Stay Classy, Jim Kerr

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by: Colorado Pols

More Republican-sponsored “Arizona copycat” anti-immigration bills died at the state capitol yesterday, and though that might not be quite all of them, it’s clear that this little campaign didn’t turn out quite the way the Republican Study Committee of Colorado intended.

But as we’ve said repeatedly, the chief effect of these bills has only been to further alienate the Latino electorate in Colorado from Republicans, and smart Republicans have stayed well clear of them. In addition to the obvious distastefulness of opening the door to racial profiling, and the certainty of expensive litigation if these bills were to pass, some Republicans flashed signs of being truly, well, there’s no other way to say it, bigoted about stuff along the way.

Can’t see the audio player? Click here.

This is an audio clip from testimony over one of several immigration-related bills debated this past month, in this case a bill (HB11-1003) requiring photo IDs in order to vote. The witness is a Venezuelan-American, who gets some laughs after noting that her country still has lots of corruption even with a voter ID law (see: Chavez, Hugo). But it’s the end of her testimony, and the response from GOP Rep. Jim Kerr, that will drop your jaw:

KERR: Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? [pause] Anybody bilingual that can talk Venezuelan, or whatever… [Pols emphasis]

WITNESS: Spanish. Spanish. Thank you. Thanks for your time.

KERR: Thank you very much.

UNKNOWN: “Venezuelan?” [laughter]

KERR: I thought I’d try it.

So for starters, did you really think her English was that bad? It seems to us if you’re going to say something so churlish and offensive, it should at least be based in reality. And of course, there’s the hillbilly ignorance self-evident in asking if anyone present can “talk Venezuelan.”

Like we said, are there any more of these immigration bills lurking in the hopper? Because surely there is a Latino Colorado voter out there who has not yet been offended.

13 thoughts on “Stay Classy, Jim Kerr”

Aristotle says:

February 17, 2011 at 11:41 pm

… an elected Republican who doesn’t know anything about Venezuela, and probably anything else that’s outside our borders. Why am I not surprised.

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1. Middle of the Road says:
  
  February 18, 2011 at 12:18 am
  
  Dumb. Ass.
  
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2. Ralphie says:
  
  February 18, 2011 at 4:59 am
  
  HD 28 could have had Steve Harvey.
  
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Diogenesdemar says:

February 17, 2011 at 11:58 pm

just pass a damn budget, and — since you appear unable to do anything else constructive — go f**king home.

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1. Rainidog says:
  
  February 18, 2011 at 12:24 am
  
  and the microphones are turned on, they will stay until whatever day in May the session is officially over.
  
  And keep racking up the stupid, which we can hope will work in favor of sanity in 2012.
  
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  1. ajb says:
    
    February 18, 2011 at 12:57 am
    
    n/t
    
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  2. Diogenesdemar says:
    
    February 18, 2011 at 3:14 am
    
    (if you assume that the people who already voted once for these clowns do care, and don’t already know, what kind of asshats the Kerrs of this State are like.)
    
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DavidThi808 says:

February 18, 2011 at 12:59 am

About 1/3 of start-ups are started by immigrants. Most of them are from Asia, a lot from India. They’re not going to move to a state that is anti-brown.

It’s secondary to the clear anti-Latino basis but it’s like this state is doing everything it can to drive high tech business out and stop others from moving here. This is one more giant nail in that coffin.

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BlueCat says:

February 18, 2011 at 1:19 am

It was perfectly fine. Kerr is a stupid rude, childish little piss ant. And no, I guess they (including those laughing along) don’t want to leave a single Latino or just even a single intelligent, well mannered, considerate, civilized person un-offended. Can’t wait for demographics to steam roll these bozos for good.

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1. RedGreen says:
  
  February 18, 2011 at 4:19 am
  
  Some of the laughs were directed at Kerr and his buffoonery.
  
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  1. BlueCat says:
    
    February 19, 2011 at 2:15 am
    
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2. Canines says:
  
  February 19, 2011 at 3:31 am
  
  doesn’t know shit about speaking the American spoken by many of our representatives.
  
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bjwilson83 says:

February 18, 2011 at 6:05 am

It’s not like he had any meaningful opposition to run against.

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