Why Can’t Ted Cruz (or Anyone Else) Pronounce Beto O’Rourke’s Name?

It sounds like “let go.”

Ted Cruz

Ron Sachs/CNP via ZUMA Wire

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The Texas Senate race is a struggle over some of the most important issues of our time, so here’s something that’s not among them: Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s inability to pronounce the name of his Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

Here’s Cruz speaking at a rally on Wednesday in Wichita Falls, where he was joined by Donald Trump Jr.:

It wasn’t a one-time slip-up. This is how Cruz always says Beto O’Rourke’s name: Bay-toe.

It’s Beh-toe, though. Not Bay-toe. Not Bee-toe. Beh-toe. Beto, as in “Petco,” not Beto as in “Faygo.”

I don’t mean to pick on Cruz, although it’s kind of weird—it’s not as if O’Rourke goes around calling him “Tad.” Plenty of other people are pronouncing it wrong too, though, notably, not the narrators of Cruz’s attack ads. But it’s a pretty common nickname in Spanish-speaking areas like Texas, and it’s just four letters.

Besides, there are videos you can watch to figure it out. Here’s Beto, in his own words:

It has 2,100 views on YouTube. Maybe it should have more?

Portuguese World Cup goalkeeper António Alberto Bastos Pimparel is also a Beto. Here’s some sort of soccer vlogger (?) explaining how to pronounce that:

(This one’s particularly useful for the uninitiated, because it actually works up to the correct pronunciation through a series of slightly off versions.)

Here’s a young person showing off a cat named Beto:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_Vns6YGrM

The cat never says Beto, but the pronunciation is very clear.

And in case there was any doubt on the rest of it:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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