John Kasich likes Hispanics so much that he tips his hotel maid.
At least, that’s the message the Ohio governor communicated the day after the CNN Republican presidential debate when he talked about Hispanic outreach at a country club in Irvine, California.
“I look at our friends in the Latino community as people that ought to be voting Republican,” he said. “I mean, they’re very strong family. We can all learn a little bit from them about the importance of family, couldn’t we, ’cause they are great, they are god-fearing, hard-workin’ folks.”
Then, unfortunately, he kept talking.
“And, um, and a lot of them do jobs that they’re willing to do,” he continued. “That’s why in the hotel you leave a little tip.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, some of the Hispanics Kasich loves were not particularly impressed.
“The comment lacks history, a sense of how important immigrants are to our economy, and vision where immigrants are more than just ‘the help,’” Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, told the paper.
The next day, Kasich’s team emailed out a video titled “John Kasich: The Reasonable Adult.”