George Lopez is one person who does not support a Sarah Palin presidency in any form. In fact, the comedian and late night talk show host told CNN's Piers Morgan that he would leave for Canada if the former Alaska governor is ever elected president of the United States.
Morgan, in an interview aired today, asked Lopez about statements he has made with regard to Palin, who remains indecisive -- but assured Newsweek that she could win -- about a presidential run in 2012. "You said on immigration: 'Elect Sarah Palin in 2012 and we'll all leave voluntarily.'"
"If Sarah Palin becomes President at any point, I will say allegedly, I will move to Canada," the comedian, who was born in Los Angeles, told Morgan. "I will go further North. I've been South, I will go further North."
Morgan: "You would literally leave the United States."
Lopez, whose comedy is inspired by his Mexican heritage and southern California upbringing, replied, "I will leave the United States of America."
When asked why he would do something so "drastic," Lopez said, "I like my politicians to actually have a political background ... to know politics ... to actually have inherited something from working in the political world."
Morgan then asked what it was about Sarah Palin that made her so popular. "Is it that maverick-ness?" Lopez asked. "Is it that homespun kind of Andy Griffith, wink your eye, shoot the imaginary gun thing? Maybe. Is it just that we've become a culture of personality? Do we elect somebody by their smile, rather than their content?"
Lopez's comments are just the latest reiteration of statements he's made in the past. Back in 2010, during an interview on CNN's "Live King Live!" (which "Piers Morgan Tonight" replaced upon King's retirement), Lopez said he had the solution to the immigration problems facing the U. S.
"Everyone is trying to build a wall. They don't know what the answer is to immigration is. I will give the answer, Larry King, to immigration. If Sarah Palin wins and runs for President in 2012 ... I have on a reliable source as head of all the Latinos -- we will voluntarily go back to Mexico if she becomes President of the United States. There it is."
Lopez famously referred to Palin as "la cabrona" on his TBS talk show "Lopez Tonight" in 2010. He talked about her irrational thinking with regard to condemning Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff at the time, of using the word "retarded" but saying it was alright for conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh to use it. Such irrational thinking, Lopez said, could only mean one thing. "They're [Palin is] 'special needs'."
But will George Lopez actually move to Canada? There is precedent there as well. Although many public figures state they will leave the country if a certain politician is elected, most do not. However, famed ABC news correspondent Pierre Salinger famously stated that if George W. Bush were elected president, he would spend the rest of his life in France. Salinger made good on his word when Bush was elected, moving to his mother's native country where he lived until his death in 2004.
And he could be called out on his promise. According to the tracking of recent Republican presidential candidate preference polls on Real Clear Politics, Sarah Palin places between 8 and 13 percentage points behind the frontrunner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. If she decides to run, those numbers could change, perhaps becoming more favorable to the former Alaska governor.
Still, at present the comedian is a long way from actually having to contemplate buying a ticket to Toronto.
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