Some in the mainstream media are picking up on the story--blogged here yesterday--about that appalling "Los Angeles, Mexico" billboard.

Here's some reaction in the Los Angeles Times, which reports "Ad Putting L.A. in Mexico Called Slap in Face:"

"This is almost a poster-board for illegal immigration," said Peter Amundson, a volunteer with the California Republican Assembly. "This is America. We're a land of immigrants — legal immigrants. This is not Mexico. This is the United States."

Amundson, who first saw one of the billboards last week near Irwindale, said that crossing out California and replacing it with Mexico was "a slap in the face to Californians and a pretty blatant one."

Exactly.

The Spanish-language broadcasting company sponsoring the ads--which, of course, is making big bucks off the illegal alien market--doesn't see a problem:

"All we are saying is, 'It's your city, your town, your team,' " said Andrew Mars, vice president for sales for Liberman Broadcasting. "We are a team that's educating and informing the Spanish-language marketplace."

Executive Vice President Lenard Liberman said Noticias 62 was a popular news program in Los Angeles and noted that people of Mexican descent made up a large portion of the city.

"We tell the story behind L.A.., and we tell the story behind Mexico," he said. "If they find that offensive, I'm sorry. But you just have to drive around L.A. to know that this is a Hispanic city."

Someone who gets it gets the last word:

Stuart Fischoff, who teaches media psychology at Cal State L.A., said the billboard was like "sticking a finger in your eye" to immigration reformers. "The joke here is, 'We're taking back California,' " Fischoff said. "Underneath the joke is part of the truth."

Viva la reconquista. Get used to it.

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Related:

KESQ is also carrying an abbreviated report.

More on info on Liberman Broadcasting and its advertisers here.

Our city is a Mexican city

Cross-posted here.