Angle's communications director Jarrod Agen emailed links (listed at the end of this blog) to stories and blogs criticizing Reid for his remarks. And he noted that the Senate majority leader's hit on Hispanic Republicans comes after his campaign skewered Angle last week for saying Democrats were making "God our government."
"Last week it was religion. This week it’s ethnic politics," Agen said in a statement. "Harry Reid cannot give any good reasons why people should vote for him, so now he is turning to race and ethnicity. He is desperate to change the subject from the economy, which he knows is a losing issue for him."
Agen piled on by pointing out polls show Reid's son, Rory, isn't doing well in his gubernatorial race against Brian Sandoval, a Hispanic and a Republican.
"Of course the other ironic tidbit is that while Harry says he doesn’t know how there could be any Hispanic Republicans, his son is getting crushed by a Hispanic Republican in the Nevada Governor’s race," Agen wrote.
The Reid campaign didn't back away from the senator's comments, which came Tuesday while he was answering questions after addressing Hispanic activists in Las Vegas. Reid blamed Republicans for blocking his attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year, something he had promised he would do as he seeks to shore up support he needs to win from Latino voters, who made up 15 percent of the Nevada electorate in 2008.
A Reid campaign statement said, "Sen. Reid has long enjoyed the support of many Hispanic Republicans in Nevada and appreciates that support."
"Sen. Reid’s contention was simply that he doesn't understand how anyone, Hispanic or otherwise, would vote for Republican candidates because they oppose saving teachers’ jobs, oppose job-creating tax incentives for small businesses, oppose investments in job-creating clean energy projects, and oppose the help for struggling, unemployed Nevadans to put food on the table and stay in their homes," the statement continued.
But Reid's sharp remark came not as he was talking about jobs and the economy at the Hispanic event, but as he slammed the GOP opposition to comprehensive immigration reform at a time when Republicans are gaining support for backing Arizona's law cracking down on illegal immigrants.
Angle backs Arizona and she has said she opposes Democratic plans for immigration reform because they would grant amnesty to people who broke the law -- a notion Reid rejects, saying illegal immigrants would have to pay fines and penalties and "go to the back of the line" to seek U.S. citizenship.
The Reid campaign also accused Angle of ignoring Hispanic media, a charge Agen dismissed as a weak attempt to "paint our campaign as anti-Hispanic."
In contrast, the Reid campaign sought to display his Hispanic credentials by using a Latino spokesman to defend the senator.
"Sharron Angle’s extreme and dangerous agenda for Hispanic Nevadans is something she obviously wants to hide, which is why she and her allies will do or say anything to attack Sen. Reid and shift the focus from the intense heat her campaign has been under," Reid campaign spokesman Jose' Dante Parra said in a statement. "Despite the efforts of Republicans like Sharron Angle to change the U.S. Constitution and block comprehensive immigration reform, Sen. Reid will continue to wake up and fight every day for the interests of Hispanic Nevadans."
