BECAUSE HE’S A WINNER, AND EVERYONE LOVES A WINNER: Why do so many Mexican-Americans defend Speedy Gonzales? He’s an appealing character. Only scolds and sourpusses and lefties — but I repeat myself — wouldn’t get that. “I never saw a stereotype when I first saw his cartoons as a boy — I saw my culture at a time when the English-language media didn’t bother with us outside of crime and immigration. He danced our dances and dressed like a jarocho (a native of Veracruz) and sounded like my country cousins, to be honest. He was the only Mexican in Hollywood I knew who never lost — well, him and Cheech and Chong.”