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Playing the Hate-Card in the Midterm ElectionsRacial attacks in campaigns aren't just politically effective, but politically correct
Look, pardon my French, but: Why is it that when unscrupulous, bigoted, opportunistic politicians employ ethnic stereotypes and slurs, xenophobic rhetoric, interethnic hostility, and voter intimidation to their campaigns' advantage, it is often purported to be a mark of integrity -- a tool of bold, "straight-talking" defenders of "American values" against "foreign" influences? And yet why, when people of conscience call them on their sh-t, nail them for these tactics, the practitioners of bigotry whine about being "censored" by complaining minority "special interests" who are perpetrating a "tyranny of P.C." upon the electorate by "playing the race card"? Why? Because race-baiting in campaigns has always been politically effective. In 2002, alas, it is also becoming politically correct. Like it or not, race and ethnic heritage has always played a prominent and unhappy role in the careers of Asian-American elected political leaders, appointees, and candidates. The campaign finance scandals of the Nineties that were so chilling to APA voter participation have also placed APA candidates of all parties under increased scrutiny and suspicion in the past few elections. Their opponents have scored cheap points by unfairly casting aspersions on their patriotism, loyalty, and honesty. Still other politicians turn anti-immigrant sentiment into votes through releasing soundbites disparaging Asians. Meanwhile, Asian Americans and people of Middle Eastern descent have been actively deterred by officials from entering polling booths to exercise their voting rights. Such is our political reality, and we can expect to see such strategies deployed again and successfully this campaign season. Among Democrats and Republicans alike, it will be somehow okay to denounce "towel-heads" and speculate on opponents' ties to Red China this campaign season. It will be unseemly but not unthinkable for desperate campaign strategists to explicitly paint minority defenders of civil liberties and immigrant rights in particular with Al-Quaeda's brush. In 2002, the incentives are plain: Campaigns that play the hate card can expect to receive a decent enough bump, yet suffer an outcry more muted than in years past. (Who wants to be associated with lax security, foreign money, or an "Axis of Evil"?) It has also become easier for non-campaign entities to make "What color is your representative" a seemingly legitimate and effective public issue.
In only one of the season's many examples, an eleventh-hour mail campaign by the so-called "San Marcos Citizens for Traditional Values" decrying mayor David Chiu and his "Hispanic male and female, black female, and unmarried white" cohorts on city council certainly helped challenger Robert B. Habingreither squeak by on election day with a mere 23 votes. And now that 9/11 and the Florida recounts have linked the phrases "national unity" and "get over it" in our political lexicon, it will be easier for candidates who benefit from bigotry to tsk-tsk it away. Lest we be moved to discount the San Marcos race as an anomaly -- merely an isolated bump in an otherwise level field marked by pervasive good sportsmanship and fair play -- it is worth recounting below just a handful of related incidences, resources, and readings featured on Asian-American Village over the past few years. 1998: Reporter challenges loyalty of GOP U.S. Senate candidate, Matt Fong, asking him "which side [he'd] pick" as a senator if war arose between China and the U.S. The former California state treasurer, veteran, and fourth-generation Chinese American tells TIME Magazine that a "subtle stereotyping and racism...caught Wen Ho Lee, and it caught me." February 2000: Would-be GOP presidential candidate John McCain seeks to bolster his reputation as a "straight-talking guy" through continued -- and largely unchallenged use of the slur "gook" on the campaign trail. November 2000: Gerald Felando, opponent of Japanese-American California State Assemblyman George Nakano (Dist. 53), launches web site featuring a photo of Nakano dressed in a kendo outfit and accusing him of accepting money from foreign sources, including Chinese arms dealers, military intelligence and Communists. November 2000: After a federal investigation confirms charges that South Asian American and Arab American voters were singled out for harassment and obstruction at polling stations by election workers, the town of Hamtramck, MI near Detroit must enact measures to prohibit intimidation of minority voters under Department of Justice monitoring
May 2001: Oregon Rep. David Wu, the only mainland Chinese American ever elected to Congress, is denied entry to U.S. Energy Department headquarters by guards who asked if he was an American. Ironically, the Congressman was on his way to deliver a speech to Asian Americans in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. 2001: A New Republic article alleges that Taiwan-born Bush Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has influenced the conservative Heritage Foundation and her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell, to the People's Republic of China's favor. June 2001: U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein delivers a Senate floor speech warning of "The Growing Web of Suspicion of Asian Americans," citing the affronts to Wu, Fong, and Chao and calling for top-down leadership in confronting Asian stereotyping: "How can we question the loyalty of any American because of his or her race or ethnic background? To put it simply, this is un-American and must be stopped...We must redouble our efforts to eliminate racial stereotypes that strike at the heart of American values and shame us all." March 2002: Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter launches typically bigoted rant against Norman Mineta. Column alleges that the Transportation Secretary's stand against racial profiling constitutes a "Bataan Death March," and accuses Mineta (who, she alleges, only got the job because he is a minority) of harboring "a hatred for America". May 2002: Employees at Las Vegas' Stardust hotel-casino mistake Hawaii's Filipino-American governor, Ben Cayetano, for a foreigner while checking in for a trade show featuring Hawaiian-made products. The governor tells hotel staff he is a citizen and shows his driver's license, though he is asked to present a passport until management intercedes. "Those of you from Hawaii, the colored ones...know when we go over [to the mainland] we get that kind of treatment once in a while,'' Cayetano says with good humor. "But I told the manager it wasn't a big thing." June 2002: David Chiu loses his race for re-election as Mayor of San Marcos, Texas after being targeted by an eleventh-hour mailing campaign. Letters from the so-called "San Marcos Citizens for Traditional Values" equated Chiu's governing style with that of an "oppressive communist China regime" and went on to list the ethnicity and marital status of several council members: "His sidekicks in this election are a Hispanic male and a Hispanic female. We already have (a) Hispanic male, a black female, and (an) unmarried white male on the city council. Isn't it time for a council that reflects traditional Texas family values?'' As of this writing, his opponent, Southwest Texas State University professor Robert B. Habingreither, appeared to have won the race by a mere 23 votes, which remained to be certified by the city council on June 4 and were possibly subject to to a recount. August 2002: Guam Delegate and gubernatorial candidate Robert Underwood is subjected to an off-island smear campaign when an anonymous mass-mailing from a Mississippi post office accuses him of bigotry. Partially written in Tagalog, the message is seen as a likely attempt to divide Guam's Filipino Americans' support for Underwood's campaign and is condemned by APAs nationwide. Underwood goes on to win the Democratic primary election and face Felix Camacho in the 2002 race for governor. [Guam Pacific Daily News coverage] [AsianWeek analysis by Phil Tajitsu Nash]
September 2002: In an e-mail to a conservative P.A.C., GOP Iowa State House candidate Karen Balderston challenges India-born Democrat Swati Dandekar's ability to represent Iowans' "Midwest values and core beliefs, let alone understand and appreciate the constitutional rights guaranteed to us in writing by our Founding Fathers? (not her Founding Fathers).'' Astonishingly, the unrepentant Balderston calls the leak to Gazette of Cedar Rapids a "dirty trick" by Democrats, and further asserts that "repressionist views" presumed to stem from Dandekar's "[caste in India], the most repressive form of discrimination on the planet," make the 30-year Iowa resident unable to represent House District 36's interests. GOP leaders are forced to withdraw support from Balderston's campaign. October 2002: At an event supporting Linda Lingle's campaign for Hawaii governor, the Honolulu Weekly newspaper reports comments by a 77-year-old Filipino WWII veteran criticizing Democrat Mazie Hirono's Japanese ancestry. The paper quotes Camilo Manong as saying: "Lingle will help us fight for our benefits. Hirono is a Japanese. Not good. So many were killed by the Japanese. We remember." The published statement immediately draws a response from the National Federation of Filipino Americans Association, which represents 300 Filipino groups across the country, condemning the comment as racist, unfair, and un-American, and calling for the Lingle campaign to denounce the comment. [Asian-American Village "'HIstory' or 'APAthy' in 2002?]
Further Readings and Information Resources
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