Minority Report

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

In a meeting with Hispanic high school students on Friday, Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle downplayed her campaign’s use of generic pictures of Latinos to present a negative image of illegal immigrants.

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Questioned about the ads, which feature somber-looking, dark-skinned men and phrases like “illegal aliens,” Angle told a Hispanic group from Rancho High School that the ads do not necessarily portray Latinos. Furthermore, she told the students confronting her that they themselves do not necessarily look Latino.

In the meeting, first reported on by the Associated Press, a student asked Angle, “Why is it that in all of your commercials you have the image of Latinos? What do you see when you hear, and I quote, ‘illegal aliens?'”

Angle responds: “I think that you’re misinterpreting those commercials. I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through. That’s the most porous border that we have. We cannot allow terrorists; we cannot allow anyone to come across our border if we don’t know why they’re coming. So we have to secure all of our borders and that’s what that was about, is border security. Not just our southern border, but our coastal border and our northern border.”

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“[…] I don’t know that all of you are Latino,” Angle told the Hispanic group. “Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that. What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I’m evidence of that. I’ve been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly.”

Rancho High School teacher Isaac Barron told the AP his students organized the meeting with Angle because they felt her ads stereotype young Hispanics. He said her response was met with incredulity.

In the heated Nevada Senate race, illegal immigration has become a hot topic, and Angle’s ads have suggested Reid has helped illegal immigrants at the expense of Nevada residents. One such ad used a picture copyrighted by Getty Images, with three men described by Getty as Mexicans posing in Mexico, the Washington Post reported. In Angle’s ad, the words “illegal aliens” appeared over the image.

Hispanics account for roughly 25 percent of Nevada’s population, and as Angle has taken a hard line on immigration issues, Reid has sought to strengthen his support within the community. He recently put the Dream Act, an immigration reform measure aimed at helping young students and military enrollees, up for a vote in the Senate as part of another bill, but the measure failed.

From POLITIC 365:

The race to fill President Barack Obama’s old Illinois U.S. Senate seat – and to effectively replace Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) – took an interesting turn over the past week.  Allegations abound as Republican nominee Mark Kirk frantically fends off charges that he is conducting a racially-charged “voter fraud” monitoring effort in four state areas with large populations of African Americans, including Chicago.  Kirk is overheard in a secret taping – later blasted on YouTube by Illinois politics blog ArchPundit – discussing strategies with state GOP leaders, including an effort to eliminate voter fraud in Black districts that typically vote Democratic by dispatching what he calls “voter integrity squads” to those areas.

“I have now funded the largest voter integrity program in 15 years for the state of Illinois,” Kirk boasts. “These are lawyers and other people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts. For example, south and west side of Chicago, Rockford, Metro East, where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat.”

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The Kirk episode is the latest wrinkle in an unfolding conservative political strategy widely used this 2010 election cycle to battle minority turnout for Democrats in close races.  Republican allegations of “voter fraud” led to the demise of ACORN, the community-based grassroots activist organization that became the initial rallying cry for conservatives building a “reverse racism” narrative.  And Republican Members of Congress have repeatedly called for investigations into the Department of Justice’s handling of an alleged 2008 voter intimidation case involving New Black Panther Party Members at a Northeast Philadelphia polling station.

From The Washington Post:

NEW ORLEANS — About two dozen New Orleans-area community leaders are calling on Republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter to apologize for a TV ad they say stereotypes Latino immigrants.

The ad shows men pouring through a hole in a chain-link fence and being welcomed by people holding signs with messages such as “Charlie Melancon Welcomes You to the USA.” Vitter faces Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon in the Nov. 2 election.

Representatives of African-American, Latino and Vietnamese groups were among those to attend a news conference Monday objecting to the ad.

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A Vitter spokesman could not be reached Monday but the campaign has previously defended the ad. It can still be viewed through a campaign web site link.

From MEDIA MATTERS:

After repeatedly claiming that “[n]ot all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims,” Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade “clarif[ied]” his comment and claimed that he “misspoke.” In fact, Kilmeade not only made the claim at least twice in a single day, but he also questioned whether “moderate Muslims” need to prove “you’re not one of them,” which is in line with his history of bigoted and anti-Muslim statements.

Kilmeade: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” On the October 15 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Kilmeade defended Bill O’Reilly’s comments on the October 14 edition of ABC’s The View by claiming the show’s hosts “were outraged that somebody was saying there’s a reason — there was a certain group of people that attacked us on 9-11. It wasn’t just one person. It was one religion. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”

Later during his radio show, Kilmeade asserted that it’s a “fact” that “every terrorist is a Muslim.”

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Kilmeade also asked if Americans “have a right to look at moderate Muslims and say, ‘Show me you’re not one of them.’ “

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Fox News VP says Kilmeade would “clarify” his comments on Monday. On October 15, The Huffington Post reported that Bill Shine, Fox News’ senior vice president of programming, said that Kilmeade would “clarify” his comments on Monday.

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Kilmeade addresses comments, claims he “misspoke”

Kilmeade: “I’m sorry about that, if I offended … or hurt anybody’s feelings. But that’s it.” On the October 18 edition of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade stated:

KILMEADE: Meanwhile, on the show on Friday, I was talking about Bill O’Reilly’s appearance on The View, and I said this: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” Well, I misspoke. I don’t believe all terrorists are Muslims. I’m sorry about that, if I offended or — offended or hurt anybody’s feelings. But that’s it. Now let’s go over to Stuart.

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Kilmeade has a history of offensive and inflammatory comments regarding Islam and Muslims

Kilmeade: Muslims “have to understand” being profiled because of “the war that was declared on us.” On the November 10, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade told Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham: “You get a chance to talk to a lot of Islamic experts, Muslim experts, and people who understand the Quran, and I asked him one time, off camera, I said, ‘How do you feel about the extra scrutiny, clearly, you’re getting at the airports?’ And he said, ‘I’m all for it, because I want to get home to my family, too.’ And that’s really got to be the attitude. So, if you’re Islamic, or you’re Muslim and you’re in the military, you have to understand … and that’s just the fact right now in the war that was declared on us.”

Kilmeade asks if “it’s time for the military to have special debriefings” of Muslims, because “I’ve got to know the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me.” Following the shooting at Fort Hood, Kilmeade asked on the November 6, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends: “Do you think it’s time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army civilians, officers, anybody enlisted, because if I’m going to be deployed in a foxhole, if I’m going to be sticking in an outpost, I’ve got to know the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me.”

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Kilmeade: “[I]f you’re a 20- to 30-year-old Islamic male, even if you have no evil intentions, expect to be delayed. We have to profile.” On the January 4, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said: “[N]inety percent of these terrorists are men, Islamic men, between 20 and 30.

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Kilmeade asks if “Islamic community” is “gloating” by building Islamic community center near Ground Zero. On the May 26 edition of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said: “Six-hundred feet from where World Tower One – World Trade Center One stood. Is this gloating on the part of the Islamic community?”

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Kilmeade was also forced to apologize following statement that Swedes have “pure genes” because they don’t marry “other ethnics”

Kilmeade: Americans don’t have “pure genes” like Swedes because “we keep marrying other species and other ethnics.” On the July 8, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, while discussing a study on the relationship between marriage an Alzheimer’s, Kilmeade opined that “we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and … the Swedes have pure genes, because they marry other Swedes. Because that’s the rule.”

Kilmeade later apologized for those comments.