WASHINGTON — First lady Jill Biden has apologized for comparing the diversity of Latinos to that of breakfast tacos, a comment that drew widespread derision, and not just from Republicans eager to embarrass the White House.
“The diversity of this community — as distinctive as a bodega in the Bronx, as beautiful as the colors of Miami and as unique as breakfast tacos here in San Antonio — is your strength,” she said Monday in San Antonio at a conference of UnidosUS, a large gathering of Latino advocates and leaders. “Yet when you speak with one voice…unidos– that you will find your strength.”
Unlike some of her husband’s more egregious gaffes, the taco comment was scripted — included in the prepared text released by her office before she began speaking at the Grand Hyatt Riverwalk.
The Republican buildup was relentless.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican whose father emigrated from Cuba, retweeted a video clip of Biden’s comment with a hilariously funny remark, followed by three taco emojis: “Personally, I’m chorizo, egg and cheese.”
The party’s campaign posted an image of Dr. Biden in a hail of tacos with the tagline “Taco Tuesday.”
“The First Lady apologizes that her words expressed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community,” her spokesman Michael LaRosa said Tuesday morning on Twitter.
The first lady apologizes that her words expressed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosa46) July 12, 2022
But not only the partisans punished the first lady.
“Using breakfast tacos in an attempt to showcase the uniqueness of Latinos in San Antonio demonstrates a lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity,” the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said in a statement. “We’re not tacos. Our heritage as Latin Americans is shaped by different diasporas, cultures and food traditions and should not be reduced to a stereotype.”
Some defended the comment as an unsophisticated attempt to pay respect to the diversity of the 62 million Latinos in the United States and criticized Republicans for feigning anger over a fake.
UnidosUS’ annual conference was titled “Siempre Adelante: Our Quest for Justice.”
The taco comparison overshadowed her disfigurement the gringa mispronunciation of the term for small neighborhood grocery stores (she said “BOW-guh-dahs,” mixing up the syllables and stress, instead of “bow-DAY-guhs”).
Some Republicans complained that the media did not take Dr. Biden’s insult seriously enough, arguing that the uproar would have been much greater if a Republican had said such a thing.
Conservative comedian and writer Tim Young called the fact that it wasn’t “repealed,” a sign of “liberal privilege.”
It’s liberal privilege for Jill Biden to tell a group of Hispanics that they’re “as diverse as breakfast tacos” and that they won’t be impeached because of it. pic.twitter.com/VlaISXy8Pl
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 11, 2022
“Trump ate a taco bowl on Cinco De Mayo and they freaked out for YEARS,” tweeted Matt Whitlock, a Republican strategist, recalling Donald Trump’s tweet during the 2016 campaign, a photo of him enjoying the taco bowl on his desk with the message: “The best taco bowls are made at Trump Tower Grill. I love the Spanish!”
“We welcome Jill Biden back to Texas so she can continue to remind us how out of touch the Biden administration is,” said Macarena Martinez, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee.
“I want to thank you for showing everyone what absolute racists you, your husband and your party are. You are absolutely disgusting,” tweeted Irene Armendariz-Jackson, the GOP challenger hoping to unseat Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso.
First Lady Jill Biden, left, hosts Mexican First Lady Beatriz Gutierrez Mueller on a tour of the Library of Congress on July 12, 2022. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) Taco Haven Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio with Taco Torres (front ), Haven taco (right), and chorizo and egg taco (back). (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
NAHJ encourages @FLOTUS and her communications team to take the time to better understand the complexities of our people and communities.
We are not tacos.
Our heritage as Latin Americans is shaped by different diasporas, cultures and food traditions.
Don’t reduce us to stereotypes. pic.twitter.com/KQIq5gwsht
— NAHJ (@NAHJ) July 12, 2022
Later on Tuesday morning, Dr. Biden accompanied the first lady of Mexico, Dr. Beatriz Gutiérrez Mueller de López Obrador, on a visit to the Library of Congress, while their spouses met in the Oval Office.
During eight years as second lady and 18 months as first lady, Dr. Biden largely avoided the verbal gaffes that have been something of a signature for President Joe Biden during his five decades in Washington.
To a great extent, but not entirely.
In April 2021, she destroyed the C clichéí se puede! during a speech to farmworkers in California honoring labor leader Cesar Chavez, as some of those who mocked her for the taco comment recalled on social media: “Cesar Chavez understood that no matter the obstacles, when people come together, united in one cause, anything is possible. Yes, we can. Sí se pwodway!” she said.
“Pwodway” is not a word in Spanish or English.
But she’s hardly the first first lady to say or do something that prompts the White House to send in a cleanup crew.
In 1998, Hillary Clinton attributed reports of Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, to some “broad right-wing conspiracy,” a claim that would forever haunt her own political career.
During the 2008 campaign, future first lady Michelle Obama told a rally in Milwaukee that “for the first time in my life as an adult, I’m really proud of my country — and not just because Barack did well, but because I I think people are hungry for change.”
When Melania Trump boarded a flight to McAllen, Texas, in June 2018 to visit an immigrant child detention center, she wore a military-style coat with large graffiti on the back that read, “I really don’t care. Do you make?
Related: Melania’s ‘I Really Don’t Care’ Jacket Causes Uproar Trump Says He’s Trolling ‘Fake News’
President Trump insisted she was trolling “fake news” rather than projecting disinterest in migrant children. She backed him up on this days later.
But Stephanie Grisham — a senior aide to the first lady at the time and later White House press secretary — recounted in a book that the president called his wife into the Oval Office when she returned from South Texas and asked, “What what the hell were you thinking?
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