Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wacky Candidates in the News

I've read a lot about Christine O'Donnell, the somewhat wacky candidate who managed to win the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Delaware. I'm not particularly concerned about her, because I assume that Delaware voters will judge her on the merits.

Here's a more interesting case, though: Loretta Sanchez, a congresswoman from California who first gained fame by unseating the always entertaining Bob "B-1" Dornan. Sanchez is getting a stiff challenge this cycle from a Vietnamese-American candidate named Van Tran. Based on the video that John Hinderaker at Powerline found, she doesn't like that much. Her comments are in Spanish, as they were delivered on the Spanish-language Univision network. Hinderaker notes:

Sanchez's polling must be turning negative, because she has launched--in Spanish--a racist attack against Van Tran and his supporters.

Prepare to be disgusted as you see this liberal Democrat fire up her Spanish-speaking base by telling them that "the Vietnamese and the Republicans are trying to take away this seat."

Actually, I'm not especially disgusted, because I'm not surprised. It would be passing strange to note that Sanchez believes that Tran, who is an immigrant from Vietnam, is anti-immigrant. But when you are steeped in identity politics and view people as hyphenated Americans first and foremost, it's should not be surprising that Sanchez would play this card.

Van Tran, like most people who have emigrated from Southeast Asia, came to this country with just about nothing. He has made his way to the point where he can be a credible candidate for Congress. That's worth celebrating, no matter whether or not it endangers the political career of Loretta Sanchez.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When republicans make any comment that has even the most remote reference towards a minority, it's racisom. When a Democrat does it, it's being concerned about the direction in which our country is heading. Here's hoping that all of the dirty tricks and double standards that the Democratic party and it's allies have been touting for years, come back to haunt them in this election cycle.

Anonymous said...

Sanchez pretty much stole the election from B1 Bob with a massive influx of illegals brought in to vote and who promptly disappeared after the election.

Gino said...

anon: i was there, living/voting in that district when it happened.

yes, stolen, and a GOP establish that refuesed to press the case when solid evidence was presented to them, for fear of angering the mexicans.

loretta is not really all that mexican. she was married to a white dude (who she cheated on for years), and didnt speak credible spanish.
she's had to improve on the spanish to build her base, and keep up with the race politics.

she's a source of angst and entertainemnt in orange county. even the local paper, who takes no sides in elections, has had some fun with her.