Group Sends Racially-Tinged Mailer Targeting Bill Halter In Arkansas Senate Race

The already racially-tinged attacks being launched against Lt. Gov Bill Halter in the Arkansas Democratic primary race took a turn for the worse on Thursday evening. An independent group heavily involved in the race released a mailer written in what appears to be either Hindi or Sanskrit, accusing Halter of outsourcing jobs to Indian.

The group, Americans for Jobs Security, previously attacked the Democratic primary candidate with television spots featuring Indian actors thanking him shipping jobs to Bangalore. The mailer may be even seedier.

HERE IS THE TELEVISION AD AJS HAS RUN:

Halter's opponent, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), denounced the group's television spots and said she would support taking the spots off the air. But the Senator has played a similar card as well, sending out mailers of her own with pictures of the Taj Mahal and charges that Halter supported outsourcing.

The attack stems from Halter's service on the board of WebMethods, a tech company that, as a way of trimming costs, opened up new offices in Bangalore, India in 2004 as opposed to within the United States. The Lt. Governor has denounced the attack as petty politics and demanded that Lincoln condemn Americans for Jobs Security's involvement in the race even further. He has also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the group's advertisements.

The irony of it all, of course, is that a group that ostensibly prefers free market capitalism has apparently come to view outsourcing as a compelling political problem only recently.

Comments

[DoesItMatter]

07:16 PM on 05/14/2010

So how is this racist?

[hey0there]

01:58 PM on 05/14/2010

Barack Obama a Xenophobe?

May 5, 2009

Hitting hard at the current taxation system, to which he had been very critical since his election days and as a Senator, Obama said: "It's a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York."

Reiterating his campaign rhetoric, the US President said: "The way we make our businesses competitive is not to reward American companies operating overseas with a roughly 2 per cent tax rate on foreign profits; a rate that costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year."

Obama said he wants US companies to remain most competitive in the world. "But the way to make sure that happens is not to reward our companies for moving jobs off our shores or transferring profits to overseas tax havens," he argued.

[jagrmeister721]

04:21 AM on 05/15/2010

Obama has more than once used India as a means of stirring up populist sentiments. It is of concern. Offshoring can be discussed without villainizing any particular people. People say- well, India is a factor. So is China. Even if Obama is simply playing politics, he should know that putting the bulls-eye on any country does have consequences for that country's people here in America. It fosters a resentment that he if anyone should be sensitive to.

[PostModernPatriot]

10:45 AM on 05/15/2010

The example of "outsourcing to India" is one that most Americans are familiar with, due to the overwhelming numbers of Indian call center workers that Americans come in contact with on a daily basis. Perhaps that's why the Pres mentioned India.

[jhallbo]

10:20 PM on 05/15/2010

I don't see how his mentioning outsorced jobs in India shows any fear or hatred towards the Indian people. It's more of a tax policy issue that needed an example that Americans could relate with.

[Kjohn35]

01:24 PM on 05/14/2010

By the way, the Hindi in these ads is terrible. Whoever they hired to do these ads butchered the language and translated word for word...the Hindi caption translates as follows:

You Bill is thanks Halter.

[DrObvious]

12:45 PM on 05/14/2010

So what did Blanche Lincoln do to help stem job outsourcing? Anything at all?

[guest0987]

02:28 PM on 05/19/2010

She didn't do anything to stem outsourcing. She is a real NAFTA and CAFTA girl.

[hagagaga]

12:29 PM on 05/14/2010

Typical racist Republicans...

[rextrek]

11:47 AM on 05/14/2010

People, people....why even bother...we KNOW the Brainwashed Morons in Arkansas will VOTE against thier own interests, and as usual Vote GOP...if the GOP bates'm with anything that even resembles "anti-american BS, or religious crap" those morons in Arkansas Eat it up. ..Arkansas is a waste.

[guest0987]

02:32 PM on 05/19/2010

Speak for yourself moron. I am an Arkansas voter who will not be voting for the GOP or Lincoln. The only thing you KNOW is how to be an idiot. It is funny how people like you generalize and spew your hate based on total ignorance. You belong in the Repug party.

[IsyFleur]

11:33 AM on 05/14/2010

Stereotyping and denigrating another country is xenophobic, and xenophobia is another form of racism.

[IsyFleur]

11:29 AM on 05/14/2010

As any Arizona Republican will tell you, Republicans are neither racist nor xenophobic.

[Travis bdboy]

11:28 AM on 05/14/2010

GEE WIZZ...politics is dirty stuff...enjoy

[grata2ude]

11:22 AM on 05/14/2010

So Bill Halter is the only one that sent jobs to foreign countries? Blanche Lincoln voted against health care for kids and those with pre existing conditions. I say she sinned against citizens in her state far worse.

[rsheeran]

10:31 AM on 05/14/2010

I don't see this as raciest as much as promoting someone as being unpatriotic. If Bill Halter in unAmerican then so is every CEO in the country for the last 30 years. This has been a pattern in the US because of high labor costs, environmental policies and high medical costs and you might as well toss in liability costs. That's why healthcare was so important, that's why tax incentives to companies are important and that's why our trade deficits need to be addressed. Trust me, India may have gotten the jobs but if Americans ever saw what those jobs were and the conditions those workers had to endure, it would be a real eye opener.

[MultipleOrigins]

11:09 AM on 05/14/2010

rsheeran,

Thank you.............. well said.

[PRODEMO]

02:07 PM on 05/14/2010

"ditto"

[PostModernPatriot]

11:21 AM on 05/14/2010

So many jobs outsourced to India are call center jobs. You mean Americans don't want to work in call centers?

[kimbutgar]

10:28 AM on 05/14/2010

If he sent a complaint to the FEC it will go and die like the bills passed by the House sent to the Senate. The FEC is not doing it's job became the 3 republicans on it refuse to do anything. This is a dysfunctional agency that is paralyzed by the republicans. I want a government that works and does it's job. When people vote republican they vote for inaction in our government (the only exception is if it benefits big business)

[Jerboy]

02:04 PM on 05/14/2010

Your characterization of the FEC is inaccurate and unfair. They are protecting us from nipples and Howard Stern.

[blizb]

10:22 AM on 05/14/2010

The GOP has supported the "trickle down" theory of economics.

They gave our tax dollars to corporations and the top 2% who kept the money, complained about the cost of American labor, shipped jobs overseas, downsized, then took record profits from the job losses and kept all the money with GOP support.

This would have happened with GOP support whether there was a union or not.

The GOP just did it anyway and use the unions as a scapegoat for their unethical economic policies that hurt the American people.

[josh2082]

10:22 AM on 05/14/2010

This type of ad is ridiculous, and shows a lack of understanding of the global nature of our economy. The United States could have kept those jobs--and easily. Either do them cheaper, or do them better. Why would you penalize a business, or an individual acting in the best interests of his business, for making a choice that would maximize the profit of that business. If I were a rational voter, I would support this guy BECAUSE of this ad. It would show me that he represents the interests of his client well, and if he was my Senator I would expect him to do the same- namely to act in the best interests of Arkansas. News flash to everyone who opposes outsourcing jobs to foreign countries: instead of moaning, complaining and playing victim about losing jobs fight the disease instead of the symptoms. Focus on making Americans more competitive in the global job market through training and education, not preserving josb simply because they belong to Americans.

[PathofTotality]

12:34 PM on 05/14/2010

"Focus on making Americans more competitive in the global job market through training and education, not preserving josb simply because they belong to Americans."

Very well put and agree 100%!

[Adam0Zone]

12:43 PM on 05/14/2010

So the lack of education and training is in the US is the issue? Suppose we level the playing field for US workers by having equivalent goverment subsidies for higher education like the Indian and Chinese government. And US companies do not have to pay any healthcare, social security, or income tax on foreign workers.

I for one am tired of hearing how other countries need US jobs more than we do and/or how other countries do the jobs better and/or are better educated and/or have a better work ethic.

It is totally insane for a nation to nearly totally export high-tech industries offshore in the name of short term profits. This is more corporate propaganda.

[josh2082]

01:24 PM on 05/14/2010

I'm not sure my comment said other countries need US jobs "more." You're breaking economic principles here when you apply the word "need." Further, it's hardly corporate propaganda. Educationally, America is beginning to lag behind many countries. Couple that with the natural economic trend arguing that every country will have industries that crop up and then move out of the country as it beceomes more advanced, thus moving jobs to countries in a similar economic position as the first country was when that industry gained momentum. The problem here is not that we are "losing" jobs to countries like India or China. In actuality, the jobs are merely shifting according to supply and demand and cost/benefit analysis. The problem, the REAL problem is that the people who had these jobs in the United States have nothing to fall back and no marketable skills if these jobs leave. The government has exacerbated this phenomenon by allowing our educational standards to lapse. If you would like to discuss economic reality and not hug-your-American-with-no-competitive-advantage-in-the-global-marketplace ideas, I welcome a robust debate.

[Bushdepression]

10:20 AM on 05/14/2010

Just like to point out that Indians are Caucasians.

[DannyGee]

11:21 AM on 05/14/2010

some are. many are not.

[tantric mantra]

01:37 PM on 05/14/2010

The vast majority of Indians possess genes from both the original occupants of the subcontinent (a mix of African, Australian aborigine and east Asian races) and the caucasian invaders from Central Asia and Europe over 3000 years. In effect, Indians are their own race. You'll see more Caucasian blood up north and more Dravidian (the term to refer to the original occupants) blood in the south. Quantitatively speaking, Indians closest resemble caucasians (weighted average of genetic criteria).

[dimplesmile7]

03:00 PM on 05/14/2010

That is not entirely true. Some do have caucasian blood but not all.