SanDiegoRed.com

TIJUANA – Mexico's leading presidential candidate is again in hot water, this time for not knowing how much a kilo of tortillas costs. His response, "I'm not the lady of the house."

Two reporters for the influential newspaper in Spain, El País, asked Enrique Peña Nieto general questions about life and culture in Mexico. When asked about how much a kilo (2.2 pounds) of tortillas cost, he didn't hesitate to answer.

"I don't now because I'm not the lady of the house. But it should be around seven or eight pesos."

Actually, the average cost of a kilo of tortillas is 12 pesos, about $1.

Last week, the candidate stumbled when he was asked at a prestigious book fair what three books influenced him the most. For several minutes he could not name any, and finally offered that he had once read "parts of the Bible" as a teen-ager.

During the most recent interview, whose audio was released Monday, the candidate for the PRI party was asked how much a kilo of beef costs.

"I don't know where you do your shopping," he answered. "I depends where you buy it and what type of meat it is."

The interview did not get better for Peña Nieto, the former governor of the state of Mexico.

He said Mexico's minimum salary is around 900 pesos a month (about $65) when in reality it's 1,740 pesos ($125).

After the interview was published, comments posted on social media blasted his response of "I'm not the lady of the house" as being machista.

He responded by saying that his comment was taken out of context and that he was only referring to what happens at his house, according to animalpolítico.com.

"At no time was I downplaying the work women do in a house," he explained during an interview later with W Radio. He added that in his home his wife does the shopping and that she knew prices better.

That did not quiet his critics on Facebook and Twitter, where #Nosoylaseñoradelacasa was the most commented topic of the day in Spanish.

On Twitter, andres1586 commented: "And when they ask him about education: 'I don't know, I'm not a teacher; and about security, 'I don't know, I'm not a police officer."

For his part, Mario Di Costanzo wrote: "They say they asked Peña Nieto if he laundered money, and he answered that the lady is in charge of laundering."

editorial@sandiegored.com