One interesting aspect is that the Castro twins, are as far as I can tell from searching out their long lost illegitimate father (a retired schoolteacher in San Antonio), are representative mestizo Mexican-Americans, which might (or might not) be important in a business where so many Hispanic celebrities are either almost all white or are significantly black, but are seldom notably mestizo.
But, weirdly, they look more sort of Filipino than Mexican.
Also, I’ve never seen an explanation of why Julian is the Anointed One rather than identical twin Joaquín. Perhaps a political consultant decided at some point that Joaquín’s name was too hard for Anglos to spell properly?
* Out of all the crazy things going on in our politics today this is the probably the most offensive & pathetic thing to date.
This man has no experience & with Clinton’s age could very well be POTUS of the USA. How cynical do you have to be to potentially saddle the country with the most unqualified POTUS ever?
This is a microcosm of the inanity of the modern democrat party where identity trumps merit or the well being of the country. I only hope they go down in flames this November. This is absolutely appalling.
* I doubt if Hispanic voters are going to be voting for people who say things like, “Mee casa, soo casa” whether in a broad Midwestern accent or like an authentic Mehikano.
I watch a little bit of Univision frequently, just to aid my comprehension, and I note three things: (1) being able to come to the US, or stay, or return, is an important plot point. (2) Bilingualism is also an issue, even showing up in commercials. (3) Despite the carrying on about Mestizos, the vast majority of the people on this network (which presumably caters to all Hispanoamericanos) look like they just got off a plane from Madrid.
This tells me that Spanish speakers in the US are (1) anxious about their status, (2) want to assimilate but also keep track of their roots, (3) aspire to be Spaniards.
The other thing I would note is that, unlike American television, virtually everyone is straight and looking to hook up with someone of the opposite sex. In addition, the women are always dressed to kill, and act that way, too. Say what you like, but it is refreshing.
* I haven’t watched any telenovelas recently, but — at least up until a few years ago — the standard plot-line was:
episode-1) Boy meets girl
episodes 2 – 25) Boy gets distracted by various sultry temptresses with heaving bosoms while girl gets distracted by various ultra-macho caballeros
episode-26) Boy and girl get married by a priest (or maybe even by the Bishop) in a grand colonial church with a lot of white doves fluttering around.
Hard to criticize, really.
* Another observation on Latin American TV: It’s dumber than a box of rocks. Seriously. I would say that the typical show is pitched at an IQ level of about 94-95. Watching it makes one long for the Anglo middlebrow.
* Telenovelas are aimed at about 85 IQ.
A nice popular comedy show like Chespirito or La Hora Pico is aimed at 95.
Cantinflas used to be aimed at 105 IQ if you wanted to get most of the jokes. His old comedies are still great.
But most popular American TV isn’t exactly The Wire or Arrested Development either.
* You’re being charitably generous with your target audience IQ estimates. But the real 190 IQ stuff comes into play with don Fernando’s Sábado Gigante variety show on Univision. Don Fernando is an uber successful Jewish Chilean national TV personality who has parlayed a gift of babaso gab into a mega fortune entertaining 80 IQ Mesoamericans whilst playing grab-ass on stage with some of the hottest Hispanic hotties to be found anywhere.
* Castro has the gayface. He’s the Hispanic Lindsey Graham.
* Why wasn’t Villaretardo in the mix? Couldn’t climb down off a Telemundo reporter long enough to qualify?
* If Hillary picks Castro, you’ll know right away that she’s learned nothing and doesn’t have it anymore. Lots of Democratic advisors believe the same nonsense that Republicans who wanted Rubio did. If Hillary can’t outthink them, she’s going nowhere.
To win the election, Hillary just needs to seize a couple swing states. Even against Trump, her most dangerous challenge, she needs only one or two with her structural advantages in Electoral College. Pick Sen. Warner or Sen. Kaine and she has Virginia locked down. Against any Republican but Trump, that’s the election right there. Absolutely none of them can win without Virginia and those guys really know how to carry Virginia. (Both have been really popular governors before the Senate.)
Sure, they’re unfashionable old white men, but they’ll win the election for her.
Against Trump, Booker initially seems like a possible candidate, but I’m pretty sure you can’t motivate the Black vote in America by picking a gay Black man. Black voters haven’t yet read the memo about how Democrats must venerate the gays above all else.
Trump might put PA or even MI or WI or NJ into play to overcome VA. Still, locking down VA makes Trump’s job much harder.
* This silly article demonstrates that the growing disconnect between the various elites in this country and the mass of ordinary people has reached intimidatingly dangerous levels. Historically, this kind of divide has been a harbinger of revolution.
* Don’t go see the movie Brooklyn unless you want to get very sad about how nice things used to be. The America of that time was like the beautiful young Irish lass with sparkling eyes. In a short time America turned into an ugly, old, decrepit Red Foxx telling vulgar jokes.
* I wonder how many times Steve had to interrupt the writing of this piece to laugh out loud at the prospect of–Did I read the name correctly: Julian CASTRO??–as Lady MacRodham’s veep. Steve, I commend you for your professionalism in being able to purse your lips, grit your teeth, suppress a snicker and forge ahead.
* I know nothing of Cory Booker other than Wikipedia.
At 46, he never married, and dates Gayle King (61 year old), Oprah Winfrey’s best friend. Gayle King’s Wikipedia page does not mention Booker at all.
A few minutes ago, I showed Booker’s photo to three of my blue collar African-American male employees. They immediately said he was gay because of his soft face and lack of facial hair. Conversation went down hill from there.
* Half of me thinks this is an affected thing for her [Sarah Palin]. If you’ll recall, she didn’t speak in that manner when she was first picked from relative obscurity by McCain – most notably, her RNC speech sent a shiver down the Democrats’ spines (imagining they had spines). She’s sort of adopted the persona of the parodic, SNL version of herself. My theory is that the attacks against her (which, if you recall, were horrendous and media-led) made her cynical and limited any further political career advancement. At the same time, when people attacked her, they were also attacking the broad swath of America and specifically the women who identify with her. She realized that she could monetize this phenomenon and thereafter the cookier, malapropist Palin emerged precisely because it attracted the sneering condescension of the elites. It forms the basis of her ongoing popularity, which she has managed to extend well beyond the short time horizon other losing VP candidates have enjoyed (cf. Lieberman and Edwards, for example).
So, in effect she’s playing a character that the elites love to hate, thus keeping her in the spotlight, and her constituency (feeling, rightly, insulted themselves by proxy) come to her defense at which time she can sell them reality TV shows and books. She’s managed to become very wealthy by way of politics without even spending very much time in the perfunctory elected governmental jobs that usually come before the wealth. She lifehacked politics.
* You ever get the feeling the old progressive/liberal Wasp and Jewish elite finds the intellectual and political mediocrity of POC an unambiguous feature, despite such embarrassments as the Castros? Despite stepping right into our bizarre ethno-political set-up, they are inept at organizing and advocating for themselves. Their imagined place is an inferior one, in a one-party America run by, our elites imagine, their grandchildren.
Charles Manson thought he’d provoke a race war in the Sixties, and when blacks took over but found themselves unable to govern he and his hippies would emerge from the desert to run things for them. Basically the Democratic Party’s plan for the next twenty years. God help us.
