Memo From Middle America | Univision Exposé Of “Fast And Furious” Won’t Cause Obama To Lose The Hispanic Vote—And We Shouldn’t Want It To
10/10/2012
A+
|
a-
Print Friendly and PDF

U.S. Spanish-language network Univision’s September 30 exposé of the “Fast and Furious” outrage perpetrated by Eric “My People” Holder’s ATF has sparked a lot of admiration in Republican circles. Some Republicans gloat that it might cost Obama some Hispanic votes.

The headline on Greg Pollowitz’s National Review blog entry went so far to declare that Univision is the Future of American Journalism. Pollowitz addressed Univision with these ludicrous words:

…you have a huge, untapped market of conservative viewers desperate for any honest reporting about the Obama administration. Don’t let up on this and you will be rewarded with ratings.

Well, I certainly applaud any exposé of “Fast and Furious.” But I seriously question whether it will make much difference with the Hispanic vote, most of which is safely in the tank for Obama.

Fast and Furious was the Arizona-based operation in which weapons were deliberately allowed to be smuggled into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Fast and Furious ought to be a much bigger issue. The guns of Fast and Furious have killed hundreds of Mexicans, they’ve killed Americans including border agent Brian Terry, and others. And many suspect that one of the purposes of the operation was to discredit gun rights right here in the U.S.A. [Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal, by Katie Pavlich, Townhall.com, April 16, 2012]

Univision is the U.S. Spanish-language media giant. We’ve written about it numerous times here at VDARE.COM. The network’s star is blond Mexican Jorge Ramos, now  a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, who promotes the Hispanicization, not just of the Southwest, but of the whole U.S.A.

Univision’s September 30 Sunday night program Aquí y Ahora (“Here and Now”), was entitled Rapido y Furioso: Armando al Enemigo (“Fast and Furious, Arming the Enemy”).

The show was in Spanish, but you can watch with English-language subtitles here.

The Univision show was well-produced. It portrays the loss of life and the gore of those gunned down by weapons that the US government allowed to get into the hands of the cartels, and the grief of survivors.

Univision was quite critical of the ATF and interviewed dissident government agents. But it didn’t really zero in on Eric Holder. (In an earlier, completely separate Univision interview, Jorge Ramos did ask President Obama why he hadn’t fired Holder. See Obama slammed on Fast and Furious in Spanish-language TV interview: Shouldn’t you ‘fire’ Holder?, Daily Caller, September 20, 2012).

There wasn’t really a whole lot of new information in the Univision report. Yes, it did point out some additional connections, but the basic outline was already known. Still, the episode did portray vividly the violence in Mexico.

The major U.S. networks don’t pay much attention to Fast and Furious. According to the Media Research Center, on the day Univision ran its report, NBC, CBS and even ABC, an affiliate of Univision, had nothing to say about it. (ABC however, did have coverage on its website.) 

But it’s not correct to say that Univision is the first to report that Mexicans have been killed by Fast And Furious weapons. I pointed that out here: 'Fast and Furious' Guns and Bureaucrats' Cock-and-Bull Stories, Mexidata.info, December 12, 2011.

Armando al Enemigo did show a little footage of Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican congressman who has been the main voice in Congress calling the government to account over Fast and Furious. Issa is an immigration patriot, receiving an A grade  from Numbers USA.

But before Republican partisans blindly embrace Jorge Ramos, they should be aware of his agendas. One is gun control. Ramos began Armando al Enemigo complaining about gun sales in the U.S. and ended it with a dig at the Second Amendment. According to polling, most U.S. Latinos agree and support gun control.

But what about the claim that Univision’s exposé is going to hurt Obama’s Latino vote?—for example, Hispanic voters bailing over Fast and Furious Education News, October 2, 2012.

I see no evidence that it’s true. Matthew Boyle’s Daily Caller article, quoted by Education News, says:

The Operation Fast and Furious scandal may hurt President Barack Obama’s re-election chances with Hispanic voters in November, conservative group American Future Fund thinks. [My emphasis]

So it’s really just wishful thinking by this American Future Fund group, which is running Spanish-language ads seeking to use Fast and Furious to get Hispanics to vote Republican.

Latino Decisions reports that, based on polls conducted from September 15th to 27th, Romney looks to have about 23.3% of the Latino vote versus around 75% for Obama!

Color me skeptical, but I seriously doubt that when the next poll comes out, the Univision/Fast and Furious program is going to have much effect.

Most Hispanics vote for the Democrats for the benefits and because they identify more closely with the party. They simply don’t identify with the GOP.

Living in Mexico, I learned to my chagrin that the Republican Party doesn’t have a great reputation there.

And, to be frank, I don’t think most U.S. Latinos care enough about Fast and Furious to put a dent in Obama’s commanding lead.

But suppose it did happen? Isn’t that a double-edged sword?

Do we want Hispanics listening even more to Univision? It’s a separatist network encouraging Hispanics not to assimilate. It promotes the subversion of U.S. immigration law. Ultimately, it promotes the transformation of the historical American nation.

So maybe National Review is right about Univision being the future of American journalism—but not in the way it intended.

Fast and Furious is indeed an outrage, and Eric Holder should resign. But it’s important to point out that, even without Fast and Furious, there were already plenty of arms flowing into Mexico—and not all from the U.S.

The U.S.-Mexican border is porous because both the U.S. and Mexican governments want it like that. But it’s not just porous for the much-lionized illegal aliens crossing northwards—it’s also porous for drugs. And for arms moving southward.

Closing off the border would actually help Mexico—as well as saving our own country.

But that’s not what Jorge Ramos and Univision want.

Is it?

 American citizen Allan Wall (email him) recently moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual.  In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

Print Friendly and PDF