Conrad Burns Gets Heat for “Little Guatemalan” Comments

U.S. Senate Race

By Courtney Lowery, 8-22-06

Conrad Burns just can't get a break. Earlier this week, he was blasted for looking a little sleepy at a farm bill and today, he's getting heat for a comment he made at a speech about his roofer -- a "a nice little Guatemalan man."

Kevin O'Brien, the Democrats' videographer, was on hand to catch the comments, in which Burns recounted a story about asking the roofer for his greencard. (And here's the real story: All this fodder is coming from video released by the Dems. Click here for the recent AP story on the use of video and YouTube in this election cycle.)

The Associated Press has the full story (complete with the standard last few paragraphs dredging up the "rag heads" comments and the other shiners the senator has taken for his foot-in-mouth moments) out on the wire this afternoon. And, this time, it's not just Dems criticizing Burns.

Burns' office maintains his comments were meant as an anecdotal story, but some say it wasn't appropriate even in jest. Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for Federation for American Immigration Reform tells the AP, "If you have the very people who are responsible for making the laws mocking them, it's a pretty good indication of why we have 12 million people breaking the law."

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By Courtney Lowery, 8-22-06 | comments (9) | email story | print story

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By jeff, 8-23-06

I think the larger issue is the videotaping. Like to see a New Westian do a nice article on that.

Is it Warner or Allen in Virginia that got caught in a similar comment?

What this does is reduce interactions with politicians to the blandest pablum of scripted sound bites.

By Larry Kralj, Environmental Rangers!, 8-23-06

I'd like to see Allen and our own Sen. Cornpone Buns doing their version of the latest dance craze sweeping the GOP. It's called the Macacarena. It's kinda like the Macarena, except that instead of putting your hand on your hip, you put foot in and out of your mouth. REPEATEDLY!

By Tim Peterson, 8-23-06

Nice Going, Connie. Keep it up...
My favorite part of the whole thing on youtube is that he stops his stump speech to take a cell phone call from his "little guatemalan" friend. His constituients aren't even important enough to him to miss the call. Might be a lobbyist or a GOP hack, right Burnsey? Nope, it was his "little guatamalan man."
What a boob!

By Tim Peterson, 8-23-06

Oh Jeff,
Nobody could script this:
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/conrad-burns/conrad-burns-says-something-stupid-the-video-195963.php

By Nick Domitrovich, 8-23-06

Why is the videotaping a larger issue? Taping your opponent's stump speeches is campaigns 101 fare. One of the best reasons to do it is to hold them accountable for what they say. In these days of "compassionate conservatism," it's commonplace for candidates to say one thing publicly and then give their wacko base some red-meat at the fundraisers -- a video helps pose the question when someone wants to ask where they really stand.

Politics have been reduced to soundbites since the birth of the modern newscast, and it's our own fault. If we did the necessary legwork to make our electoral decisions and didn't allow lousy network news stations to make up our minds for us, we wouldn't be in the predicament.

By jeff, 8-23-06

Ah, it's only the conservatives who need to be taped, eh, Nick? Maybe it's negative campaigning 101, but somehow I doubt it's been common in the past, and I suspect its use is primarily limited to one particular party.

A video poses no questions. People do. What I've seen from videos is democrats showing Conrad nodding off at a hearing, big whoop, and most famously, Baucus' video of his republican opponent cutting someone's hair while in a knit suit.

As far as using a video camera to find out where someone really stands, how is using the excerpts to expose faux pas or a sleepy senator accomplishing that? All this sniggering isn't "addressing the issues".

If you haven't been "doing necessary legwork" in order to make your electoral decisions, that's probably your own fault. But I won't need some jerk with a video camera stalking candidates to help me.

By Kyle Jacobsen, 8-24-06

If any of you are upset w/ Burns' comment, conservative or liberal progressive, then you are trying to be upset. If I were wealthy enough to hire personal help, and were that hired help a nice southern lady, might I not refer to her as a "nice little Arkansas lady?" That this type of nonsense dominates the discussion, and not the actual issues or voting records of the Senator, probably is why voter turnout is so dismal.

By Nick Domitrovich, 8-24-06

Exactly as I was saying:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/24/MNGE7KO8FL1.DTL

By heartlake, 8-26-06

Connie Burns should've been paying more attention to the Decider - the man who deflects rhetorical glitches like Russell Crowe's gladiator shield.

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