Wednesday, August 16, 2006

DSCC decides to keep anti-immigrant ad.

The controversial 35-second ad produced by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that intermingles shots of Osama Bin Laden, Kim Jong-il, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with video of two undocumented immigrants scaling a border fence has raised serious concern amongst immigration rights activists and the Latino community on a whole.

After removing the ad this morning in response to numerous complaints, the DSCC obviously reconsidered it's position and re-posted the ad on it's website

The question now raised is whether this ad represents a shift in Democratic policy.

Has border "enforcement" as trumpeted by the House Republicans become the policy of the DNC also?

Are they abandoning comprehensive reform in favor of the quick political fix of playing to fear on this issue?


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There are numerous ways to demonstrate the failures of this administration in regards to national security issues without relying on the blatant kind of bigotry demonstrated until now only by the opposition party.

While voter registration drives take place across this country to bring in over a million new voters of foreign descent, to see the DSCC revert to the tactics of Tom Tancredo and the House Republicans is unfortunate to say the least.

Also unfortunate, is to have the Democratic Party open themselves up to attacks from the likes of Pedro Celis of the RNHA. While the Democrats are pointing out Sen. George Allen’s obvious racist comments, to open themselves up to this kind of attack from Republicans is, quite frankly, foolish.

At a time when the nation is calling out for change, looking for ethical, competent and most of all honest leadership, to have the DSCC revert to a campaign that relies on misrepresentation and muddies the waters of one of the most important debates of the campaign, leaves much to be desired from the current leadership.

The decision to run this ad in spite of the concerns raised about its content, only demonstrates the current disconnect between those in Washington and the grassroots of the party. As demonstrated recently in Connecticut, that kind of disconnect does not go unnoticed by the electorate.

Hopefully the DSCC will reconsider its position on this ad, or at the very least affirm exactly what its new position on immigration reform is. If this ad signifies a shift in policy … come out and say so. If not … the ad should not be running. It’s as simple as that.

[UPDATE]:
It appears as if the DSCC has removed the ad for good. It's been 36 hours since they switched the link to a different video and apparently it will stay that way. As of yet there has been no official statement from the DSCC so we have yet to receive definitive confirmation.



2 comments:

Duke Reed said...

It appears the DSCC keeps wavering on this

they pulled the ad this morning ... reposted it in the afernoon... and now it looks like it might be gone again.

Perhaps it's in for editing ... who knows... but so far no official statement on the ad except the initial reponse rebutting Republican attacks... nothing from them on the concerns of those from within their own party.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Unknown said...

O/T to Pondering American:

Allen's staffers offer a different explanation altogether for the macaca/monkey reference:

According to two Republicans who heard the word used, "macaca" was a mash-up of "Mohawk," referring to Sidarth's distinctive hair, and "caca," Spanish slang for excrement, or "shit."

Said one Republican close to the campaign: "In other words, he was a shit-head, an annoyance."
- link

As to the DSCC's ad, I agree with Duke: we'll have to wait and see.