(Cross-posted @ Gabacha.com)
While Spanish-language television and radio is busy broadcasting the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court appointment hearings, in between coverage there's going to be another broadcast that shouldn't be missed.
In a spot released yesterday, the new immigration rights group on the block, Presente Action, provided a very good example as to why the trials and tribulations of Sotomayor are about way more than a seat on the most powerful legal body in the land. What's really important is how Republican ideals and behavior during the ordeal will reflect on the larger Latino community as a whole, amid an already souring relationship.
It was because of this then that it was such a good tactic to release this advertisement, a spot that was recently featured on Fox News star Bill O'Reilly's prime time show, along with a variety of other outlets:
Does the video look familiar? It should, as this was the exact same card the Obama political operatives played in their successful campaign with the introduction of the now infamous "Dos Caros" ("Two faces" in English) ad, which accused Republican Sen. John McCain of buckling like a cheap card table on immigration reform legislation due to the influence of anti-immigrant figures like Rush Limbaugh:
As can be seen from the O'Reilly tantrum above, there is also laughable interview with ace Washington Times reporter Amanda Carpenter, who's "investigative" work on Presente Action appears to mean going to their Web site and seeing that they are a project of the Citizen Engagement Laboratory, a California-based nonprofit (I'm guessing a 501c4, since they are doing nonpartisan political advocacy) that has sponsored a variety of programs, including MoveOn.org. So obviously, following "Internet expert" Carpenter's logic, they must be in cahoots!
But unlike MoveOn, Presente Action has so far proved that its political tactics are smart and with a specific purpose, not like the useless anti-Bush actions and moronic ads one would see from on-line Astroturf groups a few years ago that, really, accomplished very little if anything at all.
Of course, all of this miffs O'Reilly, a man who these days perfectly exemplifies the odor of an ideological relic from another century. No Bill, it's not about running minority candidates, it's about victory and the simple facts that Florida hosts a Latino population of 20 percent and went blue with 27 electoral votes in 2008. The state also has an undocumented immigrant population of more than one million according to a recent analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. Are you getting it yet?
But, while one waits for said relics to start treading water once they realize they are miles deep below the proverbial lake surface, let's take a moment to introduce Presente Action. ¡Presente presente!