I expect Republicans to be bigoted assholes. It's particularly heinous when Democrats do it.
Minnick is up 20 in the polls, while his opponent is broke and has zero institutional support (he's a teabagger who beat the establishment's choice). It's a done race, yet Minnick decides to be a bigot anyway by attacking his opponent's work as an immigration lawyer.
Not only is this gratuitous, but it hurts his state's small but growing Democratic Party. Believe it or not, Idaho has a rapidly growing Latino community, and Democratic chances in the state depend on nurturing that community and bringing it into the progressive fold.
• Although only about 10 percent of the state’s residents are Hispanic, growth in that population represented about 25 percent of the state’s population growth between 2000 and 2009. Idaho’s Hispanic population grew at an annual rate of 7 percent, compared to 2 percent for non-Hispanics. The nationwide Hispanic population grew by 4 percent during the same period.
• As of 2008, 165,000 of Idaho’s 1.55 million residents were Hispanic.
• The average family size for Hispanic Idahoans was 3.8 people, compared to 3.1 percent for non-Hispanic residents.
• Idaho’s Hispanic population is younger than the overall populace. As of 2009, Hispanics’ median age was 23, compared to 36 for non-Hispanics.
• Between 2000 and 2009, Idaho’s Hispanic school-age population grew much faster than its non-Hispanic counterpart: 55 percent, compared to 3 percent.
With the Latino demographic growing at over three times that of Anglos, its clear that Idaho's days as a lily white enclave are finished. His state is changing, and changing in a way that will help his future political endeavors -- if he could simply resist the urge to be a bigot. Yet Minnick has decided, for no obvious reason, to run a hateful campaign.
Asshole.
p.s. Jim Marshall is also an asshole.
