I share my colleague Kevin Glass' disgust at this political web "ad," which he correctly describes as profoundly unfunny. It's overtly racist, sexist, and generally despicable (content warning):
Here's a bit of background information on the CA-36 special election, which was triggered by Rep. Jane Harman's (D-Calif.) recent retirement, via the liberal blog TPM:
The election pits Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) against businessman Craig Huey, a tea party Republican who's second place finish in one of California's first jungle primaries came as a surprise to most. The race to the July 12 runoff has fallen to the national backburner as attention shifted to the NY-26 race and a more general discussion of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R) budget plan.
That could be about to change, thanks to the web ad produced by the brand-new Turn Right USA PAC (Townhall editor's note: hyperlink intentionally removed), which filed its official paperwork last week. Simply put, the ad is Willie Horton on steroids. The 90-second clip accuses Hahn of being too cozy with gang criminals in the past, a charge she's faced for a while and her campaign says has been thoroughly debunked.
...2005 statistics from the LAPD reported that the vast majority of L.A.'s gang population is made up of predominately Latino gangs.
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Regardless of whether this was intended as a parody of some sort -- and even if Hahn's past support for a controversial program is a legitimate issue to raise -- this video is totally beyond the pale. "Turn Right USA" should be roundly denounced and ostracized by all conservatives for its disgusting display. Unfortunately, according to TPM, the Huey campaign and the LA County GOP have chosen to stay mum on the spot thus far:
Huey's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Los Angeles County GOP.
California Republican Party spokesperson Mark Standriff distanced the party and Huey from the web ad. "The video in question is highly offensive and totally inappropriate," he said "and has no connection whatsoever to the Huey campaign or the California Republican Party."
I attempted to contact Huey's campaign headquarters for comment, but several phone calls went unanswered.
UPDATE - The DCCC is already fundraising off of this disgrace:
Guy -- Sexist and racist doesn’t even begin to cover it.
A right-wing front group has launched an ad in the upcoming California-36 special election that may be the most outrageously vile attack I’ve ever seen. Young African-Americans portrayed as gangsters. Our Democratic candidate Janice Hahn portrayed as a pole dancer and referring to her using extreme derogatory language. It’s despicable.
After their loss in the New York-26 Special Election, it’s clear that these right-wing third party groups will stoop to any low to distract from Republicans’ disastrous plan to end Medicare for seniors but protect tax breaks for Big Oil and multi-millionaires. An attack on women and minorities this blatant and offensive deserves our strongest grassroots response.
UPDATE II - It appears the Huey campaign has condemned the ad. Good.
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