Sharron Angle Says Fear “The Wave” (Yes, She Means Brown People)

Things just keep getting uglier in Nevada.

By Julianne Hing Oct 27, 2010

Sharron Angle’s got a new anti-immigrant race-baiting ad out, and by now her formula should be familiar: Grainy, high-contrast images of thuggish Latino-looking men wearing baggy jeans and doo rags mug at the camera, while innocent white babes squeal in their kindergarten classrooms like defenseless prey. All the while a menacing voiceover worthy of a summer-blockbuster trailer spells out the threat: Those scary immigrants, whose presence in the country is enabled by Democratic Sen. Harry Reid. This latest version is called "The Wave," as in, the swell of immigrants flooding into Nevada. And it’s so extreme that it’s prompted outrage from folks wide corners–and drawn the women from "The View" back into politics after their Bill O’Reilly run-in. Joy Behar, who recently got into a shouting match with O’Reilly over Muslim Americans, went right off the scales of expected daytime television. "I’d like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it," Behar said on Monday. "I’m not praying for her. She’s going to hell. She’s going to hell, this bitch." Ouch. New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez called the ad "despicable" when asked whether he thought Angle’s ads were racist. "It tries to portray all Latinos in this country in a negative light in a state that has such a large, vibrant and productive population," Menendez said on [MSNBC](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44246.html). "And it goes hand in hand in with what Sharron Angle is doing to try to suppress that vote in Nevada," referring to ads that have been circulated to try to encourage Latino voters in Nevada [not to vote](https://colorlines.com/archives/2010/10/latinos_for_reform.html) in next week’s elections. Immigrant rights groups America’s Voice, Mi Familia Vota and Campaign for Community Change [responded on Tuesday](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20101026hispanic_groups_blast_sharron_angles_tv_ads/) by launching a set of Spanish-language ads to encourage Latinos to reject Angle. This past Sunday on Meet the Press, Rachel Maddow called Angle’s previous ["Thanks, Pal"](https://colorlines.com/archives/2010/10/sharon_angle_reid_likes_thuggish_aliens_better_than_you.html) ad ["the most overtly racist"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/24/rachel-maddow-sharron-angle_n_773008.html) political ad she’d seen this election season. When pressed about her original "Thanks, Pal" ad, Angle said her ads were not racially tinged, and that her real worry was about the "porous" U.S.-Canada border, even though her commercials rely on coded language and images of dark-skinned men who are referred to as "illegals" throughout. The race between Reid and Angle continues to be too close to call. A Tuesday Rasmussen poll shows Angle ahead of Reid, 49 to 45 percent. But Behar and Angle weren’t done with each other after Monday. Angle responded to Behar’s verbal lashing by sending her a beautiful arrangement of flowers, with a note that Behar pulled out of her bosom to read aloud: "Joy, Raised $150,000 online yesterday–thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle." Behar then responded by calling Angle a bitch, again, and then looked into the camera [to say](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/joy-behar-sharron-angle_n_774932.html): "I’d like to point out that those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants, and they’re not voting for you, bitch." "You know what’s offensive?" Behar went on. "Watching those ads, and watching people who work for a living made to look like villains. That’s what’s offensive. Not what I said. Let’s get that straight, America."