Dr. Manny Sethi’s television ad criticizing illegal immigration triggered prominent Democrats nationwide into a torrent of anger this past week, and many of them took to Twitter to show their disgust.
Sethi and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty are running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate to replace Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who is retiring. The Republican primary will be held in August 2020, and the winner will be a heavy favorite to win the general election in November 2020.
A congresswoman from Washington state along with a New York Times op-ed writer were among some of the progressives speaking out against Sethi’s commercial.
In the ad, Sethi, whose parents emigrated to the United States many years ago, challenged anyone to call him a racist for speaking out against illegal immigration.
Jenalyn Sotto, an official with the National Women’s Law Center, criticized the commercial perhaps more harshly than anyone else.
“Manny Sethi’s ‘illegal immigrant invasion’ rhetoric as a Brown man is absolution porn for white racists and dog whistling for naturalized citizens and green card holders who are conditioned to believe that if they don’t call out unauthorized immigration, they’ll lose their status,” Sotto tweeted Thursday night.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat representing Washington’s Seventh Congressional District, said on Twitter that Sethi’s ad “horrified” her.
“It buys into the same old racist GOP tropes, and does not reflect MY values as an immigrant and proud, patriotic American,” Jayapal wrote.
Washington, D.C. attorney Deepak Gupta, meanwhile, called Sethi’s commercial “one of the most repulsive political ads I’ve seen.” New York Times op-ed contributor Wajahat Ali tweeted that Sethi’s ad is indeed racist and he also said “Manny, they’ll never love you. But you’ll figure that out eventually.”
Sethi’s campaign chairman Chris Devaney addressed the criticism in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star Thursday.
“The Twitter and Facebook attacks from the left have been disgusting, but not surprising. It’s just another display by the radicals of their intolerance — people who want to silence anyone with whom they disagree,” Devaney said.
“On the other hand, conservatives across our state have been very supportive. Dr. Manny looks forward to sharing his message about tackling the broken immigration system, supporting President Trump and building the Wall.”
Sethi’s ad has aired throughout Tennessee, and it also aired in Washington, D.C. during Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate.
Democratic pollster Amanda Hoey said on Twitter that Sethi and his staff members wasted campaign money airing the ad outside of the Volunteer State.
To that, Devaney said the following:
“Dr. Manny Sethi is the only Republican willing to say the truth about illegal immigration, and we wanted to make sure national Democrats and the Washington establishment know that Manny will work with President Trump to protect the American Dream,” Devaney said.
“In terms of our tactics, I’m not really concerned about what some Democrat pollster has to say about our campaign. I’ll put our team’s track record up against theirs’ any day. These are the same Democrat pollsters that promised you President Hillary Clinton and Senator Phil Bredesen.”
As The Star reported Wednesday, Sethi’s mother appeared in the ad and spoke about how she and her husband spent seven years following U.S. law and emigrating to this country legally. She said she wonders why people who speak out against illegal immigration get called racist.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Manny Sethi” by Manny Sethi.
Congratulations to Chris Devaney for throwing a chunk of red meat into the ring and getting Chairman Manny’s campaign some much needed attention thanks to the left’s usual over-the-top reaction. The Chairman has plunked down at least $1.5 million in order to buy this Senate seat and I’m glad to see Chris is trying to give him his money’s worth. It isn’t easy after all, given Chairman Manny has absolutely no qualifications to be a U. S. Senator having never having held elected or appointed office before, as well as never having been a citizen activist other than serving as Chairman of the Republican establishment’s Statesmen’s Dinner back in 2016. As for helping the conservative movement, Dr. Outsider apparently hasn’t quite had the time. It will be interesting to see how many voters Chris Devaney can bamboozle into believing Chairman Manny is actually a qualified solid conservative by next August.
The political left has recently been lecturing us about “the rule of law” and “protecting our Constitution”. I totally agree with that. But then they stoop to all manner of vile accusations when Senate candiate, Manny Sethi, uses the word “invasion” and promises to work to stop it.
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against Invasion; .. (Article IV, Section 4, U.S. constitution). Well what do know, there is that word right there in the Constitution, “the Supreme Law of the Land” and they are labeling it racist just as was stated in his ad.
Multiple administrations and the Congress have allowed our country to be broken into in violation of “the rule of law”. There is another crime that we hear reported in the media these days in which multiple perps break into homes. They are commonly called “home invasions”by the media. Those who demonize the “invasion” of our country would not tolerate the same for their homes, and rightly so. They would call law enforcement. Manny Sethi just wants to apply “the rule of law” to everyone with equal justice and treat our country just like we all treat our homes.
Those who react with vile accusations of racism demonizing those who agree with the actual Constitutional words of the law being applied are instead, following one of the “Rules for Radicals” of one of their political left gurus:
“Accuse your opponent of what only you are doing, as you are doing it, to create confusion, cloud the issue, and inoculate voters against any evidence of your guilt.” –Saul Alinsky
The immigration issue is the difference between legal, and Illegal. Legal would be the method by which prospective citizens follow the legal pathway to becoming U.S. citizens. The other side of the coin is illegally coming into and living in our country. It amazes me that the Liberal Democrats have no problem with people in our country illegally, with the result of violent criminals preying on innocent people. Look at the percentages of incarcerated individuals by race. The Liberals will scream that you can’t do that, it’s racist. It’s not racist, it’s a fact that is evident by the looking at the prison population. The Left’s complete acceptance of illegal immigration is another example of how the Democratic Party gets its marching orders from the UN. I have no problem with anyone of any nationality immigrating to our country, they just have to follow the law.
As the saying goes, the truth hurts.