “drunks.” A few years later it was the Italian immigrants, my grandfather among them, who were called “mobsters” or worse, “dagos.” This type of divisive rhetoric is just wrong. It was wrong 100 years ago and it’s wrong today.
Yet here we are in 2015 and a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president is calling Mexicans criminals, rapists and drug dealers. This is unacceptable.
I understand we must secure our border and stop illegal immigration. But I also understand that it’s not some Mexicans who are good people, it is the vast majority of Mexicans, who came here to work, succeed and live the American Dream.
My fellow Republicans like to talk about how we have to appeal to the Latino vote if we are going to win back the White House. They speak some Spanish, boast about “telling it like it is,” or counsel to not be afraid to lose the primary to win the general – yet so far have been silent when it comes to denouncing these sad and divisive remarks.
The next President of the United States will represent all Americans. We won’t win by dividing Americans against one another and we certainly can’t govern effectively doing so. We must secure the border, save American jobs, and have a leader in the White House world leaders can respect.
But we also must have a leader in the White House all Americans can respect, not just some.
As Donald Trump doubles down, I’m asking you to join me in standing up. Stand up for our party, for the ideals that made America great, and stand for the basic decency and integrity entitled to every American, no matter their heritage or nationality.
Join me. Stand up now. Denounce his comments today.
Sincerely,
Governor George Pataki
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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3 Responses
Oh please. This loser is a carbon copy of McCain & Romney. Classic RINO. Still trying to get the left wing media to love him. You’re old news. Get out.
Mr. Pataki will not likely get my vote, because I cannot vote in the Republican primary, and he probably won’t get my vote in the general election, because (i) he will not be on the ballot, or (ii) I will find the Democratic candidate’s policy proposals more attractive than his, if he is on the ballot.
But he does get my respect for saying what needs to be said about his fellow Republican’s obnoxious, malicious comments. More leading candidates – of both parties – should denounce The Donald’s comments as Mr. Pataki did. (And for you folks who don’t understand the difference between Republicans’ and Republican’s, i.e., the plural possessive and the singular possessive, please note that I used the singular and thereby did not smear Republicans as a group – just the goofball with the implausible hair and candidacy.)
+1 for pataki
why should stereotyping latinos be any different than stereotyping any group of people, next could be jews