Posted on 10/21/2006 4:06:05 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, calling an intimidating letter sent to thousands of Hispanic voters "a hate crime," said Saturday the Republican candidate whose campaign it was linked to should quit the race if he had anything to do with it.
"I think this is one of the worst letters that anyone could send out. And I think those kind of tactics are illegal and it is a hate crime," Schwarzenegger said.
During a re-election campaign swing through Southern California on Saturday, Schwarzenegger met with a Hispanic business group in Orange County, where the mailing has infuriated Latino activists and may have scuttled the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican congressional candidate.
"I think that anyone that knew and if he knew has to resign immediately," Schwarzenegger said. "I think there should be no tolerance for this kind of behavior."
A call left for Nguyen was not immediately returned Saturday afternoon.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant, is trying to unseat five-term Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the 47th Congressional District.
Nguyen has rejected previous calls from other officials in his party to abandon the race, saying a campaign staffer sent the mailing without his knowledge and has been fired.
The letter, written in Spanish, was mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in Orange County. It warned: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."
Adult naturalized citizens are eligible to vote. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Friday that his office will send letters to homes that received the mailing to clarify voters' rights before the Nov. 7 election.
On Friday, law enforcement agents searched Nguyen's Santa Ana home, his campaign headquarters in Garden Grove and a home in Anaheim listed as belonging to a Nguyen staffer.
Meanwhile, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., wrote to the U.S. attorney general urging that a federal investigation be completed swiftly.
"This shameful and dishonest scheme to discourage Latino citizens from voting is a blatant violation of the Voting Rights Act, and all those involved should be held accountable as soon as possible," Kennedy said.
Shortly after news of the letter broke Nguyen said he would hold a news conference Friday to explain what had happened. When Friday arrived, however, he didn't show up to meet reporters.
That's what your leftist hero Arnold is doing with his false and asinine "hate crime" attack on a Republican candidate.
Correction: According to what the media said the letter said.
And, of course, if interpreted as the media has, it would also apply to the Vietnam-born candidate who is being accused of sending it.
Geeze, talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill. This is asinine.
Yes, it is asinine. A stupid, butt-kissing, unjustified, totally pointless PC reaction on Arnold's part.
For all we know, the offending sentence in the letter could have been an innocent mistake. They just needed to say "non-citizen immigrant" instead of "immigrant." And that would have been consistent with the first part of the letter.
Exercise in logic:
A. You are being sent this letter because you were recently registered to vote. If you are a citizen of the United States, we ask that you participate in the democratic process of voting.
B. "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."
If A is true, and B is true, then C must also be true...
C. Immigrants cannot be American citizens.
He's been yelling "hate crime" for over 24 hours. This wasn't a slip of the tongue. Don't worry about him losing votes, FO. I'm sure he picked up a few more of Villaraigosa and Núnéz's compadres.
Immigrants can become American citizens. Until then, they can't legally vote.
Not to worry. He just closed in on the illegal alien vote.
Including some votes by illegal aliens.
Republicans and RINO's are not allowed to make mistakes. /sarc
I was a legal green card holding immigrant and am now officially a U.S. citizen and I see nothing insulting in the letter what-so-ever. If one cares to read it from the very beginning and is able to comprehend, it's very self explanatory and no reason for anyone to get their knickers in a twist, unless of course their aim is to interpret it wrongly, spread rumours and cause trouble.
Interesting. Thanks for the research.
>>You remember that female professor out at CalState Northridge who "found" hate grafitti on her car, got a lot of "hate crime" mileage of that. Then, it turned out she was the one who put it there.
That was at one of the Claremont colleges, wasn't it?
Ah, yes... this one?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=kerridunn
Funny how that works, huh?
Looks like Logic 101 to me!
Arnold's apologists are blind to their own hypocrisy.
"Hmmmmm...you might talk me into it yet. I've left the governor's section blank and I've not mailed my ballot. :)"
===
I hope so, I really hope so. I hope you realize that your conscience wouldn't let you sleep knowing that you helped Angelides. Grin and bear it and vote for Arnold -- remember he vetoed licenses for illegals, he vetoed the government run universal healthcare bill the Dem Legislature passed -- both of which Angelides is FOR.
Here is what the Dems think are key reasons to vote FOR Angelides. Surely you don't approve of any of them. Arnold is opposing them. Read this and hope that will get your finger moving to vote FOR Arnold to prevent Angelides from winning.
Why every Dem should support Angelides (by Mark Leno, D)(recommended reading for all CA voters)
7 Angelides supports equal marriage rights for all Californians; Schwarzenegger vetoed them
6 Angelides supports affordable universal health care; Schwarzenegger opposes it
3 Angelides fights for a womans right to choose and opposes Prop 85;
2 Angelides opposes Bushs war in Iraq; Schwarzenegger supports it
1 Angelides supports Nancy Pelosi to become Speaker of the House;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723298/posts
Yep. This whole stunt may have had more to do with Correa trying to beat Daucher than the long-shot, expendable Dem-recently-become-Rep Nguyen running against Sanchez. They have overlapping districts.
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