This is some serious racist bullshit. Absolutely stunning. This is a campaign ad out of Arkansas attacking Bill Halter, Democratic candidate for Senate. It's a paid for by a group called "Americans for Job Security," which is apparently funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
It's the worst kind of ad, blatantly preying on racist, attitudes and heightened American anxiety about the economy. Shameless. That's a one-two punch combination for disaster. I'm absolutely terrified about the kind of effect an ad like this can have, far beyond Halter's campaign.
Need an easy scapegoat? Stick it to India. It's all lumped into the same xenophobic rhetoric that's been fueling the nasty Tea Party rallies and increasingly deeper drawn lines over who and who doesn't belong. Here, South Asians are the easy other -- and who's ultimately going to suffer for it?
The worst part is, they've apparently placed a huge TV buy for this ad, spending $400,000 -- enough to the saturate the market three times over in the next week. That means this damn thing will be on nearly every time you turn on the TV in Little Rock. More at Daily Kos: AR-Sen: Hell to Pay: Chamber-backed group runs racist ad against Bill Halter.
So what can we do? For a start, how about contacting Senator Blanche Lincoln and demanding the commercial be taken down? Halter's opponent needs to know that our community will not stand for this kind of racist bullshit. There's contact information the Senator's office here. Calling is more effective, but email works too.
UPDATE: According to Politico, the price tag on the ad is "upwards of $900,000": Conservative group fires on Halter. Also, local news outlets are starting to pick up on this, reporting that both candidates are condemning the ad: Halter, Lincoln condemn outside group's TV ad.