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October 27, 2006
 Congressional
Candidate Tan Nguyen Has Earned The Right To Speak His Mind
By Joe
Guzzardi
Hold the phone! The
MSM has finally figured out the difference between "illegal
immigrant" and "immigrant."
After years of directing
the
Media Standards Project, visiting the
Columbia School of Journalism and the
Society of Professional Journalist, and badgering
thick-skulled reporters to use the correct
U.S. Code Title 8 designation "illegal aliens,"
instead of the
politically correct and intentionally misleading "immigrants,"
I can reap the fruits of my labor.
That’s the good news.
The bad news: the MSM’s
awakening has come at the expense of California Republican
Congressional Candidate Tan Nguyen, who is trying to unseat
Democratic incumbent and reconquista Loretta Sanchez.
Indifferent for years to
the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants—simply
calling them all "immigrants"—the MSM has taken Nguyen to
the woodshed for the
following sentences, originally written in Spanish, in a
campaign letter mailed by his office:
"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.
“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, and you will be deported for
voting without having a right to do so."
You can parse this several
different ways. But the first paragraph is crystal clear…if you
are a citizen registered to vote, please do so.
The message in the second
paragraph may be debatable. But the conclusion most rational
people would arrive at is that illegal aliens ("immigrants")
do not have voting privileges.
And, in fact, legal
immigrants who are non-citizens, whether on
immigrant or non-immigrant visas, do not have voting rights.
Most Californians following
the incredible Nguyen saga know the immediate up-shot:
- Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger and his opponent Phil Angelides called
Nguyen’s letter a "hate crime."
- The Orange County
California Republican Party GOP chairman Scott Baugh
insisted Nguyen quit.
- Two busybodies from
New England, Democratic Senators
Patrick Leahy and
Edward Kennedy wrote to the U.S. attorney general
demanding a federal investigation.
Even Nguyen’s fellow
Vietnamese jumped ship. In his column for New America Media,
Andrew Lam—proving he’s learned nothing since VDARE.COM
outed him in 2003—quoted Tom Vu, editor of Sacramento’s BN
Magazine:
"…An unfortunate event that
harkens back to the Jim Crow laws that kept black Americans from
voting through intimidation. That said, I don't think this will
cast a negative light on Vietnamese American elected officials,
or those aspiring to elected office. All groups involved are
viewing this as a candidate losing in the polls and trying a
tactic to boost his chances."
[
Vietnamese
Media Gauge Fall Out From Campaign Scare Letter,
Andrew Lam, New America Media, October 20, 2006]
On October 22,
Nguyen—resurfacing after being briefly out of sight—finally held
a
press conference in an effort to clear the air.
Too bad it was so tame.
Said Nguyen:
"No way in hell am I gonna
withdraw from this race. I’m gonna win this race."
As a
Quixotic candidate for California governor in 2003, I’m
disappointed that Nguyen isn’t making more of his wonderful
opportunity to parlay his publicity, adverse though it may
appear at first glance, into votes come November.
When the Washington Post
covers a local California Congressional race, you’ve got to make
hay. [
California
Campaign in Turmoil Over Letters, Sonya Geis,
Washington Post, October 20, 2006]
To help Nguyen to maximize
his position, I advise him to hold another press conference
labeled "Kiss My Ass."
During the KMA speech
Nguyen, with nothing to lose, should go for the jugular. No
apologies, no retreating and no lame "something was lost in
the translation" excuses.
Nguyen should be brimming
with confidence knowing, as he does, that the two major voting
blocs in his district—
legal
Mexicans and
Vietnamese—are anti-illegal immigration.
Simply because somebody is
Mexican doesn't mean they support Mexican criminals.
Mexico, which tightly
patrols its southern border, hands out stiff prison terms to
those who do get though…unlike its sissy neighbor to the north.
And Vietnamese have even
less patience with illegal immigrants. (See the new
billboard campaign launched by our friends,
Vietnamese for Fair Immigration.)
Here, if
I were Nguyen, is would be my broad opening statement:
"We’re here today to talk
about what really matters to you…and it is not my letter
or whether I am a racist."
Nguyen’s
talking points:
- The
Open-Borders lobby wants
illegal aliens to vote. In fact, that’s the
biggest reason that Sanchez is in Congress. Sanchez and
her supporters blatantly sanction
voter fraud. Anything that might possibly deter an
illegal alien from voting—Democratic, of course—will draw
the ire of illegal immigration supporters.
- The
GOP talks a good game when the topic gets around to holding
the House of Representatives in November. But
it sells its own down the river at crunch time. Think
about it, President Bush, Baugh and
Karl Rove prefer the hardcore reconquista Sanchez
to a Republican.
- As
for
Senators Leahy and Kennedy—butt out. When Massachusetts
and Vermont are overrun with illegal aliens like California
is, their opinion might have merit.
The Vietnamese are legally in
the U.S. They have not crossed borders and they have certainly
not participated in massive street demonstrations demanding what
is not rightfully theirs.
Twenty years ago I taught an
English as a Second Language class to
Southeast Asian war refugees, Vietnamese among them.
The Vietnamese were
consistently the best and
hardest working students in the class. Over the years, I
have been a guest in their homes, been to their children’s
graduations and most recently to their grandchildren’s baptisms.
If Tan Nguyen has something to
say about who should and who should not vote in an election that
might send him to Congress, he’s earned the right.
Is there anyone who dares to
debate that?
Joe Guzzardi [e-mail
him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor.
In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has
been writing
a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive
to
VDARE.COM. |
