Amy Klobuchar accused of 'pandering' after mentioning her Spanish name from grade school

close

Video

Klobuchar mocked for latest attempt to relate to Latino voters after failing to name Mexico's president

2020 Democrat hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar is mocked online for sharing a story about her fourth grade Spanish class days after she was unable to remember the name of Mexico's president in a Telemundo interview.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., faced a wave of criticism after she told Nevada's largest immigrant organization this week that her Spanish name in fourth grade was "Elena."

"When I took Spanish in fourth grade, my name was Elena. They gave me the name -- 'me llamo Elena' [my name is Elena] -- because I couldn't roll my r's very well," she told the Las Vegas Culinary Workers Union on Tuesday.

The controversy comes only days before Saturday's caucuses in Nevada.

Some on Twitter suggested she was engaging in a form of pandering.

AMY KLOBUCHAR: 5 THINGS TO KNOW

"Oh please, [...] The identity pandering is shameless," said Mark Levin, radio host of Fox News Channel's "Life Liberty & Levin."

Conservative author Ben Shapiro tweeted: "She also once watched an episode of 'Dora the Explorer.'"

Others, including Daily Kos writer Gabe Ortiz, piled on to the Twitter criticism. "I don't know why I'm the one feeling embarrassed but I am," he said.

KLOBUCHAR TAKING HEAT FROM DEMS FOR PAST SUPPORT OF TRUMP NOMINEES

Klobuchar also caught attention for previously being unable to name the Mexican president while appearing on Telemundo last week.

On Tuesday, Klobuchar defended herself but reportedly mispronounced the president's name.

“Well, first of all, I would like to give my greetings to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” she said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Klobuchar had said she had a busy day in the Senate, regarding not knowing the president's name.

“When that happened, for what it’s worth, I had been in the Senate all day, we had six votes, including a resolution to be a check on the president so he doesn’t go pell-mell into war with Iran,” she said.

She also rebuffed criticism from former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, saying: "This isn’t like a game of 'Jeopardy!' This is about, to me, experience, and I have so much respect for him and his experience, but my experience is different."