Opinion: In today’s pages: the Villaraigosa affair, the Catholic ‘divorce’
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Columnist Gregory Rodriguez thinks the media has gone loco for stereotypes when it comes to covering Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s affair with Telemundo anchorwoman Mirthala Salinas:
After hearing that Salinas had dated two other Mexican American politicians, Fabian Núñez and Alex Padilla, Times columnist Steve Lopez joked that the three men were playing a game of ‘¿Quién Es Más Macho?,’ a phrase comedian Bill Murray came up with on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in a 1979 takeoff on Latino stereotypes. Because — heh, heh — you know what they say about those Latin men. I’m surprised no newspaper ran a cartoon of the mayor sporting a pencil mustache, a Zorro mask and a rose clenched between his teeth. Would all this winking ethnic innuendo be tolerated if it were applied to, say, Anglo, black or Jewish politicians?
Sheila Rauch Kennedy explains how, when her husband Joseph Kennedy II won an annulment after twelve years of marriage, she fought the Catholic Church and won. Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) rails against the governor’s raid on transportation funds, and columnist Niall Ferguson explores the subprime lending market’s impact on the global economy.
The editorial board urges Congress to get ethics reform back on track, and asks the state legislature to think twice before cutting adoption assistance. The board writes appreciatively of DJ Eduardo ‘Piolín’ Sotelo for shifting his mission from immigration reform to citizenship drives.
Letter writers react to Bush’s attempt to smooth rifts in the Republican party over Iraq. Jerry Small of Venice puts it bluntly: ‘Bush is not ‘supporting our troops.’ He is killing our troops.’