Hello and goodbye, Loretta Sanchez:
US. Senate candidate and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris was at a loss for words Saturday when told that her principal opponent, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Santa Ana, had been videotaped making a joke about the difference between Indian Americans and Native Americans in which she tapped her hand to her mouth in imitation of a “war cry.”
Harris’ mother is Indian and her father Jamaican.
Fail.
Valdivia
yikes. not ready for primetime eh? wasn’t she involved in some scandal before this? did I make that up?
PaulW
it’s the clueless racism that never surprises, really.
David Koch
I’m sure the corporate media will spend all week calling them “thugs” and denouncing their family structure and lack of dads.
Hawes
After all, Democrats are the real racists….
NotMax
“Cross my heart, I thought it was a meeting with a heathen savage; imagine the surprise when it turned out to be a meeting to curry favor with a wog.”
sigaba
@Valdivia: I would have thought Sanchez was reasonably ready for prime time. She made he bones beating Bob Dornan out of his congressional seat. That was a long time ago though…
Keith P.
Admittedly, when I was in college, we used to say “Dot or feather?” in much the same way, but we were also drunk/high/young/stupid.
Anne Laurie
@David Koch: Last post, dude.
Goblue72
I guess Kamala can stop worrying about the primary now and move on to general election fundraising.
Mike J
@Hawes: In this particular case, yes. But of course Harris is also a Dem. I don’t think the Republicans will pick it up.
Valdivia
@sigaba:
Maybe she’s rusty? Or the attention is different because it is a Senate run and Harris is involved?
Roger Moore
@sigaba:
A lot of that was about changing demographics, though.
fuckwit
I have never been a fan of Loretta Sanchez. Good riddance.
Goblue72
@PaulW: It is the O.C. after all.
Tyro
How can someone be so completely stupid?
Roy G.
She must have missed that Seinfeld episode with Kramer and the cigar store indian.
Mike J
@Goblue72: Do they have partisan primaries or just the jungle primary?
Amir Khalid
@Tyro:
I guess derp happens to us all.
JPL
Who else is running? Not that it matters because I think she needs to bow out. It’s a little late to be graceful about it.
Roger Moore
@Mike J:
Just the jungle primary. But if Harris is the only Democrat on the ballot with any name recognition, she can coast through the primary. It has the potential to be a replay of Dianne Feinstein and the 23 dwarfs.
Goblue72
@Mike J: oh that’s right. We have jungle primaries now.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
I think it’s a reference to “the law of the jungle”. It’s a Hobbesian struggle of all against all.
Goblue72
@Roger Moore: that’s my understanding. Open primary, fight to the death, last two standing regardless of party
David Koch
On the bright side, Dan Snyder just hired her as head coach of the Washington Redskins.
randy khan
Not that I’m thrilled that Sanchez did this, but it actually helps the Dems if she drops out, since the risk of the open primary is fratricide among candidates from one party.
David Koch
I guess this what they mean by a “Dirty Sanchez”
SiubhanDuinne
@David Koch:
A big loss for the Braves, Indians, and Blackhawks.
Brachiator
I don’t know that Sanchez will drop out over this. Part of this will depend on whether other Latino politicians rally around her and try to minimize this as a misaimed joke.
gf120581
Well, that was a poor move.
To be fair, she never had much of a chance to begin with. I don’t even know why she left her safe House seat for this race. Barring some cataclysmic meltdown, Harris has this in the bag.
David Koch
@Brachiator: as we speak, her candidacy is collapsing like a wet taco.
Citizen_X
@Goblue72:
Well, you see? The war whoop was appropriate after all.
tybee
@Keith P.:
hell, i’m part creek and still ask that.
Laertes
It’s put me right off her, and I’d normally vote for just about any Democrat other than Harris. I’ll take a flawed professional over an amateur. After this, you have to worry that Sanchez could bumble away an easy win and let the Republicans pick up a senate seat they have no business winning. (cf. Coakley, Martha)
Tree With Water
“US. Senate candidate and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris was at a loss for words Saturday..”. yeah, in public, anyway. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if she did a little war whoop happy dance of her own behind closed doors.
Cervantes
@Tree With Water:
Oh, she found words in short order. “Shocking” was one of them.
Laertes
Harris doesn’t need to do anything. That knife’ll twist itself.
burnspbesq
@Goblue72:
What’s that supposed to mean, shit-for-brains?
askew
Loretta Sanchez made racist comments about her Vietnamense opponent in 2010. She has an ugly history with racism. She’s done with this comment.
cain
I don’t see what the big deal is. I’ve done that many times myself. I am an Indian myself. I was making fun of my own background since that idiot Columbus couldn’t tell where the fuck he was when he named the natives Indians.
I sometimes wish people would stop being so sensitive about stupid shit like this.
cain
@askew: Now that is too bad. Doing some mild ribbing, that is okay. But making racist comments is just dumb.
Xantar
@cain:
Yes, but you were making fun of your own background. Sanchez is not Indian or Native American.
Brachiator
@Xantar: Like almost all Latinos, Sanchez has some Native American heritage.
AxelFoley
@cain: You’re not running for office.
Full metal Wingnut
@Keith P.: Modem or totem?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Xantar:
As Brachiator said, it’s complicated because Sanchez is Mexican-American, so she probably has at least some Native American heritage, though probably not one of the US-recognized American Indian tribes.
Still a really stupid thing for her to do, particularly since many of the California tribes have a lot more political power than they used to thanks to ca$ino money.
JWR
In this case, I’d say it’s sooner. Way sooner. Something weird goin’ on in this lady’s head.