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Angle tells students immigration ad doesn’t single out Hispanics

By (contact)

Published Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 | 10:43 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 | 11:44 p.m.

Sharron Angle

Sharron Angle

Sun archives

Sharron Angle’s attempt to backpedal from a campaign commercial that got her roundly blasted for negative portrayals of Hispanics is earning her a fresh round of knocks this weekend.

At a forum with the Las Vegas’ Rancho High School Hispanic Student Union on Friday afternoon, Angle was asked about a commercial she aired about Harry Reid’s immigration record. In it, she used stock images of menacing-looking Latino men to drum up fear about illegal migrants crossing the border.

Angle told the assembled high school students — mostly Latinos — that she wasn’t sure the people featured in the commercial were Latinos at all.

“She said that they were just people crossing the fence, but they weren’t Latinos. And then she said some of us don’t even look Latino, we could be Asian,” said Debbie Rios, 16, a junior at Rancho who was sitting in the front row at the assembly, which drew about 50 to 60 people. “She dodged the question; she didn’t really answer it.”

The images in question are almost certainly of Latinos. According to the Associated Press, the picture used was purchased from Getty Images and the caption describes the men featured as Mexicans from Mexico.

The Angle campaign has since removed the ad from television and the Internet — it appears, for concerns over misrepresentation and copyright. Getty images are not supposed to be used for advertising purposes; also, according to the photographer, Chris Floyd, while the shot was taken in the town of Altar, Mexico — a staging town for border crossings — there's no indication the men pictured ever crossed into the U.S.

The Hispanic Student Union at Rancho High School had invited Angle to speak to the club at the beginning of the school year and was excited when she accepted the invitation.

Angle has a checkered relationship with the Hispanic community. She stresses her family ties to the community — Angle has a daughter-in-law who is Latina. But she advocates an enforcement-only approach to immigration, a stance that doesn’t usually sit well with Latinos, who as a bloc advocate comprehensive immigration reforms that include a pathway to citizenship for the country’s undocumented population.

Leaders in the Latino community have accused Angle of fearmongering and demonizing illegal immigrants. They have compared her commercial to past advertisements geared toward stirring up an anti-minority vote, such as the Willie Horton ads that helped George Bush Sr. best Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.

The Reid campaign has jumped in the fray, saying Angle’s unwillingness to own up to the substance behind her ad only adds to an already existing pattern of “pathological” lying.

“Every one of her immigration ads have been fact checked by people all over the country,” Reid said Saturday after a rally with Latino voters. “Every fact checker said that they are absolutely lies.”

The Angle campaign says she is being unfairly impugned by all this talk of racism, when she was simply trying to call Reid out on lackadaisical enforcement of the country’s immigration laws.

“Sharron has said several times before that illegal immigration is not about race. It is about the rule of law in this country. It would be a misinterpretation to think that one group of people should be singled out,” Angle campaign spokesman Jarrod Agen said Saturday.

“The issue is that we must stop illegal immigration by security our borders, both northern and southern, and by enforcing our immigration laws,” he said. “Harry Reid does not want to end illegal immigration; he is pro-amnesty.”

But that’s not the impression the students were left with.

“Overall, I think the students were disappointed,” said Isaac Barron, the club’s faculty advisor and a social studies and history teacher at Rancho High.

Students submitted questions, fishbowl-style, but were not allowed to ask follow-ups, which made for some skewed discussion, they said.

For instance, they were able to talk about Millenium Scholarships, which help Nevadans attend college but which Angle says should be limited only to U.S. citizens, but could not discuss the DREAM Act, a measure that would make undocumented college students and military enlistees who were brought to the U.S. as children eligible to pursue U.S. citizenship.

In Nevada, Hispanics have been a growing part of the electorate — 15 percent in 2008, according to exit polls. For the most part, the high school students who met with Angle on Friday are too young to vote — they can only express their opinions to parents and others who are eligible to vote.

Students said they just didn’t feel like Angle cared about their concerns.

“She doesn’t support Hispanics. She calls us all immigrants,” said Marina Ochoa, 17, a senior at Rancho High who was also at the gathering with Angle. Ochoa is a citizen but says she has relatives who are undocumented. “She has no mercy for them. And she has no heart for us,” she said.

Discussion: 14 comments so far…

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  1. By wedo (richard belcher)
    Oct. 16, 2010
    11:51 p.m.
    Flag

    she can't hide her hateful uncompromising heartless nature

  2. By gmag39
    Oct. 17, 2010
    4:03 a.m.
    Flag

    My GOD!
    What a LIAR!!!

    "Oh, they may have been from SWEDEN! I bet they were SWEDES trying to break in! Yeah...I'm pretty sure my guy told me SWEDES!"

    How much more can people TAKE of this woman's hateful, disgusting, pathetic LYING?

  3. By lericgoodman (Leric Goodman)
    Oct. 17, 2010
    5:44 a.m.
    Flag

    In the worlds of a legendary Adulterer, when caught in flagrante delicto: "Who are you going to believe -- me or your eyes?"

  4. By gmag39
    Oct. 17, 2010
    6:24 a.m.
    Flag

    AngleSpeak...
    it reminds me of the wonderful tome
    "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them"...
    by Al Franken.

  5. By wedo (richard belcher)
    Oct. 17, 2010
    9:23 a.m.
    Flag

    These kids are smarter than many give them credit for . They know many of their friends are undocumented by no choice of their own . Most of these children came to America in their mothers arms . What other crime you commit at three years old are you held responsible for? They know sharon is using racial hatred for political gain . To bad many Nevada voters aren't as perceptive as these young adults . They know Harry Reid has worked hard to get the Dream Act passed because he is a compassionate man who cares about people all people no matter what color . Unlike sharron who has no compassion for anyone and has no answers for immigration problems or any others for that matter . She hammers Harry for not doing anything about immigration but if she makes it to Washington she will vote NO on every bill .What will that fix?

  6. By mred
    Oct. 17, 2010
    11:10 a.m.
    Flag

    Latest flip flop (aka lie)

    "phase out Social Security and Medicare"
    "Privatize VA"
    "Second Amendment remedies"

    The ad used images fro "Diaper Dave's" (Mr. family values) ad.

    I love YOU PEOPLE always singing and dancing, I once even ate a jalapeno pepper and some of my best friends are Mexicans...or Hispanics or whatever ..but I'm right to life....

  7. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    2:57 p.m.
    Flag

    if angle is elected, she'll be the minority chairperson of the fishing and wildlife commission, doing all she can to help nevada. great job, teabaggers! vamanos muchachos!

  8. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    3:41 p.m.
    Flag

    larryv; i never thought about that, another george w. bush in the rough. maybe she'll make top ten list on letterman?

  9. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    3:59 p.m.
    Flag

    TOP TEN REASONS NEVADA ELECTED ANGLE AS SENATOR. NUMBER TEN: drug shipment came earlier as planned.

  10. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    4:02 p.m.
    Flag

    NUMBER NINE: oprah went on another crash diet, eliminating her from contention.

  11. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    4:08 p.m.
    Flag

    NUMBER EIGHT: walmart threatened to stop selling twinkies, cupcakes and chocolate bars until further notice.

  12. By dipstick
    Oct. 17, 2010
    6:42 p.m.
    Flag

    NUMBER FOUR: johnny ensign promises not to hit on her old man.

  13. By dipstick
    Oct. 18, 2010
    6:26 a.m.
    Flag

    NUMBER THREE: karl rove and the chinese bought donuts.

  14. By mred
    Oct. 18, 2010
    12:53 p.m.
    Flag

    Maybe she should try to get the "Frito Bandito and Speedy Gonzales" to endorsed her?

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