The other Clinton-Obama contest

"Insensitivity was reflected in a recent issue of the New Yorker, when Clinton's veteran Latino political operative Sergio Bendixen was quoted as saying, "The Hispanic voter -- and I want to say this very carefully -- has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates."

That brief quote from an obscure politician has generated shock and awe in Democratic circles. It comes close to validating the concern that the Clinton campaign is not only relying on a brown firewall built on an anti-black base but is reinforcing it. A prominent Democrat who has not picked a candidate this year told me, "In any campaign I have been involved in, Bendixen would have been gone."

"Clinton's Latino spin
by Gregory Rodriguez
The Clinton campaign's assertion that Latinos historically haven't voted for black candidates is divisive -- and false.
January 28, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez28jan28,0,1688217.column

If a Hillary Clinton campaign official told a reporter that white voters never support black candidates, would the media have swallowed the message whole? What if a campaign pollster began whispering that Jews don't have an "affinity" for African American politicians? Would the pundits have accepted the premise unquestioningly?"

"The Clintons attempted to make South Carolina a 'Black thing', they underestimated both the intellect and evolution of the southern state."

"Sen. Clinton's immigration policy is very clear - she championed NAFTA, one of the leading causes of illegal immigration to this country. After NAFTA, the working conditions and wages in Mexico tanked, and that's why we're having an immigration debate in the United States today. In order to compete with low Mexican factory wages, US companies cut workers and benefits, making remaining workers all the more sensitive to the competition of non-union undocumented workers flooding into the country. NAFTA and our blind eye policy towards worker abuses south of the border is the root cause of illegal immigration. And the Clintons, instead of demanding Mexico raise its wages and follow its labor laws, to give US companies a chance to compete and Mexican workers a chance to make ends meet in their own country, championed NAFTA, which has exacerbated the situation for everyone. "