Cracking Under Pressure? Chris Mapp, Texas Senate Candidate, Defends Using 'Wetbacks' But Hates The Backlash

Tea party Senate hopeful Chris Mapp, one of six candidates vying to unseat Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is beginning to crack under the pressure that’s been mounting since the Dallas Morning News revealed excerpts of a candid interview earlier this month.

Mapp, a businessman, has insisted that the newspaper’s editorial board took his words out of context, when it was reported that the 53-year-old candidate allegedly said ranchers should be allowed to shoot people who illegally cross the border on to their land. In endorsing Cornyn, the paper explained that Mapp referred to these illegal crossers as “wetbacks,” a derogatory term used to refer to Mexicans who enter the state of Texas via the Rio Grande. The candidate also allegedly called President Barack Obama a “socialist son of a bitch,” according to the Morning News.

Democrats and Republicans have been throwing punches in Mapp’s direction.

“That is way out of bounds and I can’t imagine many people in Texas, much less Texas Republicans, voting for that guy,” Robert Stovall, the chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party, told the San Antonio Express-News. “His views are in no way a reflection of the Republican Party nationally, statewide or in Bexar County.”

Speaking to the same publication, Diana Arevalo, secretary of the Bexar County Democratic Party, said she was offended by Mapp’s comments.

“He doesn’t want to offer an apology to the Latino community and to our president of the United States of America,” Arevalo said.

In an effort to set the record straight, Mapp took to his Facebook page on Feb. 22, where he defended his comments and possibly dug himself a deeper hole. Admitting to using the ethnic slur, the candidate also said he doesn’t mind using others like “gringo.”

On reports that he said property owners should shoot illegal border crossers, Mapp wrote, “A property owner on the border or anywhere else has every right and choice to protect their property and how does anyone, any organization or the Federal Government have the right to say this is wrong? The WETBACK, ILLEGAL OR soon to be undocumented worker HAS THE CHOICE TO EITHER USE OUR BORDER CROSSINGS OR NOT AND ALSO HAS THE CHOICE TO OR NOT TO TRESPASS.”

The incumbent, of course, took the opportunity to make it clear where he stands.

“That kind of rhetoric is discouraging from anybody,” Cornyn said while on a school visit. “I recognize this is a free country, but that’s not the sort of way to gain people’s confidence that you care about them and you want to represent their concerns in the halls of Congress.”

Facing all this pressure, Mapp returned to Facebook on Feb. 23, revealing more information about what the papers failed to print from his interview. Three people represent his views on immigration, Mapp wrote: His sister-in-law, who came to America through legal channels; an unidentified young person, to whom the candidate gave his wife’s car after learning she was working three jobs to make ends meet and not on welfare, and an unidentified man he employed only to find out he was brought to the country illegally and later convinced to get legal.

Mapp scolded Cornyn and others for criticizing him when they allegedly didn’t get the full story.

“I call things the way I see them, that’s who I am and who I am asking you to vote for,” Mapp wrote. “Our country has real issues and needs real people to bring real solutions. I may not be politically correct, politically polished and say or use the right terms.”

If that isn’t enough for Texans, Mapp noted, “I really don’t need to be your candidate for U.S. Senate and put up with all this, hours and hours of prep, and days away from the things I care about for what? Abuse and ridicule.”

Here are Mapp’s other views on immigration, as taken from his website:

“Amnesty can not be the answer and should not be on the table for consideration.

Let's face it, there would be a lot less concrete, roofs, and landscaping without illegal immigrants (yes, illegal immigrants - that is what they are). The only reason they flood here is because of opportunity and because we allow it.

There is no reason we can't stop the influx at the border - remove the politics and let the Border Patrol do their job.

The times we live in are much different than Pre-09/11. It is important to accept new citizens but it is important to know: who they are, their background, and that they will contribute in a positive way to be good citizens.

The term good citizen means earning your own way, paying taxes, No entitlements, No food stamps, NO FREE HEATH CARE, NO HAVING NUMEROUS NEW BORNS TO COLLECT MORE WELFARE, no free housing, no obama phones, and no right to vote for the first three years. They must be willing to pledge allegiance to this country, speak English and have a job which has taxes deducted like anyone else. NO SPECIAL TREATMENT. A tax return, even if no funds are owed, must be filed in order to track employment verification. Want to sell drugs or get involved in crime? - YOU ARE OUT OF HERE - DEPORTED PERMANENTLY!

What that means to Americans who were born here is, "GET OFF YOUR DEAD ASS AND GET TO WORK!"

If I had it my way, I would cut your money off and force you to starve or work. Some citizens have become too proud to dig ditches, get dirty, or do things that we perceive are beneath us.

THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT ALL AMERICANS, BUT, THE ONES WHO CHASE THE BENEFIT CHECK, OR WORSE THE ONES WHO WON'T WORK AND CLAIM DISABILITY. AND THEN, WORSE, THERE ARE THE ONES WHO WORK AND STILL COLLECT DISABILITY (THAT IS A WHOLE TOPIC ALL BY ITSELF.)