Last week, a letter was mailed to Hispanics living in the 47th Congressional district who had recently registered to vote. The letter was supposed to accomplish two things:

1. Encourage new citizens to vote and; 2. Discourage illegal aliens from voting

The letter was allegedly written or created by the Republican candidate for that seat—Tan Nguyen. Mr. Nguyen denies any personal involvement but stands by the message: illegal aliens are not allowed to vote in our elections!

While this is a true statement, candidates are apparently not allowed to say it out loud or in print.

Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, the state Republican Party and Governor Schwarzenegger have all asked Nguyen to forfeit his campaign because they found the letter to be racist in nature. The Governor even went so far as to call it a "hate crime."

Just to simplify matters, there is no proof that Nguyen has done anything wrong let alone illegal. So why have several prominent Republicans decided to adopt the "We Hate Nguyen the Racist" campaign strategy? Seriously, isn't that a job usually reserved for, I don't know, the opposing campaign?!?!

Well, this whole idea of cowardly Republicans fleeing at the first sign of nothing seems to be contagious.

In Tennessee, Democrat Harold Ford Jr. is running against Republican Bob Corker.

Last Friday, the Republican National Committee began running ads that feature a blonde white woman who claims to have met Ford (a Black man) at a Playboy party. At the end of the commercial, she winks and tells Ford to call her.

The NAACP is calling the ad racist because "it is a powerful innuendo that plays to pre-existing prejudices about African-American men and white women," said Hilary Shelton, head of the Washington NAACP. [NAACP: Tenn. Senate Ad Plays to Racism by Beth Rucker, Associated Press 10/24/2006]

As if that isn't pathetic enough, Bob Corker (the Republican running against Ford) has decided to denounce the campaign ad...a $500,000 contribution from the RNC.

According to the Corker campaign, the ad is "tacky, over the top and is not reflective of the kind of campaign we are running."

Even former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen (a former Republican senator from Maine) felt compelled to chime in on the situation claiming the ad was "a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment."

Here's a thought: These men are the type to jump ship before it is even hit, let alone sinking...I wouldn't trust any of them to lead a parade, not to mention a nation...would you?