Pandering to the Vietnamese voter base has been way simple for a long time. In danger of losing your election? Just say your opponents loves the commies. Or you hate the commies more! Throw in some grainy photos, and don't forget to slap a a commie star on the commie…'cause commie star! Even Karl Rove couldn't think of a more fiendishly simple script.
And here's the latest example from Little Saigon: an attack mailer targeted at Garden Grove mayoral candidate (and current school trustee) Bao Nguyen paid for by a committee tied to the city's mayor, Bruce Broadwater.
The Weekly appears twice on the mailer (It's nice to know we have fans), which paints Nguyen as a commie-loving, community-hating all around bad guy–and anyone knows that any politician this infernal rag doesn't immediately hate has no chance of winning an election. But the attack basically boils down to: freedom of speech sucks, everyone who lives in Vietnam is a communist, and gay people shouldn't be talked about.
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Let's go over the main points.
First off, the mailer says Nguyen loves communists because he–and what a shock this is–believes that they have a right to free speech. This is of course tied to Truong Van Tran's hanging of a portrait of Ho Chi Minh in the window of his no-longer-existent Little Saigon video store in 1999. Nguyen, who was an undergraduate at UC Irvine at the time, did an interview with a documentary filmmaker in which he acknowledged that his parents were upset by the act but that ultimately it was Tran's right to post the photo (a right that's severely curtailed in communist Vietnam, by the way). Hardly commie loving.
Then there's the allegation that Nguyen used his Garden Grove Unified School District powers to divide the community when he pressured other board members to unanimously vote to not allow a Garden Grove school bus and driver in a Tet Parade that would've banned a LGBT group from marching. This is the divided community that universally cheered when the LGBT group did get to march this past February (okay, one guy booed, but he was wearing all denim and made the people around him visibly uncomfortable).
And then there's my favorite accusation: That Nguyen loves communists because he described the country of Vietnam as beautiful, the people as friendly, and the food as amazing during an interview with USC students for a class project. As the kid of two refugees, let me explain this to you guys. The country is beautiful, the food is amazing, and the people are friendly. The mailer also conveniently forgets the fact that Nguyen spent a good chunk of his trip in Saigon, and went on for minutes about the horrible pollution and economic inequality in the country.
Want to read the interview for yourself? Check out this website.
You figure by now the attack tactics would've gotten at least a little better. But this is Broadwater we're talking about, another of the winning gabacho Democratic mayors like Miguel Pulido, Larry Agran, and Margie Rice (before she turned Republican, that is) that the local Democratic Party pushes on OC year after year after year. That Broadwater is reduced to such crappiness (I mean, even below his septic-tank ordinary state) shows how scared he is.
The mailers and full text after the jump:
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First page:
-Propagate and praise Communists!
– Fight for the interests of those who provoke and insult the Community!
– Abuse official title to attack and divide the Community!
Second page:
Bao Nguyen energetically FIGHTS FOR THE INTEREST OF THOSE WHO WORSHIP COMMUNISTS and THE BLOOD FLAG. Bao Nguyen gravely criticizes the Vietnamese refugee community. Year 1999, while thousands of freedom-loving refugees protest against Truong Tran's proud display of the yellow-starred red flag and photo worshipping Ho Chi Minh in the Capital of Vietnamese Refugees, meanwhile Bao Nguyen defends the provocative actions of Truong Tran and declares in a foreign language interview, “THAT IS HIS RIGHT [Truong Tran]!
– from OC Weekly interview, Thursday 29 May 2013
Bao Nguyen has propagated and praised Vietnamese Communists as having more freedom than America today! Responding to an interview after a recent trip to Vietnam, Bao Nguyen propagates, VIETNAM IS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL; BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE; BEAUTIFUL SCENERY; AND DELICIOUS FOOD. THERE'S NOTHING TO FEAR IN VIETNAM, “I FELT [IN VIETNAM] A SENSE OF FREEDOM THAT I DON'T HAVE HERE [AMERICA].”
– from Memories of the American War in Viet Nam, Friday 11 April 2014
Bao Nguyen abused his position as school board trustee to disturb, pressure and convince other trustees to vote against (in the meeting 5 February 2013) allowing a GGUSD bus and driver to participate in the 2013 Tet Parade. In addition, he organized elected officials to boycott the Tet Parade. “This evening in the board meeting of the school district, I will vote against allowing a public bus and driver in the Tet Parade.”
– from OC Weekly, Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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Email: cl**@oc******.com. Twitter: @charlesnam. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
