Subject: Tan D. Nguyen

• Nguyen: Loretta tried to lynch me

  Theo Douglas reporting from ... GARDEN GROVE--It was almost 9:30 election night, and when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said on TV "The Democrats vow to lead the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history," the mood at 47th Congressional District Republican candidate Tan Nguyen's campaign headquarters turned sour. "That's a lie," a stocky man in a lime green sportshirt grumped. Make that sourer. No one ever thought Nguyen had a real chance against four-time incumbent Democrat Lorett

  November 7, 2006

• Nuts Come Out for Nguyen, Take Daucher Along for Ride

  Rebecca Schoenkopf reporting from . . . ORANGE, Teamsters Local Something or Other--We've been told state senate staffers are here, giving up vacation time to walk for Lou Correa, Democrat for OC's 34th state Senate District. People here are sitting in chairs, too (union thing?), looking at the TeeVee because the TeeVee, at least, has good news from the national front: here at home, Lou's losing big-time to Republican Lynne Daucher. Some people predicted Lou would take the seat. But then, all t

  November 7, 2006

• The 100-Foot Penis Rule

  Tan Nguyen strolled across the parking lot of the Santiago Community College District headquarters while wiping his brow. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and Nguyen was asking anyone entering the polling booth located inside to vote for him. Nguyen approached everyone who passed with a smile, including a small boy. "You don't look like a voter," Nguyen said to the boy. "Hopefully, you'll vote, too." "I can't vote," the boy replied. "I'm only eight." To Nguyen's side was a friend from San

  November 7, 2006

• We Defend Barbara Coe--Again!

  Told you it wasn't the CCIR who sent out the letter telling Latinos immigrants can't vote. Turns out the California Attorney General's office fingered Tan Nguyen, who seemed like the ideal Republican congressional candidate--minority, immigrant-hating, and carpet-bagging. Jail time is rumored for the man, who was running against Loretta Sanchez but is now being urged by GOP head Scott Baugh to step down. But we digress. 'Member how an alphabet soup of Latino organizations wrote a letter to U.S

  October 20, 2006

• Tan Nguyen's Only Friends...

  ...Yep: the anti-immigrant crowd. At today's raid/media circus at Republican congressional candidate/alleged anti-Latino letter sender Tan Nguyen's office, a contingent of fogies from the California Coalition for Immigration Reform--apparently forgiving Nguyen for faking their letterhead and sending a letter off to 14,000 voters--told anyone who would listen that Nguyen was right: immigrants shouldn't vote. Now another organization, the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC, has issued this statement. In

  October 20, 2006

• Tan Nguyen: The New Bob Dornan!

  Much more tomorrow on today's nutty press conference held by Tan Nguyen, the man who proclaimed this afternoon he would defeat Loretta Sanchez and blasted the Republican leadership for abandoning him (Tan Nguyen is the new Bob Dornan--we said it first until someone proves otherwise!). Nguyen and a campaign spokesperson claimed their infamous letter to Latinos in the 47th District warning that illegals and immigrants can't vote was wrongly interpreted--the Mexican Spanish word the world took for

  October 22, 2006

• Why Is La Opinion Changing the Tan Nguyen Letter?

  La Opinión is the dean of America's Spanish-language dailies, dating back to the 1930s. Its owners, the Lozano family, are tireless advocates of Latinos, and the paper's Pilar Marrero is one of Southern California's best political reporters, damn the language. But their coverage of the Tan Nguyen scandal (read previous Blotter posts below) is inconsistent when considering the infamous letter's most infamous passage--that illegal immigrants and resident aliens can't vote. The Spanish-lang

  October 22, 2006

• Red (County) Herring

  Tan Nguyen is an unfortunate, foolish, racist man who did and continues to do unfortunate, foolish, racist things. But who cares? Don't get me wrong, the issue deserves coverage, especially from OC's homegrown authority on all things Mexican. But Tan is drawing all eyes to him - journalists and bloggers, Republicans and Democracts, conservatives and liberals. And, of course, foaming-at-the-mouth racists. Seriously. Tan was never going to beat Loretta Sanchez. I suppose rallying the troops again

  October 23, 2006

• Who is Sergio Ramirez?

  Rebel Girl over at the always awesome Dissent the Blog weighs in on OC's Keyser Soze, the man who signed the infamous Tan Nguyen "immigrants can't vote" letter. Turns out it might be a Sandinista! Full Tan Nguyen coverage: Why is La Opinion Changing the Tan Nguyen Letter? Tan Nguyen: The New Bob Dornan! Tan Nguyen's Only Friends… We Defend Barbara Coe--Again! We Defend Barbara Coe! The Infamous Tan Nguyen "immigrants can't vote" letter

  October 23, 2006

• Registration Deadline

  Today is the last day to register if you want to vote in the November 7 election. Answers to any questions you might have can be found at the Secretary of State's website, or by calling one of his office's toll-free helplines. English: 1-800-345-VOTE Spanish: 1-800-232-VOTA Chinese: 1-800-339-2857 Vietnamese: 1-800-339-8163 Japanese: 1-800-339-2865 Tagalog: 1-800-339-2957 Korean: 1-866-575-1558 Or, I suppose, you could try calling Tan Nguyen for advice about getting registered... but I suspec

  October 23, 2006

• Tan Nguyen Wants to Have it Both Ways

  Our favorite xenophobic Vietnamese hasn't yet renounced his Republican candidacy for the 47th Congressional District, even though GOP chair Scott Baugh has demanded his resignation and Nguyen blasted Baugh at yesterday's press conference. Yesterday, Nguyen also passed out his latest mailer to the press corps. It urges voters to "Choose the person not the party" and tells 'em "Finally, we don't have to end up voting for the 'lesser of two evils.' Here is the mailer (one page in the original but i

  October 23, 2006

• Tan Nguyen on John & Ken This Wednesday

  Listening to L.A.'s favorite boors and heard that Tan Nguyen will appear this Wednesday--maybe an in-studio appearance. As a preview of what may come, JohnKen spelled out Nguyen's last name to their listeners. JohnKen also praised my earlier post examining La Opinión's translation games, then went on to blast the "activist" who offered his Spanish translation services to Nguyen at yesterday's press conference . Um, pendejos: That was me.

  October 23, 2006

• Tan Nguyen Makes Ass Out of Himself (Part 38)

  Our favorite Demopublican (or, conversely, Republocrat) had a chance to endear himself to a national audience this morning on The Radio Factor, home of loofa-loving Bill O'Reilly. KABC-AM 790 morning guy Doug McIntyre filled in and was ready to give Nguyen an on-air hummer. Then Nguyen actually spoke. Nguyen began by correcting McIntyre about his Vietnamese surname's proper pronounciation--"win" as opposed to "Nu-win," which ticked McIntyre off. Nguyen then went to claim recent polls show him b

  October 24, 2006

• Rohrabacher Cuts and Runs

  Congressman Dana Rohrabacher had his ass handed to him yesterday in not one but two debates with opponent Jim Brandt. At least, I think he did. It's kinda hard to find out. Why is that? It's because the only mention of Rohrabacher in the past day's press is as Tan Nguyen's former opponent. Damn it. I told you Tan was nothing but a dangerous distraction. Oh well; you Nguyen some, you lose some. It doesn't matter what Brandt wins, whether it's arguments, debates, or friggin' triathlons--his race

  October 24, 2006

• Exclusive: Sergio Ramirez Speaks!

  Sergio Ramirez is a double major in environmental studies and political science at Long Beach State. In March, Ramirez and a friend attended a meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform for one of their classes. The two signed in, talked to some folks and took some pamplets back to their professor. They were the only Latinos. Last week, that Long Beach State professor called Ramirez and asked if he was the Sergio who signed the infamous Tan Nguyen "immigrants can't vote" letter

  October 25, 2006

• Nguyen-Nguyen Situation

  Sigh. The LA Times reports today that the Los Angeled Police Department officer who paid for the now-infamous letter to Spanish-speaking immigrants in Orange County is none other than Mark Nguyen. Mark is said to have paid $4,000 for the letter's dissemination under a fake name, and he lives with the officially unnamed Tan Nguyen staffer who allegedly sent out the letter without Tan's knowledge. Mark is also Tan's close friend from back in 1992 when they met as fellow Bruins at UCLA. Tan Nguyen

  October 26, 2006

• Fighting Racism With Racism

  The good news: Tan Nguyen supporters held a rally at Tan's office yesterday, providing still more ridiculousness to keep our spirits up as we draw closer to the Election Day of Reckoning. Tan supporters are certainly a colorful bunch. Over on the Free Republic website they've posted quite a few pictures, along with the following claims: Loretta Sanchez's office provided the faulty translation of the Sergio Ramirez letter Loretta's office was notified about the raid on Tan's office, hence the

  October 29, 2006

• Support Your Local Right-Wing Bloggers

  Enough, enough, I say, to those who are chastizing various local GOP bloggers and GOP blog responders over their inadequacies and mealy mouthedness when it comes to calling out the racists and racism swirling around doomed congressional candidate Tan Nguyen. First, you left fielders criticize Republifucks for going all Three Blind Mice to the racism right in front of them every day forever and ever in these United States. Then, when they join you in piling on Tan, you mock their lack of finesse,

  October 31, 2006

• Punishing Prevatt, Flailing Fleischman

  Chris Prevatt is a local blogger, an employee of the County Health Care Agency, and a man without a computer. The County took Prevatt's computer as part of an investigation as to whether he used county time to post a blog entry on TheLiberalOC. The post in question displayed a photoshopped image of Supervisor Chris Norby as "Darth Norby", wielding a light-saber and garbed in the robes of a Sith Lord. The investigation is ridiculous—Prevatt has already explained how he wrote the post in h

  November 27, 2006

• Another Nguyen, Another Problem

  The campaign of an OC Republican candidate named Nguyen has been caught distributing a clumsy bit of fraud. No, this is not another Tan Nguyen and the "Immigrants Can't Vote Letter" post. From this morning's Times: The campaign of an Orange County supervisorial candidate, whose slogan is "Honesty, Integrity and Leadership," has been caught doctoring a photo so that it places the politician close to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The photo into which Trung Nguyen was inserted appeared over the we

  January 30, 2007

• CAIR blasts GOP fear mongering

  The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has accused two politicos of smear campaigning and fear mongering in separate Orange County races. Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the CAIR office based in Anaheim, cited the remarks by former California Republican Party chairman Shawn Steel, who in a letter called Anaheim City Council candidate Bill Dalati, who is of Arab descent, a "Manchurian candidate." He also questioned Dalati's patriotism for supporting pol

  October 10, 2006

• Letter to Latinos in Sanchez-Nguyen Race

  Here is the letter in English that was sent to people with Latino surnames in the central Orange County congressional district represented by Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), who is opposed in the November election by Republican Tan Nguyen. The California Attorney General's office reportedly suspects Nguyen's campaign was behind the letter, which has been chastised by leaders of both parties. Greetings [NAME WITHHELD], You are being sent this letter because you were recently registered to vot

  October 19, 2006

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: An OC Blog Coward

  What did the OC billionaire do when the wife was away? Computer-chip magnate Henry T. Nicholas III won big in a 1998 public stock offering for his Broadcom Corp., and to celebrate, he built an extravagant $30 million underground “personal brothel” at his Laguna Hills estate. That's according to the latest allegations discovered by E. Scott Reckard and Kim Christensen, two Los Angeles Times reporters who dug up court documents containing the dirt. Last week, newspapers disclosed FBI interes

  July 18, 2007

• Pete Wilson: The Orange County Connection Continues

  The very first article I ever did--and I mean ever; I spent my college years trying to become a Latino Kubrick--dealt with how the Democratic Party used the spectre of former California Governor Pete "Proposition 187" Wilson to scare Latinos into voting Democrat. We haven't heard much from Pete since until this weekend, when supporters unveiled a statue of his likeness in San Diego, where he started his political career. The ceremony was marred by angry Mexicans and gays, who rightfully accused

  August 28, 2007

• None of His Bisno-iss

  Only in SanTana can an effort to impose term limits on Papi Pulido transform into a ballot measure to extend term limits for councilmembers. But that's exactly what happened with Measure D, which SanTana voters will decide on February 5 and is one of the most laughable pieces of crap to grace Orange County ballots since Tan Nguyen ran for office. Measure D proposes to extend term limits for SanTana councilmembers from two terms to three. The person who would immediately benefit is councilmember

  January 25, 2008

• Tan Nguyen Finally, Not Completely, Gone

  About a year ago, I wrote a story about a campaign sign for failed Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen that stood on a phone pole on the corner of 17th and Durant streets in SanTana long after losing to Loretta Sanchez. The sign stood for months after we published article--like, this past fall afterwards. Like, I didn't have any doubt about where that sign would be when I walked by 17th and Durant today. Imagine my surprise, then, when the Nguyen sign was no longer there. But, in his campaign's

  February 5, 2008

• Funny Historical Quote of the Day...

  ...comes from Adelina Pleasants, author of 1931's History of Orange County California. In her entry on the county's citrus industry, Pleasants wondered whether "it is going to pay to replace all our fine walnut orchards with oranges." And you wonder why Orange Count historians are usually as respected as Tan Nguyen...

  May 16, 2008

• Baboso Busty Bursts Bubbles of Boho Beaners!

  *Updated, with new info after the jump... Carlos Bustamante was supposed to be the Golden Boy, the Mexican who could deliver Latinos to the Republican Party in Orange County. He won a SanTana City Council seat in 2004 by defeating a Papi Pulido-backed candidate in the one OC city where Democrats rule, and the dreaming started immediately. From a 2004 Los Angeles Times article: His candidacy was supported by Hispanic 100, an organization that supports pro-business Latino candidates. Founder Man

  July 10, 2008

• OC GOP Goes Back to Its Mexican-Bashing Roots in Fullerton City Council Race

  In my latest book, I devote a chapter to the many sins of the Orange County Republican Party but also hinted that they were finally evolving from the slimeball campaigns of the past when it came to scoring easy points off of demonizing Mexicans. Specifically, I pointed to the 2006 Tan Nguyen affair, where GOP chair Scott Baugh fully repudiated Nguyen and only the farthest extremes of party activists (i.e., the CCIR crowd) stood by their Tan. So much for that goodwill. As noted by OC Blog, the

  October 24, 2008

• You Nguyen Some, You Lose Some

  March 15, 2007

• Commie Girl

  Good Clean Trashy Fun: Happy Halloween, y'all

  November 2, 2006

• Their Man Tan

  November 2, 2006

• Diary of a Mad County

  Oct. 25 - Oct. 31

  November 2, 2006

• Commie Girl

  Where Everybody Knows My Name: Take that, Gustavo!

  October 26, 2006

• Xenophobic From the Start

  October 26, 2006

• Diary of a Mad County

  October 26, 2006

• The New Bob Dornan

  October 26, 2006

• Losers Again

  June 30, 2005

• Loretta Sanchez a Hypocritical Aztlanista

  On my KPFK-FM 90.7 radio show this Tuesday, I interviewed a member of the Orange County Dream Team, a group of undocumented college students. This past Saturday, they and other supporters met with Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez, seeking her co-sponsorship of the DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for college students who have lived in this country illegally for years. You'd figure Loretta--who owes her career to illegals, from the days of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional to Tan Nguyen

  May 14, 2009

• Time for Boston To Give Us Their Crown as the Kings of Bigotry

  OC founding father Henry W. Head: Could take on a Bostonian any day​Let the baseball pundits obsess over whether your Angels will finally beat the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs next week--I care about stripping from Beantown what's now rightfully ours: the title of most-racist 'burb in America.​For decades, critics rightfully deemed Boston as the country's most racist big city, and seriously: what do you expect from a town where micks and goombahs have long dominated politics, culture and d

  September 30, 2009