That Awkward Chimichanga Business

Pundit Ruben Navarrette decided to go all medieval on pundit Dana Milbank, on, of all things, chimichangas:

A political food fight broke out this week when Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank essentially wrote in a column that the Republican Party had nothing left to offer Latino voters other than the chimichanga.

...Milbank seized on the nonsense that came from Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. The senator's remarks really had nothing to do with Latinos. They were about Arizona.

"The lettuce in your salad this month almost certainly came from Arizona," McCain said on the Senate floor. "It's also believed that the chimichanga has its origin in Arizona."

Milbank sneered: "The chimichanga? It may be the only thing Republicans have left to offer Latinos."

That told me that Milbank's knowledge of Latinos was a taco short of a combination plate. As dysfunctional as the modern-day Republican Party is with regard to immigration -- in large part, because it has basically volunteered to be the party of white Americans who are freaked out over shifting demographics -- the GOP offers Latinos quite a bit in other areas.

...No political party is perfect. And neither Republicans nor Democrats are doing a very good job of serving Latinos at the moment. On the immigration issue, both have failed us.

But the truth is that, despite what some liberals want Latinos to believe, the GOP offers a lot to that community. At moments like this, however, liberal Democrats offer only sarcasm, insults and condescension.

But wait a minute, this commentary does not offer anything I want to know. What I want to know is: Why did John McCain think to mention chimichangas on the floor of the Senate in the first place? Chimis (deep-fat-fried burritos, often served with guacamole and sour cream) are a distinctly Arizonan faux-Mexican food. I hadn't heard about them before I moved to Arizona. I'm not sure that many Floridians (whom I think were most-affected by the Senate debate) would know about, or particularly care about, chimis. Or has their spread nationwide become complete enough by now that I'm wrong? THAT'S what I want to know about. But, alas, now I'll never know....