https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2013-11-19/tea-partier-slurs-van-de-putte/

Tea Partier Slurs Van de Putte

By Richard Whittaker, November 19, 2013, 8:00am, Newsdesk

With the rumor meter heading into the red that Sen. Leticia Van de Putte will announce a run for lieutenant governor in 2014, it seemed inevitable that we would have to say, "stay classy, Tea Party."

Who knew it would be so quick?

On Saturday, Dallas Morning News senior political writer Wayne Slater Tweeted this gem of interracial outreach from the Republican rump:

The Tea Partier in question was McKinney Tea Party blogger Rick Atkinson. He runs a regular column Dallas Morning News Exposed, in which he tries to present the DMN (or as he calls it, the Dallas Morning New Kos or the Dallas Marxist Messenger) and especially Slater as the voice of the ultra-left. He had already leaped on the bandwagon of calling Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, "Abortion Barbie." Now he has decided to pioneer another insult, this time for Van de Putte.

"Barrio Boopsie." See, classy and catchy. This from the same guy that has previously said that Texas wouldn't need to teach English to "hordes of Spanish-speaking kids" if it just shut the border, and rambling about "Muslim Bro'hood influence inside Dear Leader's White House."

When asked about Atkinson's comments, Van de Putte's campaign has responded with a simple "no comment." Yet there are many unanswered questions. First and foremost, who says Boopsie any more? Who ever said Boopsie? What is this, 1952?

More importantly, how does the GOP square this with its attempts to rebrand as a racially inclusive party? After yesterday's announcement that the Young Conservatives of Texas will be holding a hilarious immigrant hunt (oh, those whacky japesters), it can't augur well for the GOP's efforts to attract the growing Hispanic electorate.