Republican Mayor Joe Maturo is going to wrap a healing tortilla around the meat, cheese, tomato, onion and salsa of divisiveness and discrimination in his city:
Latinos in East Haven, Conn. say they have lived in fear of local authorities for years. However, a feeling of shock and relief came Tuesday after news broke of the arrests of four rogue police officers who are accused of systematically targeting Latinos with unlawful search and seizures, traffic stops and even physical abuse.
Despite the indictments for race-fueled attacks on the community, East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo added more fuel to the fire Tuesday by saying he “might have tacos” as his first step to repair relations with the Latino community.
Watch the video to see a real moron in action.
Woodrowfan
and yes, he is a Republican.
Villago Delenda Est
@Woodrowfan:
I am shocked, shocked!, to learn of this.
The Other Bob
The mayor has now provided evidence that the cop’s actions started at the top.
jeffreyw
Tacos sound good…
Yevgraf
Lemme guess – he’ll get them from Taco Bell, since he won’t want to buy the authentic ones from a tacqueria (because they’ll be put together by dirty Mexicans).
By the way – if I don’t make ’em at home, I ALWAYS get them from the Tacqueria. they’re the shizzle.
Try the pastor sometime. And one of these days, i’ll adventure and try out the tripas.
MattF
Maybe he should consider self-deportation, to, like, Bridgeport.
Yevgraf
Hey, anybody else getting ColombianCupid.com ads on the side? I’m tempted to click – they look great….
jonas
To show he’s down with the Black residents of the town, he’s going to have fried chicken and watermelon tomorrow night. And to salute Italians, an organ grinder with a big, cheerful black mustache and a fun pet monkey will entertain kids in front of city hall on Tuesdays and Fridays.
c u n d gulag
Mayor:
“Shit, now the Jews are bitching too, so I guess I’ll have to make it a kosher taco – or, put some salsa on my bagel.”
What an amazing asswipe.
Mudge
More sociopathy. They have simplistic, jingoistic ways to deal with everything outside of their greed and self-importance. They have a concept of “those people” instead of “us”. Hence, he employs the “I’ll show solidarity by eating a taco” scheme.
His police deaprtment seems to be ahead of the curve on Romney’s self-deportation tactics, maybe he’ll next propose using the latino children as janitors in the schools.
Yevgraf
@jonas:
Actually, since he is in New England, he’ll celebrate Italians with spaghetti – the sauce consisting of hamburger and a can of crushed tomatoes with the barest hint of oregano so as not to upset his delicate tummy. After that, he’ll have something bland to let his system rebound to its former state.
I’m married to a Connecticut girl. Its taken years to get her to accept the fact that food can be a pleasurable experience with spice and nuance.
The Moar You Know
Poor fuckers. Years of police abuse, then they’re subjected to some white boy East Coast Mexican food.
maya
Maturo is an Italian American in a heavily IA town political climate. IA’s themselves have a gripe about a slur delivered by none other than Rushbo regarding Corzine’s hair being slicked down with ” Italian greaseball sixteen” at the senate hearings.
Maybe the Latinos and IAs of East Haven could get together and beat up on some Greeks for healing? I’m sure the blahs were driven out long ago. What a country.
Satanicpanic
I know I would feel better about being targeted by racist police if my mayor ate the stereotypical food of choice of my ethnic group.
d0n camillo
You can almost smell the booze on his breath.
Bulworth
OT but a Sully reader on last night’s Mitch Daniels SOTU response:
Shed a tear. Daniels.
Gin & Tonic
@Yevgraf: The taco trucks have been a fixture right off one of the I-95 exits in New Haven for years. Good and cheap, and right on the waterfront. So he doesn’t have to go far.
Brachiator
Sounds bad, but aren’t we supposed to ask what might be in his heart?
60th Street
I imagine a future where laughing schoolchildren raised on proper and inclusive civics, diversity and tolerance crowd around a kiosk at the Smithsonian that rolls random and seemingly endless fail videos of the long deceased Republican Party.
Internet video has killed the GOP.
kc
Connecticut, eh? Remember that next time y’all start hating on South Carolina.
fasteddie9318
@The Moar You Know:
I think you misunderstand Mayor Maturo. He’s not going to eat tacos with the Latinos; he’d get sick to his stomach eating a meal with those vermin. No, he’s just going to eat a couple of tacos on his own, for supper. For the children.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, in honor of Mayor Maturo’s proud heritage, I’m off to eat a meatball and sausage sandwich, pick up some cannoli, and whack Paulie down by the causeway. Va fangul, stronzi.
The Moar You Know
You see the younger version of this asswipe coming over the walk-through at San Ysidro every weekend. They’re drunk on
radiator fluid“tequila”, usually high on overpriced oxycontin from the farmacias, they’re toting sombreros and Chinese made “Mexican” blankets, and they’re yelling at each other about wetbacks and maid service, blissfully ignorant that pretty much every Mexican who lives within a hundred miles of the border is perfectly fluent in English.The Southwest is full of Mexican families who were working on their fourth generation when the Mayflower landed. The least fuckwads like this can do is show some fucking respect.
Cat Lady
Maturo ain’t exactly a Pilgrim name either.
Cat Lady
Maturo ain’t exactly a Pilgrim name either.
Comrade Mary
He kind of apologized later. Yeah, maybe he was tired after a long sequence of interviews, but man, that kind of WTFuckery stream of consciousness makes Mel Lastman look good. (Well, no. That comment by Lastman was reprehensible.)
What this mayor does look like is totally incapable of monitoring his speech, reconsidering his idiocy or backing off in the moment. That fucking speech and tangle of self-justification went on for FOUR minutes.
nancydarling
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/jan/24/images-rifle-crosshairs-found-senators-office-door/#comments
Arkansas has not cornered the market on political terrorism.
Senyrodave
Make sure that you actually watch the video. This guy is fucking awesome in his stupidity. Even if I had ever voted for him, I would never ever vote for this guy. I’m writing this as I’m listening, and he’s actually stupider and stupider. It’s astonishing!
wasabi gasp
I think he should be a pinata instead.
lacp
I dunno…he didn’t actually say he was planning on eating tacos, did he? I mean, maybe it’s more a two-wet-suits-and-a-taco type thing.
Roger Moore
@Yevgraf:
You have to go for the lengua, too. You can’t beat that with a stick.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
Objection, your honor! Assumes facts not in evidence, nor very likely ever to be in evidence.
Brian R.
More like Immaturo, am I right?
High five!
tkogrumpy
I think this asswipe should seriously consider having his vocal cords surgically removed.
nancydarling
You have to scroll down for the story in the link at #26. The gist: Rifle crosshair stickers were put on the office doors of 4 Democratic State Senators in Missouri.
Brian K
Funnily enough, there is a great taco bar called Tacuba in Branford, which the next town up 95 North. Jallapano Heaven (also in Branford), is your other solid option but comes off as the kind of place a racist cracker like this would go to.
Personally though, if I’m in East Haven, I’m going to head down to the Sushi Palace in Orange, which is hands down the best sushi on the shore.
ferry
@The Moar You Know:
There were a couple good taco trucks in New Haven. I would usually hit up the one on long wharf for some tasty street tacos.
Also, I’m laughing at the statement in the article that the latino population of east haven is small. I used to live there and I can tell you that is certainly not true.
gregor
Give the guy a break. Living in East Haven, CT is punishment enough. Being the mayor of the armpit of the New Haven area, with such stiff competition from New Haven, is like living on the death row.
Linda Featheringill
I could stay with the mayor for only about 30 seconds. What a jerk! And he probably doesn’t realize that he’s being a jerk. Or maybe he needs his medication adjusted.
WereBear
I think the condescension is coming from the heart.
chopper
somebody ask him if the salsa was ‘made in new york city’.
Mark S.
Some good news:
And that’s why Texas might be in play.
The Moar You Know
I gotta fixate on something else, but this guy and his shitbag town are sticking in my craw. I’ve lived around Mexicans my entire life. I’ve never understood why so many people have an issue with them. The worst thing I can say about them is that they’re a Republican’s wet dream; religious, conservative, male-dominated, quiet, believe sincerely that rich people deserve all they have and then some…I just don’t get the hate.
Undeservedly lost in the outrage about the mayor comments is the far more outrageous actions of his police officers. Those fuckers should get the chair.
Tom
Boy, that’s just the best thing I’ll see all day. Good job by the reporter for not letting him off the hook.
serge
I think that you do a disservice to morons everywhere to place that label on this waste of DNA.
MosesZD
Even more amazing are all the racist yahoos supporting the police and the mayor and bashing the victims. In case any of them make it over here… FBI agents are also police and they do not go out of their way to ‘witch-hunt’ other cops over trivial things.
But they will crack down on the Crooks Behind Badges.
FormerSwingVoter
Heh. A side-note, I suppose, but it’s rather telling that the very idea of repairing the relationship with the Latino community had literally never occurred to him.
jibeaux
“Look, I am serious about repairing relations here. In addition to tacos, I am willing to wear a large hat and dance to La Cucaracha. I will watch Three Amigos, a highly enjoyable film. I will EAT THE WORM, dammit.”
Polar Bear Squares
Just moved from New Haven, which isn’t that far from East Haven.
Whatta fuckin’ asshole.
Eoin
@kc: Both sides do it.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@Comrade Mary: Sadly, Toronto’s current mayor makes Mel look like Lester Pearson
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120634–mayor-rob-ford-compares-rival-councillors-to-soviet-union-s-joseph-stalin
Bubblegum Tate
@gregor:
My thoughts exactly. Even fucked-up New Haven gets to rip on ‘Staven.
rlrr
Joe Maturo can wash down those tacos with some rum…
Tom
In fairness, everyone remembers Lydon Johnson’s famous Fried Chicken dinners during the integration of Alabama’s schools.
evinfuilt
He really gives us gringos a bad name.
daveNYC
@FormerSwingVoter: Hell, I bet the idea of Latinos period never entered his mind. It’s all us vs. them, and the ‘them’ are all quasi-mythical stereotyped creatures that never get out of the mental blind spot unless someone asks a direct question about them.
@kc: I’ve got more than enough hate that I can afford to split it between multiple states.
Tacos!
deep
“Mi amigo, such is our fate. But do not think I am el villano, no, no, no. We are chicken and beef, you and I ! Both are muy delicioso, pero only one may fill the taco.”
Gunga Dean
What a jackass! I keep trying not to make gross generalizations that all Republicans are sociopathic, bigoted jackasses, but I am continually hard pressed to find evidence otherwise.
Cris (without an H)
Get a rope.
Svensker
He remembers when people of an Italian background were considered “ethnic”. Apparently “ethnic” is code for “undesirable wog monkey.”
The mafiosi who were running Hoboken NJ in the 80s/90s (maybe they still are) all made sure that Hispanics/blacks were at the bottom of the totem pole in town. The mobsters ran the government and the schools (their own kids went to the Catholic schools), the Hispanics and blacks lived in the projects and were allowed to be school aides and maids, but not janitors — they could never get a union job in town. A friend of mine was Puerto Rican married to an Irish guy and she used his name — she got a job in the school district but when they discovered she was Hispanic they did everything they could to force her out. It was astonishing.
Maybe the mayor is related to those folks.
Dr. Loveless
What? Ecuadorians don’t eat tacos? Hoocoodanode?
scav
Makes one rather wonder what Obama could eat for lunch in order to settle that “bipartisanship” problem for once and all.
Mike in NC
Nikki Haley blew off an MLK Day event in the capital of SC in order to leave town and address a group of Tea Party loons that were worried about voter ID fraud.
Maybe she’ll do penance by ordering up some Soul Food?
wjm41259
@Brachiator:
cholesterol likely
Gin & Tonic
@scav: To eat Republican? How about a ham sandwich, on white, with mayo [cue the story about NYC mayor and uber-WASP John V. Lindsay.]
Pococurante
@Mark S.:
Actually “most” of our Latinos are pretty conservative. You’ll remember Rick Perry’s almost reasonable comments on immigration…
Waldo
In honor of the mayor, I might smoke some dope tonight.
scav
@Gin & Tonic: Pork (aka the other white meat) on white (so long as it’s that really rubbery squishy stuff) with bottled mayo. Color scheme: Check. Side of Freedom with that?
Mark S.
@Pococurante:
These aren’t bad numbers.
Gin & Tonic
@scav: A glass of milk, please.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
in jim crow east haven, policemen host mayor’s balls.
Benjamin Franklin
@Waldo:
Tahhhhhcos !
scav
@Gin & Tonic: Coming up, with one fly in it, as per.
Benjamin Franklin
@Cris (without an H):
I found a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn circa 1973. Corn tortillas came from a can, and pricey to boot.
Jess
@scav: And absolutely no spicy french mustard.
Svensker
@Gin & Tonic:
Miracle Whip, please.
handsmile
But wait, it gets better….
Three minutes or so into the clip, when pressed by the reporter as to what other measures other than culinary diplomacy Hizzoner will pursue for the Latino community of East Haven, he emphasized that he’s “making sure that our Latino community can move around town.”
Evidently, the free movement of Latino residents on East Haven’s streets had been under threat or perhaps proscribed in some way. After all, not everyone is as enlightened as Mayor Maturo, aka by some as “that wop.” Rather than a stone-cold ignorant bigot, he might well be a civil rights champion!
As it is, the Mayor is well on his way to being a national laughingstock. Why his comments even earned him the attention of CNN’s “Starting Point” this morning. No doubt another example of the liberal media “twisting words” and “taking things out of context.” Hey, didn’t he say he might eat spaghetti instead!
But as the highest elected official of East Haven said to the local reporter: “Take your best shot!”
Gin & Tonic
@Svensker: Guy who ran a mailing list I read a long time ago called that “death slime.”
Robert waldmann
I just don’t want to hear what Joe Immaturo has to say.
lacp
Mayor Micturato?
Faux News
Who the hell voted for this clueless, douchebag, bigot? When da mayor Maturo is frog marched out of city hall by the Federal agents then I will have a nice lasagne dinner that night! I would love to rag on East Have. Unfortunately I born and raised in New Britain. So it’s best for me not to throw that stone :-)
freelancer
Is this an outtake from a Christopher Guest film?!
GregB
Perhaps we can mail this prick some crackers.
jefft452
@MattF: “Maybe he should consider self-deportation, to, like, Bridgeport.”
none of that, we dont want his kind here
scott (the other one)
I think we need to give props to the reporter who, very much unlike our national mainstream media stenographers, actually thinks on his feet and challenges the mayor on his statements. We need to give him props because with his actions in this clip, he’s ensured he’ll never move up to a major market. The troublemaker.
newhavenguy
@Bubblegum Tate:
Thanks for shitting on New Haven when it’s down, really. May you get a flat tire on Orchard and Edgewood.
Sorry, that was obligatory. (And without real venom. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna shoot you. Haha, a New Haven joke!)
Seriously, though- I have been thinking a lot lately about what it was like growing up here, and what it meant if anything. East Haven all over the local papers reminds me of one of the big things.
I still remember how shocked I was by the truly vicious racism I heard and saw just about every day the first time I lived anywhere else. How naive I was, at least in that way, until I was 20-21.
Before I was eighteen I’d already had a couple friends murdered over stupid shit and/or money, one of them close. I had very respectable dope connections for a kid: though just a pothead for the most part, there were a lot of people I could call if I wanted weight, a few 8-balls, shitty adulterated heroin, pills, etc.
Didn’t even like the stuff, but I knew maybe five guys to go to for sheets of acid. (I still find it hard to believe that anyone even did LSD by the late ’80s.) I had a handful of friends who drifted into being street crackheads, some of whom have happily made it back. There’s more, but I’m starting to sound like Jim Frey.
I grew up relatively soft/middle-class and have no intention of pretending otherwise. But this stuff was all around me. Also, it is hard to overstate what crack did to this and many other cities c.1985-1989. Bad times, I shivered a little bit just typing that.
I’m glad I grew up here, though. Honestly, the biggest reason for that is that I didn’t get my mind poisoned with that race hate shit that has so horribly deformed our history, our politics, our past and our present. I try to thank the Folks for that every now and then, but it wasn’t just their fault I was robbed of the racial consciousness that men like Rockwell, Atwater, Duke and Ailes hold so dear.
The first time I ever even saw loudmouth racists was during the brief and ill-fated Nazi skinhead invasion in the early ’80s. I was a little young to be out bashing fascists, but I am still proud of my city and its misfit kids for that. Someone should write a book about it, but for now the anecdote of two Nazi teenagers getting stabbed and thrown off a bridge by some Puerto Rican guys with a dozen local skinheads pointing and laughing will have to do.
There are and were racists here too (duh) but they watch their damn manners for the most part. It it is entirely possible to live, work, etc. here without having to deal with asshole white people telling me watermelon jokes because they assume I’ll laugh because of our special White bond.
None of the incomplete bio is meant as a sob story, just trying to set a context. You’d think for all that, a N[redacted]R joke or two wouldn’t have fucked with my young mind so much. I still remember the first one, and I was just dumbfounded. Had no idea how I was supposed to react- thought for a crazy second my friend was making some kind of super-subtle anti-racist joke, even. (Wrong-O!)
Shorter:
New Haven has more than its share of thugs with guns, brutal gangs both sociopathic and tribal.
In East Haven, people like that have badges and authority.
Also, New Haven ain’t so bad. There is a lot to fear here, but much to love also.
Sorry for the verbosity, kids. Working out some related issues myself, and my 50 minute hour is up. Thanks, and yes I know that paying my bill on time is part of the therapy.
Cheers, all.