GOP-Linked 'Latinos For Reform' Airs Nevada Ads Urging Hispanics Not To Vote (VIDEO)
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UPDATE: Univision will not broadcast ads -- ThinkProgress reports that Spanish-language network Univision has reversed its decision to air ads by Latinos for Reform that urge Hispanic voters in Nevada not to vote.
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A third-party group headed by a GOP operative is out with a new Nevada ad spot encouraging Latinos in the state not to cast votes in this year's midterm elections.
Robert de Posada, president of Latinos for Reform and a prominent conservative operative and political analyst for Univision, has commissioned the ads in what he describes as a response to Hispanic resentment over the failure of Washington to address immigration reform despite repeated promises.
Politico's Ben Smith talked to de Posada, who told him:
"We're saying what a lot of people are feeling. It's the only way for Hispanics to stand up and demand some attention," [de Posada] said, adding that he also couldn't ask voters to support Sharon Angle.
"I can't ask people to support a Republican candidate who has taken a completely irresponsible and bordering on racist position on immigration," he said.
The ad has quickly made waves in Nevada, prompting leaders in the Latino community to denounce the campaign's message and to encourage stations to take it off the air. (UPDATE: Univision will not air the ad.)
"That message has to be denounced, its got to be thrown out," President of the Hispanics in Politics organization, Fernando Romero told KTNV.
"To ask a community, any community to silence their voice as a way to resolve or react during a time when their voice is most needed, is what makes all this reprehensible," Luis Valera of UNLV's Government Relations said, according to KTNV's report.
Nevada Democrats convened on Monday to discuss the ad and have since called on Sharron Angle and Nevada GOP Gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval to impugn the message.
Latinos For Reform also shook up the 2008 elections, when they cropped up in Pennsylvania, Colorado and New Mexico with an ad campaign that sought to drive racial divisions using a supposed allegiance of then candidate-Obama to African-Americans over Latinos.
The text of that ad, from NPR:
Barack Obama a friend of the Latino community? The record demonstrates the opposite. Did you know that after the 2000 census that showed a tremendous growth of Latinos in Chicago, Obama told reporters in Chicago that while everyone agrees that the Hispanic population has grown, they cannot expand by taking power from the African-American community. You heard right...but there's more. Did you know that Obama has never hired a Latino to a senior position in his office throughout his legislative career? Did you know that Obama has opposed trade with Mexico, Central America and Colombia, yet supports free trade with Africa?
This effort to squelch the Latino vote may be particularly disturbing to Nevada Democrats considering a recent report showing that Latinos were more likely to vote Democratic in this year's elections, but were already lacking the motivation to show up to the polls.
Watch the Spanish version, airing in Nevada:
Watch the English version, not for air:
UPDATE:
Sharron Angle has come out against the ad after Reid inaccurately blamed her for its creation.
From ABC News:
"No ad should ever discourage voters from voting or expressing their opinions at the ballot box," Angle's spokesman Jarrod Agen said in a statement to ABC News.
Angle said in a radio interview today that not encouraging voters to come out would be "exactly the wrong thing to do in this election."
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The Huffington Post Nick Wing First Posted: 10/19/10 01:01 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:05 PM ET