Quote Of The Day: Racism Ploy Edition

"Because of the fact I am Mexican, they think I have to sleep under a cactus and eat from taco stands."
-- Former CA Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez

Forgive me for not putting all the little accent squiggles over Nunez' last name; I do it at the risk of being called racist.

Nunez has rightfully earned quite a reputation as a big-time spender while heading up the state assembly -- not just the usual tax-gouging we've come to expect from Dems, but also the illegal spending of his campaign funds on lavish trips, nice hotels and fine food and drink. He's been catching a heap of criticism for that, so when asked about it on a Spanish TV station, he unloaded, as quoted in the SacBee:

"Everyone's done it like this," Núñez said of previous legislative leaders. "The difference is there are some in politics who want to judge me in a certain manner. Because of the fact I am Mexican, they think I have to sleep under a cactus and eat from taco stands.

"What's a luxury hotel? A stay at a Sheraton? … I am, you could say, like a head of state. I'm the leader of the Assembly of the state of California. Where am I supposed to sleep?"

The "everyone's done it" defense is one that really rings true, isn't it? "I confess ... but ..." It hardly addresses the $47,000 he spent on plane fares, or the the more than $5,000 at a wine cellar in France, and certainly not the more than $2,500 in campaign funds he dropped for "office expenses" at Vuitton.

Another prominent California Hispanic, Hector Barajas, communications director of the California Republican Party, called out Nunez:

"Questioning someone's expenses, especially when they're in public office, is something the public should do."

And trying to hide under a brown cover is simply despicable.