Another freaking phone call

I just got another freaking automated phone call from Thomas Stith and his campaign for mayor.  It's kinda funny in a way: I believe Mr. Stith (rhymes with "piss," if you have a lisp) said something like he thought others were making Durham a safe haven for illegal immigrants.  I also believe Mr. Stith is black.  Maybe his being Republican (I think) overrides any sense he may have that whipping up electoral support by "playing the race card" is unfair.  I wonder if he'd be doing this were his main opponent not also black?  Being racist sometimes requires oneself to walk a very fine line.

Edit: Barry went to the city council meeting tonight (17 September 2007); here's his report on Mr. Stith. 

You know, I didn't know jack about this guy a couple months ago.  But with his two simple automated phone calls to me, he's pretty much ensured that he's never going to get my vote on anything. 

Comments

[nickyindurham]

This robo call is a classic page out of the republican Karl Rove book.
Use a code word to rake fear- "safe haven for criminal illegals"
then he calls his brand of hate-r-ade the antedote to the fear.

He is running on a crime platform and he does not have the cajones to say what he really beleives. In a Rove-esque move Stith is pointing to another "minority", "illegals" which I beleive he is using as a code for Latinos.
FYI - "illegal" in the Latino community is akin using the *N* word. So watch out.

Shame on him and Shame on Durham if he gets support.

[Joe]

I have no doubt he's trying to scare people by somehow associating Latinos with crime. What I doubt is whether there's any such correlation. Most of the neighborhoods I've had any experience with seem to get safer when there's a Latino influx. So I doubt there's any correlation with Latinos or "illegal immigrants" and crime.

Ah, now I get it. He gets a white, anti-crime vote and a black, anti-Latino vote. Perfect. The race card plays both ways at the same time. Excellent. :(

[Barry]

In a Rove-esque move Stith is pointing to another "minority", "illegals" which I beleive he is using as a code for Latinos.
FYI - "illegal" in the Latino community is akin using the *N* word. So watch out.

I would guess that the voter registration data shows that Hispanics are under-represented among registered voters in Durham County, and that Stith thinks this is not likely to hurt him at the polls.

[Barry]

Oh, and for what it's worth, Stith is both a Republican and a former VP for Art Pope's Civitas Institute. He resigned the latter position earlier this year before announcing his candidacy for mayor.

[Joe]

You know, OTOH, I'm sure that Stith's making these calls is just electoral posturing. OTOH, if he does get elected, which seems doubtful, he just might be called on to implement his campaign promises. (Of course politicians often skip out on those promises anyway, but we'll leave that alone ATM.)

So, to make things clear: I don't want our police force running around asking "Your papers, please" any more than I want them running around asking random people if they've ever smoked pot, owned illegal software, committed sodomy, or had lust in their hearts for another woman. I suspect they have better things to do. I'd like them to do those things, instead of trying to help fix someone else's clearly problematic immigration mess. I don't care so much who's here as I do what they're doing. One murderer or one crack house down the street is a much worse problem than even 100 otherwise law-abiding immigrants, illegal or otherwise.